Newbie mobile operating systems

Newbie mobile operating systems challenge Android, iOS

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Newbie mobile operating systems challenge Android, iOS

Smartphones have effectively become a duopoly with Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems.

The Windows Phone 8 and the new BlackBerry tried to contain their dominance but so far haven't made a significant dent on the big mobile OSes.

Many now believe that there is a lot more room for other operating systems to come about and maybe help with the enormous device fragmentation that Android users and developers face.

We take a look at some of the new mobile operating systems that are coming in this year to wow the consumer:

Firefox OS

The cute little orange fox of the web has been busy on its new operating systems.

Yes, Firefox has the support of a number of hardware manufacturers and carriers.

China's ZTE, France's Alcatel, Spain's Telefonica and America's Sprint are Firefox's partners.

Telefonica, meanwhile, has ambitious plans in Latin America where it has a strong presence; the OS is to debut in Brazil later this year.

Firefox is highly web-centric and has been designed with a lot of HTML5.

Though it is similar to Android, it will not support Android applications.

MeeGo Successor

Made from the ashes of MeeGo, the OS abandoned by Nokia in favour of the Windows Phone.

The Finnish company has been getting a lot of support from Chinese manufacturers First phones expected to roll out this year

Tizen OS

It has been jointly developed by Samsung and Intel Apps will be web-based and run on HTML5; Firefox apps should be compatible with this operating system.

It was created after MeeGo OS was abandoned by Nokia.

Jolla Sailfish

Jolla is a Finnish company that was working on Nokia's MeeGo and is now working on a new operating system which is truly the underdog.

It has also been drumming a lot of support from a number of Chinese manufacturers; it is also basing its servers in China.

The Jolla smartphone first showcased its user interface at an event in November and called it Sailfish.

Watch out: the first Silfish phones are expected to roll out in this year.

The Chinese angle gives Jolla a cost advantage in a highly competitive environment.

Ubuntu

It is based on Linux like Android, but will not support Android applications.

But you can download a number of other open-source applications; it runs more like a desktop.

Though it doesn't support Android applications, it can be installed on your existing Android hardware.

Though both Android and Ubuntu will be Linux-based, Ubuntu will not be supporting Oracle's Java Virtual Machine, which means that it won't be able to run Android applications.

Ubuntu says this was simply done to avoid device fragmentation that Android mostly suffers from.

Ubuntu offers a big variety of applications and a desktop feel when the phone is docked to a keyboard and mouse.

The other ace up Ubuntu's sleeve: you can install the software on any existing Android hardware.

Web-centric system

It targets the low-end and budget smartphones and will debut in Latin America later this year.

It is highly web-centric and apps will be based on HTML5.

Firefox is also planning a web store of its own where people can download apps.

Report by : ET