A Familiar Path for Mobile OS?

What used to be the Boring End of Software

Who knew?! Operating Systems (OS) used to be the most boring part of the software world that mainly divided into the PC/Wintel camp and the Unix derivatives (server, Mac) camps.

Vital, yes. Sexy, no.

Alibaba's Aliyun

While Apple's iOS and Google's Android are duking it out on both install base growth and patent infringement skirmishes around the world in a "proxy war", Alibaba's Aliyun mobile OS is almost a breath of fresh air. Not to suggest that Alibaba of China is not an 800 pound gorilla in its own right, but I, for one, am thankful for a new twist in the development.

It is still too early to know what impact Aliyun would have on the global stage. But, one can be fairly certain that China market alone will make it a player to contend with.

Mobile Computing Ecosystem

It is also interesting to see the recent media blitz on mobile computing in Asia by Eric Schmidt of Google which he dubbed the "Mobile Revolution." Given the pressure that HTC and Samsung are getting from Apple for their Android phone, it sure is good to have a very high level and publicly visible support from Google.

What I find interesting in the Schmidt piece, however, is his suggestion that Android, as an open platform, should be the preferred choice for the rest of world because of its low cost and inter-operability. I cannot help but wonder if this is implicitly suggesting that, like the PC world, the future will consists of the cool people on iPhone (like designers wearing only black and using Mac) and a much larger user base on Android Phones (i.e. the rest of us folks on PC).

I suspect, a good deal of this potential outcome depends on what the local telco around the world have to say about it.

* Alibaba's Aliyun: http://allthingsd.com/20110728/look-out-android-and-ios-here-comes-alibabas-aliyun/?mod=mailchimp
* Schmidt's Mobile Revolution (in Chinese): http://www.businesstoday.com.tw/v1/content.aspx?a=W20110701225&p=1
* Schmidt's Mobile Revolution (in English): http://asiancorrespondent.com/60334/googles-schmidt-hails-the-real-mobile-revolution-in-asia/