Nokia and Microsoft unveil new OS
Source: Agencies |
February 18, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WORLD giants have rolled out eye-catching new operating systems and promised sharp price cuts in an attempt to maintain the momentum in the fastest growing smart phone market this year.
At the on-going Mobile World Congress in the Spanish city of Barcelona, the world's No. 1 handset maker Nokia and the computer software giant Microsoft have announced their brand new smart phone operating systems. Earlier this month Samsung unveiled its own Bada software platform.
At the Barcelona fair, Nokia unveiled MeeGo, a new mobile operating system jointly developed with the United States chip making giant Intel Corp, South Korea's Yonhap reported on Monday.
The Linux-based MeeGo OS merges Nokia's software Maemo and Intel's Moblin, the two companies said. Nokia and Intel emphasized that MeeGo is an open source platform, which could be adopted by a wide variety of computing devices including mobile handsets.
Microsoft also unveiled a new version of its mobile software, Windows Phone 7 Series, hoping to win back the interest of handset device makers that have shifted away from its previous Windows Mobile series, which received a lukewarm response from smart phone users.
The new software is a dramatic change from previous generations of the software that used to be called Windows Mobile. But Microsoft is, for now, sticking to its model of making the software and selling it to phone manufacturers, rather than making its own phones.
Microsoft's mobile system powered 13.1 percent of smart phones sold in the US last year, according to research firm In-Stat. That made it No. 3 after Research In Motion Ltd's BlackBerry and the iPhone. But Microsoft has been losing market share while Apple and Google Inc's Android gained.
Samsung said its new operating platform Bada would expand the target market for smart phones significantly in emerging markets.
"We plan to raise the portion of Bada this year," J K Shin, president of Samsung's handset business unit, said.
The series of new mobile softwares unveiled this week in Spain highlight the rising recognition by mobile industry players that it is the software that differentiates smart phones, the segment that some analysts expect will likely catch up with the traditional feature phone market as early as this year.
Meanwhile, handset vendors have promised to roll out new, cheaper models and cut prices of the older phones.
First Symbian smart phones with unsubsidized prices of 100 euros (US$137) will reach the market this year, the chief of the world's most widely used smart phone platform told Reuters.
"This year we will see a few products hitting that point," Lee Williams, head of the Symbian Foundation, said.
The cheapest of Nokia's Symbian phones now sells for 120-130 euros, without operator subsidies.
At the on-going Mobile World Congress in the Spanish city of Barcelona, the world's No. 1 handset maker Nokia and the computer software giant Microsoft have announced their brand new smart phone operating systems. Earlier this month Samsung unveiled its own Bada software platform.
At the Barcelona fair, Nokia unveiled MeeGo, a new mobile operating system jointly developed with the United States chip making giant Intel Corp, South Korea's Yonhap reported on Monday.
The Linux-based MeeGo OS merges Nokia's software Maemo and Intel's Moblin, the two companies said. Nokia and Intel emphasized that MeeGo is an open source platform, which could be adopted by a wide variety of computing devices including mobile handsets.
Microsoft also unveiled a new version of its mobile software, Windows Phone 7 Series, hoping to win back the interest of handset device makers that have shifted away from its previous Windows Mobile series, which received a lukewarm response from smart phone users.
The new software is a dramatic change from previous generations of the software that used to be called Windows Mobile. But Microsoft is, for now, sticking to its model of making the software and selling it to phone manufacturers, rather than making its own phones.
Microsoft's mobile system powered 13.1 percent of smart phones sold in the US last year, according to research firm In-Stat. That made it No. 3 after Research In Motion Ltd's BlackBerry and the iPhone. But Microsoft has been losing market share while Apple and Google Inc's Android gained.
Samsung said its new operating platform Bada would expand the target market for smart phones significantly in emerging markets.
"We plan to raise the portion of Bada this year," J K Shin, president of Samsung's handset business unit, said.
The series of new mobile softwares unveiled this week in Spain highlight the rising recognition by mobile industry players that it is the software that differentiates smart phones, the segment that some analysts expect will likely catch up with the traditional feature phone market as early as this year.
Meanwhile, handset vendors have promised to roll out new, cheaper models and cut prices of the older phones.
First Symbian smart phones with unsubsidized prices of 100 euros (US$137) will reach the market this year, the chief of the world's most widely used smart phone platform told Reuters.
"This year we will see a few products hitting that point," Lee Williams, head of the Symbian Foundation, said.
The cheapest of Nokia's Symbian phones now sells for 120-130 euros, without operator subsidies.
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