LG has told the press at
MWC that it will not be developing its own smartphone platform "at least for the next two to three years." We think companies should focus on what they do well, and given our
ambivalence toward the S-Class UI, it's probably a good thing that LG will narrow its operation down to churning out
delectable slabs of electronics and leaving the software side to the geeks over at Google and Microsoft. The head of the company's handset unit, Skott Ahn, has indicated that the future of LG smartphones will be shared between
Android and
Windows Phone 7 (sorry,
Symbian lovers). It will have taken plenty of restraint to not respond to local nemesis Samsung -- who has just introduced its first
Bada handset -- but LG appears to be of the opinion (which we share) that the smartphone OS sector is already overcrowded, and its expectation is that over the next couple of years the market will distill itself down to just three predominant operating systems.
posted February 19th 2010 4:26AM
Android, iPhone OS, Windows Phone 7 Series.....?
@thecybernerd
i wouldn't count symbian nor maemo out of it either
@thecybernerd
They are also interested in MeeGo OS.
@thecybernerd
It'll be Android, WP7S, and symbian simply because of volume. Apple even though is pumping out millions but will never surpass symbian's sheer volume
@xconan - BlackberryOS also won't disappear in the next couple of years unless RIM decides to use something else.
Generally, there will always be a handful of important mobile OS's - we'll never reach a state where one company practically controls the whole market like with computers...
@xconan
You're still relying on stats from years ago. In North America, iPhone has already left Symbian in the dust (Symbian used to have about 30% marketshare in NA and is now in the single digits) in just 3 years. Last year alone, Symbian lost more than 5% global marketshare, and there's no reason to see that trend reverse. With Android gaining steam and Windows Phone 7 on the horizon, Symbian will be all but gone in 5 years.
@tonicboy - and the NA market only consists of 4% of all the people in the world. Basing worldwide predictions on something like that is pretty useless.
Symbian is HUGE in China & India and still number one by far in Europe. Even if the NA market continues to ignore them, it won't go anywhere...
@tonicboy
"Symbian lost more than 5% global marketshare, and there's no reason to see that trend reverse."
Symbian grew its world wide market share last quarter, one can interpret that as that the trend has at least levelled out.
@tonicboy I think that Symbian will be, in 5 years as you put, in a batter shape than iPhone OS for example. at least Symbian is trying new stuff like HDMI, better video and power management and better support for programming languages (like python/qt/etc) meanwhile iPhone became stagnant (innovation wise).
5 years is a lot of time... And open will ultimatly win. Just look at the growth of Android. Expect the same from MeeGo...
Maybe Meego, Symbian and Android will be big in 5 years.
@tonicboy
"and there's no reason to see that trend reverse"
Apart from the new version of Symbian due this year.
Android will rule the roost (it'll run stuff from phones to set top boxes to microwaves) Symbian will be second, with iPhone and blackberry duking it out for 3rd place. WinPho7 won't be a loser but I still see it as a premium phone that won't sell in huge numbers.
@Mr w00t
"open will ultimately win."
Like Linux has destroyed Windows? Ultimately, OS's are hideously complex pieces of software and the people with the best software engineers and the most money will win.
@thecybernerd
Whatever the story is.. the mobile phone in the picture is interesting.
@NewL
First of all, this has nothing to do with iPhone, I just brought up that example because iPhone has made the largest inroads in the past few years. However, we now have Android and Windows Phone 7 to consider. Nokia is now the only manufacturer making Symbian handsets, and you're trying to tell me that every other manufacturer combined can't outsell them? Please, you're delusional. The ONLY reason that Symbian is so dominant is because they were the only game in town for years. Then, Windows Mobile came and already took large marketshare from them, which shows how vulnerable they really were.
Symbian is now at 50% worldwide marketshare, and they lost 5% last year. If other OS'es don't pick up steam (which they WILL), that already means that Symbian will be at 25% in 5 years, down from something like 75% just 3 years ago. That's the best-case scenario for Symbian. The reality is, their marketshare will slip much faster than that with such compelling options on the market right now. Let me ask you one thing - of all the exciting handsets set to come out this year, how many of them run Symbian? And this completely ignores the fact that most Symbian handsets can only barely be called "smartphones".
Let me close by reminding you of other famous last words:
"Netscape has 90% marketshare, no way Internet Explorer can take over"
"Palm dominates the PDA market, no way Windows Mobile can knock them off the throne."
@Delta I dont want to sound like a freetard or a purist or something... I meant at least on mobile, which is a subset of Desktop, I really do believe that the rules of the game were redefined... Microsoft is nothing on mobile world if compared to the Desktop. Just look at the combined market share of the mobile OSes with the Desktop ones...
The history of Microsoft in desktop and its dominance has a very different parallel. Has to do with Office and OEM partnetships and so on... Just look at OS X and Linux and the advantages it has over Windows.
I am not taking the merit of Microsoft at all... But I still hold that MeeGo and Android will win. I didnt say destroy and make Steve Balmer sell sandwhiches.. There are different definitions of win. Like google won the search market.
@tonicboy Man you have a lot of facts wrong:
-Nokia is not the only company releasing devices with Symbian: http://www.symbian.org/devices
-Last year Nokia lost market share and went to 35% then this year regained market share to 40%
-Windows Mobile didnt just come. They were around for a long time and never made a dent in Symbian share. At least not outside of US and A. Truth be told I met 3 people with WinMo in Europe and countless Symbian (and now some are coming with Android).
I think you are taking the perspective of the US and A market share too much. Dunno if cos you are brain washed by the media there trying at all costs to keep your companies alive but let me tell you one thing. Symbian wont die any time soon.
@tonicboy "Symbian is now at 50% worldwide marketshare, and they lost 5% last year"
Someone missed the part where they gained 4% of that marketshare back in one quarter.
I think LG has got it right.... We need another OS like we need a hole in the head. Stick to making the hardware and use google OS... saves on the overhead which in turns saves us money on the handsets...
@tonicboy Well said...
@thecybernerd
It won't be three...it willl be at least 5, and there is PLENTY of room in the market for it.
You have the first three, then its RIM and Symbian (Meego). Qualcomm's recent announcement that a Snapdragon Symbian phone is on the way is telling. I WANT to believe in WebOS, if only cuz it's fun to root for little Palm...but in the end they will be pushed out or bought.
is there really such thing as symbian fan? i mean they dominate low end phones and even mid range but is there really anyone who prefers to have symbian if so they must be seriously stupid
@thecybernerd I think the 3 smartphone OS are Windows Mobile 7, Android, and Symbian. iPhone OS and Blackberry OS are really just exclusive to the manufacturers.
@NewL
4% of the people, but 20% of the global market.
way to go lg - i've never owned one of your phones, but after i can afford to get rid of this damned samsung, i think i just might
oh and while i agree the os base will (and should) probably desolate, 3 seems like an awfully small number
@mrqs "predominate"
@juanvaldez
umm... no
@mrqs dwindle, diminish, shrink. not desolate.
I didn't quite get why they dislike symbian, but big props for not making an own OS. badabadabadabadabadabada bada ba da ba... oh sorry, i was just making radom sounds.
PS: no spydroid for me.
I didn't see the "s" on likes, and I was wondering just how Android and 7 Series were proprietary.
@insky
They're not, What's being said....is LG will NOT be making an OS for their phones (proprietary software), they will instead be using software made by a software company.
@RideRed
I understand that after I saw the S. That S does change the sentence quite a bit.
Symbian s60 will & is dead but Symbian Foundation ^3 & ^4 looks nice, the new Windows series 7 is awfull, LG does not know what it is talking about all 4 will survive & windows mobile will lose market share to Symbian ^3 & ^4.
@Newwales - Symbian^3 certainly looks quite nice, but WP7 is a lot more interesting UI-wise. I think WP7 will not really capture a whole ton of marketshare anytime soon simply because it is positioned as a premium OS for premium devices, but I'm sure it will reverse the falling market share of WM up to a point.
Android and Symbian are destined to capture the most of the market, obviously - they're free, they can run on fairly simple hardware and they've got some serious industry support.
@NewL
Are you the same NewL that's on SMD?
Way to go LG. Finally somebody with a little sanity and understanding about smartphones. We can't remake apps to help sell every single platform and we don't want to. And since we won't everybody will go to the platforms that we do support. It'll be just like computers when you had everything from Amiga to Commodore. People will go to where the apps are.
WTF? Windows Phone 7 is not proprietary? That's news to me!
@Tuxie
@ least WP7S is licensable if manufacturers have devices meeting specification...
@xconan "Licensable" implies proprietary. Also, Symbian is fully Open Source which makes it way less proprietary that WP7.
@Tuxie - I think LG means proprietary as in "developed and used by only a single company, no licensing". Like Bada or the iPhone OS...
@Tuxie
"The term "proprietary software" is often used to mean computer software which is neither free nor open source (as these terms are variously defined, especially by FOSS advocates such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative). Terminology for forms of software licensing is not fully standardized and can be controversial. A literal meaning of "proprietary" in relation to software is that it has a copyright owner who can exercise control over what users can do with the software, in contrast to public domain"
So really only Symbian and Android are not proprietary software, someone needs to work on their translation.
@fourthletter
Actually after reading the original article as usual the english mistranslation was all done by Engadget, you would think people paid to write stuff would now how to speak the language.
Windows Phone 7 series IS proprietary software, but LG will not be developing THEIR OWN PROPRIETARY software like Samsung.
I hope their Windows Phone 7 Series Phones (God that's a mouthful) are decent....
LG, your S-class UI is just as staid and boring as Mercs, maybe you guys should emulate BMW or Audi and get a M or RS series UI out.
@Inzain Microsoft did,,, does 7 series ring any bells...
Yes they have souch a bad OS why to switch to something whats good. LG is one of the most disapointing Mobile Manufacturers i ever got. I bought an Secret and 2 Hours later i gave it back to the shop souch a crap it was.
Maybe they'll go for Samsung's Bada instead.
lollers.
mmmm..... LG Chocolate 7..... :D
I think Android, WP7S, Meego, Symbian and Bada will still be around in 3 years and maybe WebOS if Palm can stay afloat, maybe should have introduced an exciting new phone at MWC but didn't.
LG should focus on providing a better product and keep out of spats with their more succesful Korean rival (As far as mobile phones gol.
This is very good. Take the resources from making a dumbphone os to designing and developing quality phones
which 3 ? Android and Winmob7 seem shoo-ins (I hope winmob7 ends up less bad than previous incarnations). That leaves 1 spot for MeeGo or Symbian (with Palm, BlackBerry and Bada on the side).
I don't understand how Nokia can commit to 2 OSes. I get that Maemo must be too heavy for low-end phones, but shouldn't they focus on a Maemo Lite, instead of splitting their efforts and their developer community ?
@obarthelemy said
"I don't understand how Nokia can commit to 2 OSes."
Easy. Have over 14 decades if business experience and savvy, spend the most money on mobile R&D in the world, make stacks of money selling as many or more phones than the next three competitors combined, use cash to buy the companies supplying the backbone of the future services of the next era of mobile computing and connectivity along with a gaggle of patent lawyers to protect and monetize all of their research and intellectual property, and build one of the 5 most recognized brands in the history of the world.
Next question...
"I get that Maemo must be too heavy for low-end phones, but shouldn't they focus on a Maemo Lite, instead of splitting their efforts and their developer community ?"
Maemo isn't too heavy for low end phones. Nokia has merely chosen a higher specced minimum hardware requirement to match the typical functions the targeted users will require. Maemo/MeeGo is a desktop class computing OS, much like Windows or OSX, not a smartphone OS like Symbian or Android. Most people that would prefer a pocketable computing device will want a faster, high grade processor and copious amounts of RAM to do the functions usually reserved for a desktop. Phone features can be added, but aren't the focus of the OS. People using sub 600 MHz procs and small screens probably have no intent on using high level computing tasks, and are surely aware those tasks will take much more hardware, crunching power, and infrastructure than a smartphone OS and hardware.
Symbian IS basically Maemo/MeeGo Lite. They both share the Qt application and UI toolkits, having complete compatibility for all Qt based third party software. MeeGo also supports Python and Ruby, which are also supported by Symbian. In fact, the only difference between the two is Symbian doesn't have the Gecko Engine powered Mozilla browser with full Flash, and doesn't support the GTK+ application toolkit, but its not Linux, which MeeGo is, so why would it? And most MeeGo and Symbian devs will prefer Qt anyway.
So this doesn't split, but unites their developer community, as well as draws on the massive global Linux developer community, where they are already familiar with Qt, and will be able to deploy apps on desktop and mobile OSes with one common tool.