Anyone who kept up with the Apple vs. Samsung case knows that the mobile operating system war is heating up. There are literally dozens of infringement cases around the world that could change the way companies license products and build handsets, and some companies are taking matters into their own hands.
Handset manufacturers have been testing the waters with building their own operating systems in-house, rather than license Android, Windows Phone, or other platforms. Samsung has Tizen, Nokia has Symbian (though the company is ramping down Symbian in light of its partnership with Microsoft), Mozilla is building Firefox OS, and soon Huawei may bring yet another platform to the ever crowded table.
In an interview with Reuters, Huawei Device CEO Wan Biao asserted that the company is dedicating resources to building a mobile operating system, should the company be denied access to licensed platforms. Biao stated:
“We’re also devoting resources into coming up with a phone operating system based on our current platform in case other companies won’t let us use their system one day.” – Wan Biao, CEO, Huawei Device
It’s not clear whether consumers will ever see a Huawei operating system come to fruition, much less whether it would be successful if it did. Huawei is focusing its efforts in the short-term on Android and Windows Phone 8, and is strictly billing its smartphone OS as a backup plan should any issues arise with licensing these two platforms. Still, Huawei and ZTE have both been rumored to desire less of a reliance on Android and Windows Phone for some time, and ZTE recently announced a partnership with Mozilla on the Firefox OS platform slated for an early 2013 release, and Huawei’s plan to build its own platform could be much more than just a “backup plan.”
[via Reuters, The Next Web; Image from MyFidNet]
