INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The discussion around choosing a mobile operating system has gotten a bit stale lately- you either get an iPhone or one of the many Android
and Windows Mobile, all competing against each other
But I can see a scenario playing out where consumers have at least two more options available to them other than iOS and Android.The first
contender is Huawei with its open-source HarmonyOS which is being forced into development due to the trade wars between the US and China
realized that it needs to own as much of its stack as it can
open-source HarmonyOS? Between these companies, IDC estimates a market share of over 42% and that could lead to a devastating blow for
Google and the Android ecosystem as we know it.Huawei as well as Xiaomi and Oppo already have their custom UIs developed on top of Android
It's the layer their consumers see and recognize a phone by and with a little work, each of these companies can port their user-interface to
unlikely to care about the underlying operating system
convincing developers to create apps for this new platform, but with a 42% global market share (assuming Vivo, Xiaomi, Oppo and co
agree to using Harmony OS) and a few billion dollars in funding it should make things easier for Huawei
Sure, it is an area where giants like Microsoft or BlackBerry failed but their market share of targeted phones never touched
Yes, Microsoft has already failed twice with mobile operating systems, but with the introduction of its new dual screen devices- the Surface
From a hardware perspective, there are components currently available that are fast enough to easily run the full version of Windows 10 on
couple of year back?It's because Microsoft wants to start over by eliminating all the bloat that legacy Windows carries with itself but at
the same time retain the ability to run modern apps
Windows 10X will do just that and is expected to only come as bundled on devices
such as Surface Duo.But Microsoft chose to release the phone-sized Surface Duo with Android
And the very valid reason Panos Panay, chief product officer at Microsoft gave for that was that apps exist on Android
pre-installed with Windows 10X
Microsoft has tried this with metro apps and limited success but the proposition this time is the sexy new form factor with dual
Android based Surface Duo
interesting how both Huawei and Microsoft could leverage the customization of Android to their advantages- and possibly as stepping stones
to lure customers into their own platforms
