Droid Does. Does what exactly?
It’s been about a year since those Motorola “Droid Does” commercials were peppered all over your TV and radio, and the big talk of many new phones often involves the word Android. Even some major news outlets seem to mix apples and oranges (like this one here) when talking about cell phone handsets and the software that makes them run. Technically, it’s incorrect to compare Apple to Blackberry to Android.
Android is an operating system1 used in many mobile phones from several different companies, including Motorola, HTC, LG, Samsung, etc. It is also used in several upcoming tablet computers and other mobile gadgets. As for the other companies’ handsets:
- Apple’s iPhones use an Apple-developed operating system called iOS.
- Blackberry phones2 use Blackberry OS.
- Newer Palm phones like the Pre and Pixi use Palm’s system called webOS.
- Microsoft has a handful of mobile OS platforms, from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone OS to a new Windows Embedded Handheld OS. It’s a bevy of choices with no clear focus and explains why Android’s OS has surpassed Microsoft in market share of new phones.
- Lastly, while not popular in the U.S., Nokia phones use an OS called Symbian which is currently the largest market share holder worldwide.
(video above is a commercial for the new Droid X phone by Motorola which runs the Android OS)
Now you have a better understanding of Android and its competitors, and just in time because mobile OS are in the news now with Research in Motion announcing its quarterly earnings today and Gartner (a technology research company) issuing a statement predicting that Symbian and Android will battle for the top mobile OS spot by 2014.
Read on:
Android.com – What is Android?
CRN.com – Invasion: Android Makes Big Gains In OS Share, Passing Microsoft
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