In a new study, ABI Research says it anticipates that Linux-enabled mobile devices, led by the success of Google’s Android and upcoming Chrome OSs, will comprise 62% of the operating systems shipping in all (non-smartphone) mobile devices by 2015.
“The number of Linux-oriented initiatives recently seen in the mobile industry indicates that Linux will be a key technology in the next generation of netbooks, media tablets, and other mobile devices,” says senior analyst Victoria Fodale.
Despite the growing number of Linux distributions in the mobile market, Linux has a unified base of upstream components, most notably the Linux kernel, says Fodale.
Multiple application ecosystems – provided by Google’s Android and Chrome OSs, MeeGo, and Palm’s webOS – ride on top of the unified Linux components. This model enables companies to share the cost of research and development, yet differentiate their offerings in the marketplace.
The new ABI Research study, “Linux for Mobile Devices”, is aid to examine the key market issues in the Linux ecosystem, as well as the technology drivers within the mobile device segment. It highlights the strengths and weakness of each mobile Linux platform including architecture, development, applications, and governance models. Detailed regional forecasts of shipments by each Linux-enabled platform are included.
The study is said to only cover the mobile computing device segment; smartphones are covered in the firm’s “Mobile Linux” report.