Telecom Lead Asia: New consumer trends are emerging in
selecting operating systems in the mobile industry.
Consumers prefer Android OS and Apple iOS, currently the
top two operating systems in the mobile industry.
Both are well established, staying current with the
consumers’ needs and wants with respect to features, services and applications offered,
and providing quality and popular applications – an aspect consumers look for
when purchasing a new device.
Consumers that prefer an easy to use and intuitive
operating system like a closed platform, similar to Apple iOS, finding the need
to customize their devices relatively low.
Mobile consumers who like the ability to customize their
device, don’t mind a bit of complexity and prefer having the choice of numerous
applications, find an open market operating system, such as Android, more appealing.
BlackBerry OS was seen as secure and reliable from a
business perspective, but was viewed as less consumer friendly, and as having
outdated hardware. Despite having a well-known brand in the computer industry,
consumers were uncertain of Windows Phone as a mobile operating system.
Taryn Tulay, analyst in the Strategy Analytics Wireless
Device Lab (WDL), and report author, said the size of the associated content
and app ecosystem, and the perceived quality of the content within it are key
factors in determining how consumers perceive different mobile operating
systems and how strongly attached they are to their OS of choice.
Most consumers are hesitant to switch operating systems
with the fear of having to learn a new, unfamiliar operating system as well as
the potential for loss of any data or content currently saved or downloaded to
their device.
