Operators spent years trying to assert their power and counter the rise of Google and Apple, by sponsoring their own operating systems and applications platforms. Now, several mobile platforms are falling their lap. Emerging OSs like Canonical’s smartphone Ubuntu, Jolla’s Sailfish, or Mozilla’s Firefox Mobile have not been initiated by cellcos, but they are courting the operators assiduously to gain the developer support and marketing profile they need to get off the ground. Ironically, the most recent mobile OS to have been actively created by carriers, LiMO, is now part of the Tizen platform, whose main backer is a vendor, Samsung.
Mozilla has been particularly successful in presenting itself as a weapon for cellcos to fight off the web players, and at signing up their active support. It numbers many majors, such as Sprint, among its backers and is particularly close to Telefonica, which will launch Firefox Mobile devices in markets such as Brazil this fall.
Canonical, which develops the Ubuntu Linux flavor, is learning from its open source peer and is drumming up operator support with a new advisory group of seven large carriers, all of which are signalling their interest in its upcoming Ubuntu Touch mobile implementation of its OS. Its partners include Deutsche Telekom, UK leader EE and the three Korean cellcos, but not the big four US players. Portugal Telecom and Telecom Italia have also signed up, as has “the leading Spanish international carrier” ‘ presumably Telefonica, perhaps shy about revealing itself given its aggressive support for Firefox Mobile.
The open source body aims to launch devices with mobile Ubuntu early next year, though its sights are set well beyond the cellular space and its vision is to extend its platform to a fully unified OS and user experience spanning all screens ‘ TV, PC, tablet, mobile device, car and others.
The Carrier Advisory Group will receive advance notifications of Ubuntu’s mobile developments and will be able to be launch partners for the commercial release of the mobile OS ‘ none has firmly committed to this, but only CAG members will be able to be first wave launch operators.
Invitations to join the group are ‘extended to any national or multinational carrier’ with an interest, Canonical said.
The CAG will be chaired by David Wood, previously a board member at the Open Mobile Alliance, and so well versed in the politics of mobile carriers and their standards. He said in a statement that the new group promises the chance to get in on the ground floor of a new OS.
‘The mobile industry remains on the look-out for an independent platform that enables innovation and differentiation,’ he said. ‘The Carrier Advisory Group will have ample opportunity to influence the Ubuntu roadmap, and take full advantage of the potential in this emerging platform.’
Topics on which the CAG expects to focus its discussions will include some of the hot potatoes of the day – OEM differentiation; developer ecosystems and portability of Android apps; HTML5 standards and performance; apps and content marketplaces; revenue share models; payment mechanism; and platform fragmentation.
The other challenge for the new operating systems is to find OEM partners. Since these browser-oriented Linux variants are highly suited to low end smartphones and resource constrained devices ‘ with much of the processing work being done in the cloud ‘ there are natural affinities with the ODMs and white label manufacturers. These are accustomed to creating devices to be customized and branded by carriers but are keen to move into higher value products such as full smartphones ‘ a trend seen in Hon Hai/Foxconn’s reported plans to create its own high end handsets rather than merely manufacturing for others. Mozilla’s initial work with obscure handset partners of Telefonica highlights the opportunity for an ODM/carrier/Linux triangle to shake up the mobile phone market. However, consumers remain influenced by big brands, and another mobile Linux platform, Tizen, will make its debut this year on Galaxy-type superphones from Samsung. That will put pressure on Canonical and Mozilla to find a big OEM backer of their own.
The smartphone version of Ubuntu appeared in February as a developer preview on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 devices, just six weeks after Canonical first announced its plans. In the interim, it had already published a preview software development kit and app design guide, including a range of templates to help build native applications quickly, using Qt Meta Language on top of HTML5 and OpenGL. The full OS, due in October, will target entry level smartphones at first, though the company said on announcing its roadmap that it has a vision of a single Ubuntu platform to ‘deliver a mobile, tablet, desktop or TV experience depending on the device it is installed on, or where it is docked.’ “Developers will not need to cross-compile or package applications differently for phone, tablet, PC and TV. One platform serves all four, a single application binary can do the same,’ said the launch statements.
Ubuntu has since enlarged on the tablet plans, aware that these post-PC devices are where its sweet spot will lie ‘ as its PC base migrates to slates and ultrabooks, and because the OS lines are less rigidly drawn than in smartphones. Many users are discovering new usage patterns driven by tablets’ combination of large touchscreens and portability, and in turn are looking for new user experiences, going beyond the stretched versions of Android and iOS.
Canonical said its new tablet interface is the “next step towards one unified family of experiences for personal computing on phones, tablets, PCs and TVs’. Founder Mark Shuttleworth told journalists earlier this year: “Multitasking productivity meets elegance and rigorous security in our tablet experience. Our family of interfaces now scales across all screens, so your phone can provide tablet, PC and TV experiences when you dock it. That’s unique to Ubuntu and it’s the future of personal computing.” It also believes its presence on mobile gadgets will make it more attractive to desktop users too.
So the Ubuntu Unity interface seen in the developer preview will look the same on all devices, though Canonical admits it still has a way to go to achieve a fully universal platform under the top level UI.
The end user release of the mobile OS will be available in Ubuntu 13.10 in October and a fuller version will be out in Ubuntu 14.04 in April 2014. Promised differentiators from Android and iOS include unique ‘side-stage’ multitasking supporting phone and tablet apps on a single tablet screen at the same time. Shuttleworth also boasted of enterprise level security capabilities; multiple accounts on one tablet with full encryption for personal data; a voice controlled heads-up display; and the use of screen edges for navigation between apps, settings and controls, enabling sleeker hardware with no physical or soft buttons.