Research company Telecom Trends International says over 60% of smartphones will be running Linux-based operating systems by 2016 – less than a week after Gartner analyst (and vice president) Ken Dulaney said Linux would end up with just 5.4% of the smartphone market at the end of 2012.
The apparent conflict comes in the definition of ‘Linux’ because TTI is looking at Linux-based operating systems, which includes Symbian, Android and webOS, while Gartner is only looking at a Linux-branded OS.
The report goes on to predict Google having 25% of the smartphone market within seven years, anticipating that mobile handsets with a non-Linux OS – iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile – will become niche devices. [Press release (pdf)]