There are dozens of OS behind the 2.5 billion mobile phones in circulation, a situation that has hampered the growth of new services. Anyone that has developed software for cellphones or embedded devices know that the situation is complex to say the least.
Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone company in terms of revenue, has been leading a push to limit the number of operating systems, declaring in November that it would eventually sell only phones that ran on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, Symbian Series 60 or Linux.
“We need to reduce the number of operating systems on phones. I’m not saying bring it down to one, but several. With fewer operating systems, it will be easier for content delivery.”, said Arun Sarin, the Vodafone chief executive.
Not everyone are optimistic. “I don’t see convergence of the operating systems happening anytime soon.” said Fabrizio Capobianco, chief executive of Funambol, an open-source software company based in Redwood City, Calif.
With iPhone coming there will be four. Nevertheless, I think that Vodafone's direction is a correct one. In order to promote open-source as well as commercial mobile device software development (and not mention making my life easier), the limited number of OS would be welcome. Klem
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