2007: A turning point for the mobile market
2007 was a year of historic change for the mobile phone market. On January 9, 2007, at Macworld 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPhone. The iPhone's debut announced the arrival of the touchscreen smartphone era and triggered a major reshuffling of the mobile market.
iPhone OS / iOS
When Apple began developing the iPhone, it did not initially give the device's operating system a dedicated name. Apple described the iPhone as running a mobile version of Mac OS X, using the phrase "iPhone runs OS X." Both Mac OS X and that mobile variant trace their lineage to NeXTSTEP.
After Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, he founded NeXT. NeXT developed NEXTSTEP (released in 1989) based on the Mach kernel and BSD, using Objective-C as the native language and adding a graphical interface. When Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, Apple acquired NeXTSTEP in 1997, which became the foundation for Mac OS X.
In March 2008, the iPhone operating system was officially named iPhone OS. Later in 2008, Apple launched the App Store, which enabled third-party developers to create and distribute apps and helped establish a flourishing App ecosystem that increased the smartphone's functionality and appeal.
At WWDC in June 2010, Apple renamed iPhone OS to iOS to reflect that iPad and iPod touch used the same system. The iOS name required a trademark arrangement with Cisco, which previously held the IOS trademark.
iOS achieved rapid early success. By the end of 2011, iOS held around 60% market share in smartphones, before declining as other systems grew. In 2019, Apple separated iPadOS from iOS; with iPod touch discontinued, iOS effectively became dedicated to iPhone again.
According to April 2023 Statcounter data, iOS held a 30.61% share of the smartphone operating system market.
Android
Android was created by Andy Rubin. Born in 1963 in New York, Rubin worked at Apple from 1989 to 1992 as a manufacturing engineer. After leaving Apple, he worked at several companies focused on mobile devices and co-founded Danger Inc. in 1999.
In October 2003, Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White founded Android Inc. Rubin later said Android was initially intended to improve digital camera operating systems but was repurposed for phones as the digital camera market declined.
In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for about $50 million. Rubin became a Google engineering vice president and continued leading the Android project. On November 5, 2007, Google publicly presented the Android operating system. The Android logo, designed by Irina Blok, was inspired by restroom symbols and resembles a stylized robot.
On the same day Android was announced, Google and more than 30 partners including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC, and T-Mobile formed the Open Handset Alliance to promote Android. Android 1.0 shipped in September 2008, and the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, followed soon after. Android's adoption then accelerated rapidly; by 2018 it held about 70% market share.
Android used a food-themed naming convention for releases starting from Android 1.5, following alphabetical order, until the convention changed with Android 10. The current Android version is 14.
Android's success is tightly linked to its open-source ecosystem. Published source code allows developers to modify the system and create apps, lowering development barriers and shortening development cycles. For device makers, Android enables customization and focus on user experience. Many well-known manufacturers use deeply customized Android-based systems.
Consolidation and the decline of older systems
The rapid rise of iOS and Android displaced many earlier platforms that had once been prominent.
Symbian
Symbian was once dominant but fell quickly after touchscreen smartphones emerged. Nokia fully acquired Symbian in December 2008 and transferred it to the Symbian Foundation. By December 2011 Nokia announced it would abandon Symbian, and by May 2012 it stopped Symbian development. In January 2013 Nokia confirmed it would cease releasing Symbian devices and would move fully to Microsoft’s platform.
Windows Phone
Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone in February 2010, and Windows Phone 7 shipped in October 2010, replacing Windows Mobile. Windows Phone 8, released in June 2012, switched from the WinCE kernel to the NT kernel shared with Windows 8, and introduced support for multicore CPUs. The move left Windows Phone 7 users without upgrade compatibility, drawing criticism.
By 2017 Windows Phone market share had fallen to about 0.1%. In 2018 Microsoft acknowledged its mobile strategy had failed, and Windows 10 Mobile stopped receiving updates in 2019.
Palm OS / webOS
Palm OS was already weakened before 2007. It was relaunched as webOS in 2009. Hewlett-Packard acquired Palm in 2010 and used webOS in some HP devices. LG later acquired webOS from HP in 2013 for use in smart TVs. In 2014 HP sold the Palm brand to TCL. Palm and webOS have since largely faded from the mobile scene.
BlackBerry OS
BlackBerry continued to resist competition after Android and iOS rose, but the effort was short-lived. RIM reduced staff starting in 2011, and in 2013 it launched BlackBerry 10 while rebranding to BlackBerry Limited. In 2015 the company shifted toward Android for new devices, and by 2016 it ceased product development and focused on brand licensing. TCL announced it would stop producing BlackBerry phones in 2020.
Bada and Tizen
Samsung developed Bada OS, a Linux-kernel-based system, with its own app store. Due to limited developer support and ecosystem, Bada achieved only modest traction. Samsung merged Bada into Tizen in 2012 and ceased Bada development in 2013, moving to Android for phones. Tizen, developed with Intel and released in 2011, found a second life on smart TVs and wearables after limited success in the phone market.
MeeGo
MeeGo, a joint effort between Intel and Nokia, showed promise and attracted interest from Nokia enthusiasts. However, Nokia ultimately abandoned MeeGo for Windows Phone, and MeeGo faded thereafter.
Harmony OS
Another notable system is Huawei's Harmony OS. Development began around 2012 as a long-term effort by Huawei. Its role and evolution merit a dedicated discussion in a separate article.
Conclusion
In summary, the mobile operating system landscape has undergone dramatic consolidation. iOS and Android currently dominate, while many earlier platforms have declined or disappeared. The next major shift in mobile OS innovation remains uncertain; future platforms and disruptions will be revealed over time.
