by Peter Svensson Associated Press Feb. 12, 2010 12:00 AM
As smartphones increasingly appear alike, with high-end models mostly taking their cues from Apple Inc.'s iPhone, more and more it is the software they run that makes a difference.
A growing number of operating systems are jostling for the attention of phone buyers and manufacturers. The winners will determine what our phones can do, which Web sites we're steered to and which manufacturers will survive the next few years.
The battle will be on display as wireless carriers and phone makers gather next week in Barcelona, Spain, for the Mobile World Congress, the industry's largest trade show. One in six U.S. adults had a smartphone last year, according to Forrester Research. That share is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years, as consumers warm to mobile devices that can run a wide range of applications and surf the Web nearly as well as computers.Analysts don't expect smartphones to settle on one kind of operating software, like the PC industry largely has with Microsoft's Windows. But analysts do expect the smartphone field to be winnowed down to two to four winners over the next few years.
Here are some starting with the largest worldwide market share:
Symbian
Nokia Corp.'s use of Symbian software has taken it to the top, but its perch is precarious. It's down from a 56 percent worldwide share in 2008 to 44 percent in 2009, according to research firm In-Stat. Even though it's No. 1 in the world, it's nearly unknown in the U.S. One problem is that Nokia and Symbian have failed to keep up with the latest trends in the U.S. market, particularly touch screens. To power more-capable phones, Nokia is now trying a version of the Linux operating system called Maemo.
iPhone
Apple's phone sales more than quadrupled last year. Its features are a model for competitors, and it has by far the most support from application developers.
But although Apple is likely to be one of the winners in the smartphone fight of the coming years, its reach will be limited because Apple doesn't allow any other manufacturer to use the iPhone operating system. And Apple doesn't make a wide variety of phones to choose from - just two models, with some variations in color and memory capacity.
BlackBerry
Research in Motion Ltd. of Canada uses its own software for its BlackBerrys and doesn't license it to others. Though sales are still growing strongly, they could not keep up with Apple's growth last year, and the iPhone's market share at 19.8 percent edged past the BlackBerry's 19.2 percent, according to In-Stat.
"The BlackBerry platform looks old and tired. It needs a significant scrub and redo," ABI Research analyst Stuart Carlaw said.
Windows Mobile
Once a pioneer in smartphones, Microsoft is struggling to keep up. Manufacturers are shifting away from Windows Mobile toward Google's Android.
Microsoft is expected to show off a new version of its mobile software Monday.
Android
Google's software has been on a tear, racking up a lot of support from manufacturers and favorable reviews. There was just one Android phone out in 2008. At the end of 2009, there were more than a dozen. Android is free for manufacturers as part of Google's effort to stimulate use of its Web services on cellphones. It's attracting a lot of attention from application developers, but the offerings still don't match those on the iPhone.
