Does The Os Play A Decisive Role In The Sale Of Mobile Devices?

By Author: Yancy Marry
Total Articles: 185
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The OS platform or operating system is one of the major units of a mobile device. Depending on an OS, the owner of a mobile device can take decisions on the apps that he/she will install in the device; also it is the OS platform that plays a decisive role in helping a mobile application developer design apps for the device. So does the operating system of a mobile device also impact its sales? If reports coming in from the mobile market are anything to go by, the OS platform has no positive or negative impact upon the sales of mobile devices.

With the emergence of several operating systems post the release of the iOS, it is the features provided by a particular platform and the device it is running on, that largely inspires a user to make mobile purchases. OS platforms like Android, BlackBerry RIM, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Bada, etc are gradually replacing the traditional use of iOS. However, it will be right to say that not the platforms but the features & pricing of the devices that they are running on play the decisive roles in increasing or decreasing the sale of a mobile device.

Today, the most popular ...
... OS platform used in worldwide mobile devices is Android, followed shortly by iOS. The greater acceptance of Android in the mobile market is because of the fact that it is an open platform. Listed below are the market shares of some of the most important OS platforms used across the world:
1. Android – 43.4 percent
2. Apple’s iOS – 22.1 percent
3. Symbian – 18.2 percent
4. BlackBerry’s RIM – 11.7 percent
5. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile – 1.9 percent
6. Bada – 1.6 percent
7. Others – 1.0 percent
The figures collected towards the end of the last quarter of 2012 are indicative of the fact that Android and iOS are the most used operating systems. It is for this reason that 64.1 percent of the mobile devices manufactured in the market today run the Android OS platform followed by iOS that runs on Apple devices that constitute 18.8 percent of the total mobile market.

An estimate, also released this year, is indicative of the fact that though the OS platform of a mobile device does not play a decisive role in the sales of the device, it does affect the prestige of the device in the mobile market to a great extent. Hence, it can be said that though the operating system has no direct role to play in change of mobile device sales, it may indirectly influence the purchasing decision of a prospective user. For instance, if the prestige of a mobile device running a particular OS platform is affected, a customer who was earlier considering purchasing the device, may think twice before making the same purchase now.

Similarly, updates made on a particular version of OS platform, also did not affect the sales of mobile devices. This phenomenon can be explained by citing the recent example of the upgradation to iOS 6, which of course did not affect the sales of iPhone5 in any way.

The performance or update of an OS platform should be held as completely independent of the sales figures of a mobile device. There are several operating systems that upgrade their features every once in a while, but show no positive or negative impact upon the sale of the mobile device they are running on.

Copper Mobile is is one of the leading mobile app development company in Delhi, India. The team of iPhone developer , BlackBerry, and Android developer has created more than 300 apps for clients.