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Mobile Linux at 23 percent by 2013
Author: Gareth HalfacreePublished: 5th June 2008
Linux-based smartphones are expected to account for 23 percent of the market by 2013.
The desktop Linux fight has been going on for some time and while user-friendly distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora alongside 'stealth' carriers like the Linux-based ultra-low-cost laptops are certainly helping convert thousands to the penguin side of computing, conservative estimates still put Linux-based computing at around two percent of the home-user market. A market that may have escaped the notice of the commercial giants, however, is seeing a massive uptake in Linux usage according to figures from ABI Research quoted by Ars Technica.
The research firm estimates that around 23 percent of the smartphone market will be running some form of Linux – a massive chunk of a well-established sector. ABI Research's vice president Stuart Carlaw reckons that Linux will be “the second most prevalent solution behind Symbian,” and that the bulk of that market will be thanks to the “LiMo [Foundation] and [Google's] Android,” with “opportunities for solutions such as Maemo [as used in the Nokia Internet Tablets] which will be facilitated by the encroachment of the Mobile Internet Device form factor into the mobile devices landscape.”
Whether the predicted heavy usage of Linux on smartphone platforms will lead to a similar takeup on the desktop remains to be seen, but it's certainly an encouraging sign for the little-OS-that-could – and a worrying call to arms for the closed-source world.
Have you ever used a Linux-based mobile device? If not, what OS is your preferred mobile solution? Share your experiences over in the forums.
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Comments (3)Stats: 0.050 seconds
Sam
These days, a decent Linux install like Ubuntu does everything that most users want... if you mean surf, email, documents in open office, instant messaging, and presentation.
If you want games... then you will be sorely disappointed with the power of the on board GPU's in these machines anyway.
As for mobile phones... I think Linux is currently too bloated for mobiles. So is the Windows Mobile variant too right now.
The only company who has the right ticks in the right boxes is Apple with its outstanding portable OSX (iPhone OS), but will they capitalise on it and release a netbook/mini note book of their own running such as OS ? Maybe... but I doubt I will be able to afford it... and the macbook air doesnt count.. too big.
On another note - Nvidia's new Tegra platform looks like an amazing platform for mini note books and especially phones... if the software gets written to support it.