“Do It Ourselves” Mobile OSes, Korean Style

Author: Jake Saunders, Vice President of Forecasting

Published: 14 Sep 2011

Once upon a time, customers by and large chose the optimum hardware for PCs or handsets based on price, looks, screen size, and memory. With Apple’s iOS success, swiftly followed by the Open Handset Alliance’s (OHA) Android, operating systems, especially for smartphones and tablets, are a hot topic. Indeed, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in Korea expressed concern over Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The Ministry believes that while Google (and Motorola) belong to the OHA, there is concern that Google could move to becoming a direct competitor to Korea’s smartphone manufacturers. Another possibility is that Motorola could get consistent preferential access to the latest Android OS builds or access to unique features. The Ministry is therefore arguing that Korean device manufacturers should develop their own open source OS.

The full text of this Insight is available to subscribers of the Smartphones & Mobile Devices Research Service and the Asia Intelligence Research Service.

Contact a representative about service purchasing options.