| OS Name |
Pros |
Cons |
Owned by |
|
2009 rank |
2012 rank |
Source |
|
| Mac OS |
Already popular |
Only for iPhone |
Apple |
1 |
Blackberry |
Symbian |
Gartner |
|
| |
Controlled by Apple only so no compatibility issue |
Not open source |
|
2 |
Symbian |
Android |
|
|
| |
|
Too many restrictions unless phone is jail broken |
|
3 |
iPhone |
iPhone |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
4 |
|
Win Mobile |
|
|
| Android |
Open source |
|
Google |
5 |
|
Blackberry |
|
|
| |
Linux based - runs on DVM which is similar to Java Virtual Machine |
|
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| |
Good number of applications |
|
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| |
Java like deveopment environment |
|
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|
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|
|
|
| |
PC based emulator available for app testing |
|
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|
|
| |
Getting high funding form Google |
|
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| |
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| Symbian |
Most popular now |
Heavily funded by Nokia, who is now moving to Linux Maemo |
Nokia |
|
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| |
Open source |
|
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| |
Can run Java based apps |
|
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| |
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| Linux Maemo |
Debian based Linux |
Very new, only backed by Nokia at present |
Nokia |
|
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|
| |
Can run most desktop Linux apps |
Powerful hardware is required to run |
|
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| |
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| Web OS/Palm |
|
Only for Palm devices |
Palm |
|
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| |
|
App availability minimal at present |
|
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| |
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| Win Mobile |
Windows like interfaces |
Only supported by Microsoft |
Microsoft |
|
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| |
Native support to Word, Excel |
|
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| Blackberry |
A large user base |
Proprietary OS |
Research in Motion (RIM) |
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| |
|
Future not promising |
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