Juniper forecasts significant increase in open source smartphones by 2014

The number of Smartphones shipped with open source operating systems (OS) will increase from 106 million this year to 223 million by 2014 according to a new report from telecom consultants Juniper Research.

The Open Source OS research found that operating systems and the applications are playing an increasingly important role in the differentiation of new smartphones and a key factor in the choice of which handset to choose from by users.

AppStore and Open-Source The last three years has seen a revolution in the OS market with market leader Symbian moving to open source and Apple leading the way in the distribution of Applications through their innovative, but now widely copied, AppStore approach. The move to open-source OS has also encouraged developers to design new and attractive applications and with over 60% of the OS market is now based on open-source, and a sizeable pool of software design talent out there, there is a massive opportunity for innovation.

However, the real key is not whether the OS is open-source but whether it's easy for a developer to design an application and make money from that effort. The combined changes of Apple's open route to the market and LiMo, OHA and Symbian's open-source OS approach have generated a tidal wave-like effect which even the economic downturn has been unable to reverse.

There is a clear warning for device manufacturers - the choice of OS is now critical and market share will, to a large extent, follow application development. The unexpected side effect however will be a shift in the balance of power towards application developers and end users - they will begin to play the tune!

Indian Telecom Story (Part XI): Return to Grey?

Maharashtra state government has upped the Value Added Tax on mobile phones from 4% to 12.5%. This translates to an increase in tax revenues for the government from Rs.12 crore per month to Rs.36 per month. Notably, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) is displeased and so are the mobile vendors.

This move would open up the grey markets while hitting business and employment in the organized sector. It is noteworthy that the boom in the organized device sector was a result of a reduction of high tax regime in 2002. This move is also being cited as a classic case of not understanding that this is a global market and it takes less than a dollar to transport mobiles across continents. This is a very short sighted move, which would be self defeating in the long run and will reverse the growth in the industry. Since, the organized telecom as an industry has been a cash cow for the government, hurting the revenues and businesses of the organized players would hurt the long term socio economic development of the state as well.

Such counter-productive policy making will negatively impact private enterprise and open markets’ and the very essence of economic growth in the long term in favour of short term subsidy for electoral and populist measures. Our state and our cities are ranked low by international businesses in terms of ease of doing business. Our growth planners, still need to learn from the Chinese model of state sponsored private industry.