The term smart phone was introduced in 1997 but the idea had been put forward for quite some time. Products like the IBM Simon and several models of Nokia, Motorola and Ericcsson were capable of sending/receiving calls, text messages and personal digital assistance. The term Smart Phones was later described as a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system with advanced computing capability and connectivity than a feature phone. The most commonly used mobile operating systems today are Google Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry OS and Microsoft Windows Mobile OS. Here we will compare these most popular mobile OS and their environment.
Google Android OS
Android is a Linux based OS designed for touch screen mobile phones and tablet computers. It was launched in 2007 as an open source code OS. Android is the most popular mobile operating system capturing almost 40% of the mobile OS market. Its open source environment has led to development of thousands of different applications for business, entertainment, internet, connectivity and more. The most prominent feature of the Android OS is its open source platform. Google releases the official SDK for mobile application development along with the release of a new version of the Android OS. With little one-time-only fees the developed apps can be posted on the Google Play or Android App store.
Apple iOS
Apple iOS is a mobile operating system developed and distributed by Apple Inc. it was released in 2007 for the touch screen mobile handsets, media devices and tablet computers. The user interface of the iOS is based on the concept of multi touch gestures and several other features which made it popular. The iOS environment is perfect for applications of different genre which are developed by other companies. The Apple App Store has the largest collection of mobile applications for iPhone, iPad and iPod. iOS is fast and can switch between apps and has several other user friendly features which has made iPhone popular. Apple also launches the MAC OS based SDK for iPhone application development. It is free for downloading and because of this step iPhone App Store has more than 700K applications available for download.
BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry was one of the first smart phone manufacturers. Since the beginning, BlackBerry has its own OS. The BlackBerry is best known for its support for email, web browsing, applications and synchronization with home or office computers. It was also the first hand held device to feature a full QWERTY key board on a mobile. BlackBerry apps can be downloaded from the BlackBerry app world. BlackBerry OS is a closed code operating system making development of applications rather limited than iPhone and Android. But the popularity of BlackBerry is too much and is the third most demanded mobile phone in the market. The BlackBerry app SDK is available for windows and Mac which is free and BlackBerry allows free publishing in the App World.
Windows Phone OS
Windows phone is a family of operating systems designed for mobile phones and launched in 2011. It has also become very popular in a very little time because the platform is user friendly. There are thousands of applications available for Windows Phone on the web store. These applications make the windows phone OS a user friendly interface. Windows Phone applications can be developed on different software available on Microsoft Windows.
