14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phones based on the open-source Symbian platform are expected to see a great increase in shipments over the following five years, a new report from Juniper Research shows. According to the Open Source OS report from the research firm, Symbian handset shipments are to double by 2014, reaching 180 million, up from 87 million currently.
The shipments of open-source handsets on the market are expected to outpace 220 million by 2014, the research firm also noted, courtesy of the increase registered not only by Symbian, but Android and LiMo as well. At the same time, the report also shows that the competition faced by Symbian during the next five years will increase, and the operating system is expected not to see its market share grow over the period.
“The report found that the move to open source OS has encouraged developers to design new and attractive applications, providing a massive opportunity for innovation in the mobile telecoms industry. However, with a sharp growth in handset shipments over the next five years together with somewhat more modest increases of handsets shipped with Windows Mobile and Blackberry platforms, the race is on for a growing share of the future smartphones OS market,” Juniper Research also notes.
In addition, the study also looked into the performance of other platforms besides those developed by the LiMo Foundation, OHA and the Symbian foundation, and showed that, although the market looks like moving towards open source, one of the most popular products on the smartphone market is based on a proprietary operating system, namely Apple’s iPhone. Other large industry players, including Research In Motion, Microsoft and Palm, also use proprietary mobile platforms, yet the shift towards open source is clearly visible, with more than 60 percent of the smartphone market being based on such an OS.
The new 'Mobile Open Source Operating Systems: Markets & Opportunities 2009-2014' study from Juniper Research also shows that the number of handsets shipped on the market with an open-source platform on board is expected to grow from 106 million during the ongoing year to around 223 million by 2014. Moreover, the report also states that the market share of various OSes will also be influenced by the development of applications.