Battle heating up over phone software

February 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

As smart phones increasingly appear alike, with high-end models mostly taking their cues from Apple Inc.’s iPhone, more and more it’s the software they run that makes a difference.

A growing number of operating systems are jostling for the attention of phone buyers and manufacturers. The winners will determine what our phones can do, which Web sites we’re steered to, and which manufacturers will survive the next few years.

The battle will be on display as wireless carriers and phone makers gather next week in Barcelona, Spain, for the industry’s largest trade show, Mobile World Congress. The CEO of Google Inc., suddenly a strong contender in phone software, will address the show. Also hoping to make a splash is Microsoft Corp., which is struggling to revitalize its software.

One in six U.S. adults had a smart phone last year, according to Forrester Research. That share is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years.

Analysts don’t expect smart phones to settle on one kind of operating software, such as the PC industry largely has with Microsoft’s Windows. But analysts do expect the smart-phone field to be winnowed down to two to four winners over the next few years.

These are the contenders, starting with the largest worldwide market share:

USymbian: Nokia Corp.’s use of Symbian software has taken it to the top, but its perch is precarious. It’s down from 56 percent worldwide share in 2008 to 44 percent in 2009, according to research firm In-Stat. Even though it’s No. 1 in the world, it’s nearly unknown in the U.S. One problem is that Nokia and Symbian have failed to keep up with the latest trends in the U.S. market, particularly touch screens.

UiPhone: Apple’s phone continues to roil the industry, and its sales more than quadrupled last year. Its features are a model for competitors, and it has by far the most support from application developers, despite complaints about the company’s opaque and slow approval process.

UBlackBerry: Research in Motion Ltd. of Canada uses its own software for its BlackBerrys and doesn’t license it to others. Though sales are still growing strongly, they could not keep up with Apple’s growth last year, and the iPhone’s market share at 19.8 percent edged past the BlackBerry’s 19.2 percent, according to In-Stat.

UWindows Mobile: Once a pioneer in smart phones, Microsoft is struggling to keep up. Manufacturers such as Motorola Corp. and HTC Corp. are shifting away from Windows Mobile toward Google’s Android. Last year, fewer Windows Mobile phones were sold than the year before, even in a market that grew 35 percent.

UAndroid: Google’s software has been on a tear, racking up a lot of support from manufacturers and favorable reviews. There was just one Android phone out in 2008. At the end of 2009, there were more than a dozen, from Motorola, HTC, Samsung and others.