March 10, 2009 by Tap
It seems like we have a little "Mobile OS Olympics" developing here as everyone reacts to Informa's report which predicts that Android phone sales will overtake the iPhone by 2012. But why are we still using the iPhone as a benchmark? For me, the iPhone's gradual loss of market share over the coming years (or even months) is a given. The real race is going to be an open source one between Android and Symbian (I’m still not convinced by LiMo).
Let's face it, the things that differentiated the iPhone (the desirable handset, the intuitive touchscreen interface, the app store) are no longer unique selling points. Toshiba's new TG01 is an iPhone killer on the design front alone. Add to that the fact that mobile app stores are a dime a dozen (Android Market, Windows "SkyMarket", Nokia Ovi Store) and it seems like Apple can do nothing but watch its market share slowly being eroded. And while open OS smartphones get cheaper (hopefully Acer and potential Dell will see to that), is Apple really going to try and compete – cheap is just not their style.
There's no denying that the release of Windows Mobile 7 is going to breathe new life into the WinMo sector but it may already be too late for Microsoft. Android will continue to capture more market share and once the Symbian Foundation releases its platform, the race will really be on. Now we just have to wait and see who will be the official mobile sponsor of the real 2012 Olympics.