Will Symbian hold off Microsoft Windows Mobile?The Symbian operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. will continue to dominate the smartphone A cellular telephone with information access. It provides digital voice service as well as any combination of e-mail, text messaging, pager, Web access, voice recognition, still and/or video camera, MP3, TV or video player and organizer (see PDA). OS market and hold off Microsoft Windows See Windows. (operating system) Microsoft Windows - Microsoft's proprietary window system and user interface software released in 1985 to run on top of MS-DOS. Widely criticised for being too slow (hence "Windoze", "Microsloth Windows") on the machines available then. Mobile through 2009, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. ABI Abi (ā`bī) [short for Abijah], in the Bible, King Hezekiah's mother. (Application Binary Interface) A specification for a specific hardware platform combined with the operating system. Research. Handset manufacturers still control the handset OS market, so 98 percent of handsets run a proprietary OS. That leaves Symbian, Windows Mobile The Windows platform from Microsoft for handheld devices, including PDAs, cellphones and Portable Media Centers. See Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, Smartphone and Portable Media Center. , and Linux all competing for about 2 percent of the handset market. However, that small portion still equates to about 10 million devices per year, and it represents essentially all smartphones. And it's growing. About a quarter of all handsets shipped in 2009 will be smartphones and connected PDAs, according to ABI Research. Demand for these devices will grow as users look for improved functionality such as larger screen size, better menu navigation, and a solid foundation for adding new applications--features proprietary OSs don't offer now. Why has Symbian fared so well? One key reason has been hardware vendors and cellular network carriers fear Microsoft could dominate the handset market the same way it dominates the PC market. However, that could happen with other vendors, too. For example, hardware leader Nokia is buying a majority of the shares in the Symbian mobile phone OS company it co-founded in 1998 with Psion and Ericsson. This puts a major leader in handset hardware in charge of the dominant handset OS. For more information on Nokia's role in Symbian, go to: http://Advisor.com/doc/13681 |
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