There were a few headlines dealing with mobile operating systems that caught my eye yesterday.
The first one said “Sony Ericsson plans to be top Android-handset maker“; the second was “Windows Phone 7 released to manufacturers.” Finally, there was news of the launch of Samsung and Toshiba tablet devices, released with Android 2.2.
The next 4 months are a very busy period for the mobile industry. With many high school and university students signing up for services, followed by the Christmas season, this is “showtime” for the mobile industry. So part of the common thread between these articles, the subtext, was preparing for the fourth quarter selling crunch.
But the other common thread I noticed was that Sony Ericsson is in both camps: Android and Windows Phone 7. In fact, there are a number of device manufacturers that offer both operating systems.
The consumer electronics firms are offering consumers a choice of operating systems; and, it works in the other direction as well: the operating system developers are empowering competitive creativity among the manufacturers.
The consumer electronics business can be fickle – some people are more concerned about the colour than the functionality, the polish, the shape, keys on the dial pad or keyboard. The consumer electronics business is subjected to all sorts of twists that may seem completely irrational to the people who focus on more technical characteristics.
Having multiple hardware platform developers is an interesting hedging strategy for the operating system companies, and in the case of a number of hardware companies, there is a hedging of operating systems as well.
Contrast this approach with the Apple and RIM closed environment.
Benefits and handicaps of each?