Cell phones have come a long way from the giant bricks they started out as. Now these marvels of technology can give you directions, order a pizza, play games, and stream movies all at the same time. All of these great features are due to the great innovations behind the operating systems that power them. In a sea of cell phones, five operating systems are fighting for your attention.
1. BlackBerry. One of the first cell phones to sport a hefty OS is the RIM BlackBerry. When BlackBerry first hit the cell phone market, it was aimed squarely at the business user. BlackBerry connected to corporate email and made it easy for business types to stay connected in an ever increasingly connected world. BlackBerry is now shifting gears and looking to win consumers. They may be loosing their top spot, but they are not going down without a fight. Most notable in this fight is a new tablet device that is soon to hit the market.
2. WebOS. Palm was once the pinnacle of handheld personal information managers. The PalmPre Cell phone challenged the market in times that continue to see cell phones get bigger and bigger. The modding and home programmer currently loves WebOS. This is mainly due to how easy it is to develop a small application and get it onto PalmPre devices. Though Palm is now part of HP, the WebOS continues to grow and expand. HP is now looking to move the WebOS from the cell phone market to the tablet market with the imminent release of the HP Slate.
3. Window Phone 7. Microsoft has never really been a huge player in the cell phone market. Sure, they have had cell phone operating systems before, but they were always second best to the like of RIM and Palm. Now Microsoft has a new phone OS that changes the game for this software giant. Taking several queues from the Zune software, Windows Phone 7 is all about connectivity. The OS connects to the Zune market place opening up a huge library of music choice. It also connects to Xbox Live, thus giving games access to the gaming network with XBL games slowly finding their way to the phone. This is an ambitious project from Microsoft and the battle will be a hard fought one for this company.
2. Android. Android is an OS developed by Google. When Android first hit the market, it was met with a large amount of negativity and dislike. Google pressed on, and now they have a cell phone OS that is quickly taking over the world. Android runs on an abundance of cell phones on every carrier. Android has also been through a porting process and is now being incorporated into tablet devices. Android is an open platform, thus giving cell phone companies and developers the freedom to do as they please with this OS.
1. iOS. Welcome to the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Apple once said they would never enter the cell phone market. Yet here we are, and they have created a cell phone and OS that has developed a huge fan base. iOS has gone from novelty to an OS that everyone from consumer to fortune 500 companies is embracing. The biggest setback to this OS is the fact that it is locked into one cell phone carrier. Speculation is that this will soon change, and customers everywhere eagerly await iOS phones to march into more cell phone carrier stores.
