ABI Research projects a 75 percent per year growth rate for Linux-based phones.
Peter Judge
PC World
Thursday, August 30, 2007
5:19 PM
By 2012, Linux will be running on nearly 31 percent of all smart devices, thanks to a growth rate faster than Windows Mobile and Symbian, according to predictions from a research firm.
Linux smartphones will grow at more than 75 percent per year, according to ABI Research, and will be running on 331 million devices by 2012.
"Serious initiatives from the likes of Intel and Access are gathering pace and momentum, whilst the carrier community continues to identify Linux as one of the few operating systems that it intends to support in its long-term plans," said ABI research director Stuart Carlaw.
Symbian won't be too pleased with the figures, as it claims to currently have 72 percent of the smartphone market. However, Symbian's figures are very regional: it has around 90 percent of the Europe and "rest of the world" sectors, but it hasn't cracked the U.S. (it has less than ten percent there) and is only around 65 percent of the market in China and Japan, according toCanalys figuresthat Symbian quotes.
In China and Japan, Linux smartphones already have more than 30 percent market share, having grown massively since 2004 as earlierCanalys graphsshow.
Access, whichownsthe Palm operating system, has created the Access Linux Platform (ALP). It is alsoplanning a moveto Linux for the Palm OS. Intel, meanwhile issupporting Linuxin its ultra-mobile platform.
"Linux is benefiting from growing support in the handset OEM community, most notably Motorola, but also Nokia with less traditional types of devices aimed at mobile broadband applications," said Carlaw.
Motorola hasrevealed plansto have Linux on 60 percent of its handsets within the next two years, andfounded the LiMo group.
Nokia, meanwhile is heavily committed to Symbian, but has put Linux on itsN800 Internet tablet.
The other wild card is Google. The company's entry into the phone hardware market isstill rumorbut most of the latest rumors suggest a Linux-based phone.