Hundreds of millions of smartphones are expected to fly from shops around the world in 2010 and the smartphone sector is experiencing rapid growth. But the question concerning most is which mobile operating system will capture the largest proportion of the market in the coming months? The main players are represented by Apple with the iPhone OS, Google with the Android platform and Microsoft with Windows Mobile 6.5. We will dedicate a little time to look at each one and then try and pick a winner based on unbiased comparison.
Windows Mobile has been around longer than its two rivals, with a history stretching back nearly a decade to when palm computing was popular. In its current form it can be found on smartphones produced by the likes of HP, HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, but many have criticised version 6.5 for its inability to operate well when implemented on touch screen devices. Since a majority of smartphones rely on a touch screen interface, this is a little bit of a fatal flaw, but given where Windows Mobile came from (a stylus based approach) can be understood. However, on the positive side Windows Mobile does have an extensive back catalogue of applications and offers compatibility with many Microsoft software formats that make the system suitable for businesspeople. Manufacturers also tend to augment the standard user interface with their own improved alternatives which makes the whole experience a little more user friendly. A lot is resting on the shoulders of Windows Mobile 7 which is due to be released sometime this year.
Android has been around for under 3 years and it is one of the growing number of Linux-based mobile operating systems out there. Developed by search giant Google, it includes many of the applications that the firm offers to desktop PC users, including Gmail and Google Maps. Android has been used by a variety of manufacturers including HTC, which was the first company to produce a mobile based on Android. The latest version of the software has only just been released and it has various software and hardware tweaks, including an overhauled user interface and a better web browser. Android is based on open source software and so most Android-based smartphones have has their software heavily modified by the manufacture to make them stand out from the crowd. The Android Market is a unifying feature specific to Android handsets and it is an online store from which Android compatible applications can be downloaded.
The mobile operating system with which alot of people will be familiar is the iPhone OS. Since 2007 Apple has worked to dominate the smartphone market with its excellent iPhone releases and the main asset of the phone has been its operating system. There are virtually no rivals to the iPhone OS when it comes to user friendliness. The navigation and interface as simple to use and it remains the only phone to use multi-touch sensitivity in a way that feels natural. For example, when you are browsing a web page and you want to zoom in on a particular element, you can use your thumb and index finger to swiftly magnify whichever portion of the page that you desire. Other smartphones offer multi-touch capabilities, though few other operating systems support the technology to this extent. The latest version of the iPhone OS has introduced copy and paste functions, as well as the ability to send multimedia messages and record video using the built in camera. The iPhone is not perfect, and when used for day to day business use starts to show it's shortcomings,ie no way to edit Microsoft business documents 'out of the box'.
So which of these three operating systems is the best? Well, for the moment it could be argued that the iPhone OS is superior because it has captured the most users in a relatively short amount of time. With
Orange mobile, O2 and now Vodafone offering the iPhone in the UK, its popularity is still growing. However, Android is more customisable and could challenge the iPhone in the next year. Windows Mobile is lagging behind the competition in its current form, but if Windows Mobile 7 manages to confirm rumours and become available in the final quarter of 2010, things could look up for Microsoft fans soon.
