A 

mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, a mobile platform, or a handheld operating
system, is the operating systemthat controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in
principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS, or Linux that controls a desktop
computer or laptop. However, they are currently somewhat simpler, and deal more with the wireless
versions of broadband and local connectivity, mobile multimedia formats, and different input methods.

Typical examples of devices running a mobile operating system are smartphones, personal digital

assistants (PDAs), tablet computers andinformation appliances, or what are sometimes referred to as
smart devices, which may also include embedded systems, or other mobile devices and wireless devices.
Operating systems that can be found onsmartphones like Nokia's Symbian
OS,Apple's iOS, RIM's BlackBerry OS,Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, Linux,Palm
WebOS, Google's Android,Samsung's Bada (operating system) andNokia's Maemo. Android, Bada,
WebOS and Maemo are in turn built on top ofLinux, and the iPhone OS is derived from
the BSD and NeXTSTEP operating systems, which all are related to Unix.

Symbian OS is one of Nokia's mobile operating systems for mobile devices andsmartphones, with

associated libraries, user interface, frameworks and reference implementations of common tools,
originally developed by Symbian Ltd.[3] It is a descendant of Psion's EPOC and runs exclusively
on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed.

In 2008, the former Symbian Software Limited was acquired by Nokia and a new independent non-profit
organisation called the Symbian Foundation was established. Symbian OS and its associated user
interfaces S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) were contributed by their owners to the foundation with the objective of
creating the Symbian platform as a royalty-free, open source software. The platform has been designated
as the successor to Symbian OS, following the official launch of the Symbian Foundation in April 2009.
The Symbian platformwas officially made available as open source code in February 2010.[4]

Devices based on Symbian OS accounted for 46.9% of smartphone sales in 2009[5], but the platform's
market share dropped to 41% as of Q2 2010[6]. Some estimates indicate that the cumulative number of
mobile devices shipped with the Symbian OS up to the end of Q2 2010 is 385 million[7].
iOS (Apple)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iOS

iOS 4.1 on the  iPhone 4

Company /developer Apple Inc.

Programmed in C, C++, Objective-C

OS family Mac OS X/Unix-like

Working state Current

Initial release June 29, 2007

Latest stable release 4.1 (Build 8B117)

 For iPhone and iPod touchReleased September 8,

2010; 60 days ago

[+/−]

Latest unstable release 4.2 GM (Build 8C134)

For iPhone, iPod touch andiPad Released

November 1, 2010; 6 days ago

[+/−]

Availablelanguage(s) Multilingual

Supported platforms ARM (iPhone, iPod Touch andiPad)

Kernel type Hybrid (Darwin)

Default user interface Cocoa Touch (Multi-touch,GUI)

License Proprietary EULA except for open source

components

Officialwebsite iOS Dev Center

iOS is Apple's mobile operating system. Developed originally for the iPhone, it has since been shipped on
the iPod Touch, iPad and Apple TV as well. Apple does not permit the OS to run on third-party hardware.
As of October 20, 2010, Apple's App Store contains more than 300,000 iOS applications[1], which have
collectively been downloaded more than 7.5 billion times, as per a keynote on October 20, 2010. As of
May 2010, it had a 15.4% share of the smartphoneoperating system market in terms of units sold, third
behind Symbian and RIM's Blackberry,[2]but accounted for 59% of mobile web consumption (not including
the iPad) in North America.[3]

The user interface of iOS is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touchgestures.

Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. The response to user input is
immediate and provides a fluid interface. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swiping,
tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching. Internal accelerometers are used by some applications to
respond to shaking the device (one common result is the undo command) or rotating it in three
dimensions (one common result is switching from portrait to landscape mode).

iOS is derived from Mac OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore aUnix-
like operating system by nature.
In iOS, there are four abstraction layers: the Core OS layer, the Core Services layer, the Media layer, and
the Cocoa Touch layer. The operating system uses roughly 500 megabytes of the device's storage,
varying for each model.[4]

Naming
The first day that Apple announced the iPhone and iOS, Cisco Systems sued Apple. The name IOS had
been used by Cisco for over a decade for its IOS used on Cisco routers. To avoid the lawsuit, Apple
licensed the name "IOS" from Cisco as a settlement.[5]

Multitasking

Before iOS 4, multitasking was limited to a selection of the applications Apple included on the devices.
[22]
 Apple worried that running multiple third-party applications simultaneously would drain batteries too
quickly. Starting with iOS 4, on 3rd-generation and newer iOS devices, multitasking is supported through
seven background APIs:[23]

1. Background audio
2. Voice over IP
3. Background location
4. Push notifications
5. Local notifications
6. Task finishing
7. Fast app switching
[edit]Switching applications

Double-pressing the home button activates the application switcher. A scrollable dock-like interface
appears from the bottom, moving the contents of the screen up. Choosing an icon switches to an
application. To the far left are icons which function as music controls, and a rotation lock. Holding the
icons briefly makes them wiggle (similarly to the homescreen) and allows the user to quit the applications.

[edit]Game Center
Main article:  Game Center

Game Center is an online multiplayer "social gaming network"[24] released by Apple.[25] It allows users to

"invite friends to play a game, start a multiplayer game through matchmaking, track their achievements,
and compare their high scores on a leader board."[24]
Game Center was announced during an iOS 4 preview event hosted by Apple on April 8, 2010. A preview
was released to registered Apple developers in August.[26] It was released on September 8, 2010 with iOS
4.1 on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 2nd generation through 4th generation, and will be included
with iOS 4.2 on the iPad.[27] There will be no support for the iPhone 3G and original iPhone. However,
Game Center is unofficially available on the iPhone 3G via a hack.[28]

[edit]Unsupported technologies

iOS does not support Adobe Flash or Java.[29] Websites that use these technologies cannot be viewed in
full using iOS devices. In an open letter explaining why Flash is not supported, Steve Jobs called the
Adobe product insecure, buggy, battery-intensive, and incompatible with a touch interface.[30]

iOS 4's web browser does support a number of HTML5 technologies which Apple recommends as

alternatives for typical uses of Flash, including native HTML5 video (with limited codec support), and
the canvas element for drawing 2D graphics.

BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for

its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices. The operating system provides multitasking and
supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by RIM for use in its handhelds, particularly
the trackwheel, trackball, and most recently, the trackpad and touchscreen.

The BlackBerry platform is perhaps best known for its native support for corporate email,
through MIDP 1.0 and, more recently, a subset of MIDP 2.0, which allows complete wireless activation
and synchronization with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise email, calendar, tasks,
notes, and contacts, when used in conjunction with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The operating system
also supports WAP 1.2.

Updates to the operating system may be automatically available from wireless carriers that support the
BlackBerry OTASL (over the air software loading) service.

Third-party developers can write software using the available BlackBerry API (application programming
interface) classes, although applications that make use of certain functionality must be digitally signed.

BlackBerry OS
 BlackBerry OS 5 (on a BlackBerry Bold 9000)

Company /developer Research In Motion

Programmed in C++[1]

OS family mobile operating systems

Working state current

Source model closed source

Latest stable release 6.0 (BlackBerry Torch 9800) / August 2010

Availablelanguage(s) US English, UK English, French, Spanish,

Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Basque,

Catalan, Galician, Italian, German, Greek,

Dutch, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian,

Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Indonesian, Thai,

Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese

(Simplified), Korean

Availableprogramming Java

languages(s)

Supported platforms BlackBerry line of smartphones

 Kernel type Java based

Default user interface graphical user interface

License proprietary

Officialwebsite blackberry.com

BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for

its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices. The operating system provides multitasking and
supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by RIM for use in its handhelds, particularly
the trackwheel, trackball, and most recently, the trackpad and touchscreen.

The BlackBerry platform is perhaps best known for its native support for corporate email,
through MIDP 1.0 and, more recently, a subset of MIDP 2.0, which allows complete wireless activation
and synchronization with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise email, calendar, tasks,
notes, and contacts, when used in conjunction with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The operating system
also supports WAP 1.2.

Updates to the operating system may be automatically available from wireless carriers that support the
BlackBerry OTASL (over the air software loading) service.

Third-party developers can write software using the available BlackBerry API (application programming
interface) classes, although applications that make use of certain functionality must be digitally signed.

[edit]Current versions
While RIM develops and releases updated versions of its operating system to support each device, it is
up to the individual carriers to decide if and when a version is released to its users. On April 2010 RIM
announced the new BlackBerry OS 6.0 version, which will be released in the 3rd quarter 2010.[2]

BlackBerry Tablet OS
Main article:  BlackBerry Tablet OS

On September 27 2010, RIM announced a new unrelated QNX-based platform, BlackBerry Tablet OS, to
run on its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer.[12]

QNX is going to completely replace BlackBerry OS as of BlackBerry 7.[13]

Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was for use
insmartphones and mobile devices, but is being phased out to specialized markets.[2]

The current version is called "Windows Mobile 6.5". It is based on the Windows CE 5.2kernel, and
features a suite of basic applications developed using the Microsoft WindowsAPI. It is designed to be
somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows, feature-wise and aesthetically. Additionally, third-
party software development is available for Windows Mobile, and software applications can be purchased
via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Originally appearing as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system, most Windows Mobile devices come with
a stylus pen, which is used to enter commands by tapping it on the screen.[3] Microsoft announced a
completely new phone platform, Windows Phone 7, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on
February 15, 2010. Phones running Windows Mobile 6.x will not be upgradeable to version 7.[4]

Windows Mobile's share of the Smartphone market has fallen year-on-year,[5] decreasing 20% in Q3
2009.[6] It is the 5th most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide
smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Android and iPhone).[7]In the United States, it is the
3rd most popular smartphone operating system for business use (after BlackBerry OS and iPhone), with a
24% share among enterprise users.[8]Microsoft is phasing out Windows Mobile to specialized markets,
such as rugged devices, and focusing on its new mobile platform, Windows Phone 7.[2]

Windows Mobile
 Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Today Screen

Company /developer Microsoft

Programmed in C++[1]

OS family Windows CE

Working state Current

Initial release 19 April 2000; 10 years ago

Latest stable release 6.5.3 / 2 February 2010; 8 months ago

Latest unstable release 6.5.5

Marketing target Mobile devices

Kernel type Windows CE 5.2 (released in 2004)

Default user interface Graphical

 License Proprietary (Microsoft EULA)

Official website Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was for use

insmartphones and mobile devices, but is being phased out to specialized markets.[2]

The current version is called "Windows Mobile 6.5". It is based on the Windows CE 5.2kernel, and
features a suite of basic applications developed using the Microsoft WindowsAPI. It is designed to be
somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows, feature-wise and aesthetically. Additionally, third-
party software development is available for Windows Mobile, and software applications can be purchased
via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Originally appearing as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system, most Windows Mobile devices come with
a stylus pen, which is used to enter commands by tapping it on the screen.[3] Microsoft announced a
completely new phone platform, Windows Phone 7, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on
February 15, 2010. Phones running Windows Mobile 6.x will not be upgradeable to version 7.[4]

Windows Mobile's share of the Smartphone market has fallen year-on-year,[5] decreasing 20% in Q3
2009.[6] It is the 5th most popular smartphone operating system, with a 5% share of the worldwide
smartphone market (after Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Android and iPhone).[7]In the United States, it is the
3rd most popular smartphone operating system for business use (after BlackBerry OS and iPhone), with a
24% share among enterprise users.[8]Microsoft is phasing out Windows Mobile to specialized markets,
such as rugged devices, and focusing on its new mobile platform, Windows Phone 7.[2]

Windows Phone from Microsoft (negligible Market Share Sales in October 2010)(closed source,

proprietary)
On February 15th, 2010 Microsoft unveiled its next-generation mobile OS, Windows Phone 7.
The new mobile OS includes a completely new over-hauled UI inspired by Microsoft's "Metro
Design Language". It includes full integration of Microsoft services such as Windows
Live, Zune, Xbox Live and Bing, but also integrates with many other non-Microsoft services such
as Facebook and Google accounts. The new OS platform has received some positive reception
from the technology press.[12][13][14] As Windows Phone 7 is a new platform, there is no backwards
compatibility with Windows Mobile applications and some power-user features that were in
Windows Mobile will not be present until near-future updates.

Windows Phone 7
 The Start screen in Windows Phone 7.

Company /developer Microsoft Corporation

OS family Windows CE

Working state Released

NA
 November 8, 2010
Initial release
 October 21, 2010
EU

Latest stable release

7.0.7004.0  (October 21, 2010; 17 days ago)

[+/−]

Latest unstable release [+/−]

Supported platforms Silverlight, Microsoft XNA,Adobe Flash

 Kernel type Windows CE 6.0 R3 [1]

License Proprietary (Microsoft EULA)

Official website www.windowsphone7.com

Windows Phone 7 is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to
their Windows Mobile platform.[2] It launched in Europe, Singapore and Australasia on October 21, 2010,
and is due to launch in the US & Canada on November 8, 2010, with Asia to follow in 2011.[3] With
Windows Phone 7, Microsoft offers a new Metrouser interface, integrates the operating system with
Microsoft's other services, and plans to strictly control the hardware it runs on.[4]

Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 7 on February 15, 2010, at Mobile World Congress 2010 in
Barcelona[5] and revealed additional details at MIX 2010 on March 15. Windows Phone 7 was released to
manufacturing on September 1, 2010,[6] and the final SDK was made available on September 16, 2010.[7]

webOS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the metacomputing term, see Web operating system. For the company formerly known as WebOS,
see  Hyperoffice.

HP webOS
 HP webOS Home Screen on the Palm Pre

Company /developer Hewlett Packard

Programmed in C, C++

OS family Linux

Working state Current

Source model Closed Source, with some open source aspects

released under GPL

Latest stable release 2.0 / October 22, 2010; 14 days ago

Latest unstable release none as yet.

Marketing target Mobile devices

Supported platforms ARM

 Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)[1]

Default user interface Graphical

License Palm EULA, GPL for open source components[2]

Officialwebsite Palm Developer Website

HP webOS is Palm's proprietary mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel.[3]

The Palm Pre smartphone was the first device to launch with webOS, and both were introduced to the
public at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 8, 2009. The Palm Pre and webOS
were released on June 6, 2009. The second device to use the operating system, thePalm Pixi, was
released on November 15, 2009. The webOS features significant online social network and Web
2.0 integration. HP webOS 2.0 was released in October 2010, with incremental changes such as better
multi-tasking.

bada

Company /developer Samsung Electronics

Programmed in C++

Working state Ready for public downloads

Latest stable release 1.2.0 / October 04, 2010

Supported platforms ARM

Kernel type proprietary or Linux

Official website www.bada.com
bada (pronounced /ˈbɑːdɑː/) is a mobile operating system being developed by Samsung Electronics. It is
designed to cover both high-end smartphones and lower-end feature phones. Samsung claims that bada
will rapidly replace its proprietary feature phone platform, convertingfeature phones to smartphones.[1] The
name 'bada' is derived from 바다, the Korean word for ocean or sea.

[edit]History

MeeGo

Company /developer Intel, Linux Foundation, Nokia, Meego community

Programmed in C++

OS family Linux

Working state Current

Initial release 26 May 2010

Latest stable release 1.1 / 28 October 2010; 10 days ago

 Marketing target Mobile

Package manager RPM Package Manager

Supported platforms ARM and x86

Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)

Official website meego.com/

MeeGo is a Linux-based open source mobile operating system project[1] which was announced at Mobile

World Congress in February 2010 by Intel and Nokia in a joint press conference. Its aim is to merge the
efforts of Intel on Moblin and of Nokia onMaemo into one project. It is hosted by the Linux Foundation.
[2]
 According to Intel, MeeGo was developed because Microsoft did not offer comprehensive Windows
7support for the Atom processor.[3] Novell also plays a large part in the MeeGo effort, working with the
Linux Foundation on their build infrastructure and official MeeGo products, and MeeGo is increasingly
using more of Novell's technology that was originally developed for openSUSE, (including openSUSE
Build Service, ZYpp forpackage management, and other system management tools).[4][5]

MeeGo is primarily designed to act as an operating system for hardware platforms such as netbooks,
entry-level desktops, tablet computers, mobile computing and communications devices, in-vehicle
infotainment devices, connected-TVs, IPTV-boxes, smart phones, and other embedded systems.[4]

Harmattan, originally slated to become Maemo 6, is now considered to be a MeeGo instance (though not
a MeeGo product), and Nokia is giving up the Maemo branding for Harmattan and beyond (Maemo 5, aka
Fremantle, and previous versions will still be referred to as Maemo).[6]

Launch
MeeGo phones are no go until 1st half of 2011.[40]

[edit]Phones

 LG GW990
 Nokia N9

Maemo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Maemo

Screenshot of Maemo 5

Company /developer Nokia

Programmed in C, C++

OS family Linux

Source model Largely open source with

mandatory proprietary components

Latest stable release 5.0 PR1.3 / 25 October 2010; 13 days ago

Availablelanguage(s) Multilingual

Update method APT and Flashing

Package manager dpkg

Supported platforms ARM architecture

Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)

Default user interface Hildon UI

 Officialwebsite maemo.org

Maemo is a software platform developed by Nokia for smartphones and Internet tablets.[1] It is based on

the Debian Linux distribution.

The platform comprises the Maemo operating system and the Maemo SDK.

Maemo is mostly based on open source code, and has been developed by Maemo Devices within Nokia
in collaboration with many open source projects such as the Linux kernel,Debian, and GNOME. Maemo is
based on Debian GNU/Linux and draws much of its GUI,frameworks, and libraries from
the GNOME project. It uses the Matchbox window manager, and the GTK-based Hildon as
its GUI and application framework.

The UI in Maemo 4 is similar to many handheld interfaces, and features a "home" screen, which acts as a
central point from which all applications and settings are accessed. The home screen is divided into areas
for launching applications, a menu bar, and a large customisable area that can display information such
as an RSS reader, Internet radio player, and Google search box.

The Maemo 5 UI is slightly different: The menu bar and info area are consolidated to the top of the
display, and the four desktops can be customized with shortcuts and widgets.

At the Mobile World Congress in February 2010, it was announced that the Maemo project would be
merging with Moblin to create the MeeGo mobile software platform.