Previously Windows Phone jumped into the game with a lot of fanfare, but they really haven’t made a dent in the market controlled by Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS. Despite this, Ubuntu and Firefox, as well as Tizen, have recently announced plans to join the crowded smartphone and mobile operating system market. Mozilla has been successful with its Firefox browser, competing against Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari, and now they are ready to jump into the mobile game as well. They have plans to release Firefox OS sometime this year. Ubuntu has had its own success as a desktop operating system for Linux computers, and now they, too, want to jump into the mobile OS market with Ubuntu Touch. Tizen has no immediate plans to be released in the US, but with backers such as Samsung and Sprint Nextel Corp. a member of the Tizen Association, it makes you wonder how long it will be before Tizen-enabled phones are in the States.
Image credit: Mobile Phones Old and New The burning question is, of course, what will happen in this market. What will happen to Android and Apple? Will they continue to control the mobile OS market or will they give up some of their dominance to the overcrowded market? Android has been gaining momentum on Apple recently, but maybe the newbies coming in will hurt their trend. For a long time, the fight has been Apple vs. the other guys, and that goes all the way back to desktop computers, as well as mobile phones and tablets. With three more joining “the other guys,” does that boost Apple’s rank and take away some of Android’s share? It’s a good guess that Apple isn’t too worried right now, despite the mess that their stocks have become with unhappy investors. It seems far more likely that Android users will fall from the ranks to try the services of the Ubuntu and Firefox OS rather than Apple users, and if Tizen is released in the US, that’s only going to complicate things even more. It will still be Apple vs. the other guys, and the other guys will be splitting that share five ways. What do you think?
