Mobile OS: The complexities of simplicity

By Jason Ankeny

Sick of hearing about Apple's iPhone? Just think how the computing giant's rivals must feel. According to web measurement and analytics firm Net Applications' March operating system market survey, in less than a year since its launch, the iPhone already controls 0.15 percent of total OS market share in the U.S.--nine percentage points higher than Windows Mobile and 13 percentage points above Symbian's Series 60 platform. But does the iPhone's success underscore the critical importance of the OS to the overall mobile user experience? Not necessarily.

According to David Wood, executive vice president of research with Symbian, the mobile OS doesn't determine the overall mobile user experience so much as it enables it. "It's easy to do something complex, but hard to do something simple," Wood says. "The user interface is trying to convey the impression of simplicity to the user for what is a fairly complicated thing underneath, and that requires a lot of sophisticated software. The OS has multiple layers the UI depends on."

In light of Apple's vaunted design proficiency and user-friendliness, the iPhone's success does validate the notion that the mobile OS must work in close harmony with the device it powers. "With the best devices, there's a synergy between OS development and hardware development," says Frank Tyneski, executive director of the Industrial Designers Society of America professional association as well as the director of design integration for Research In Motion from 2002 to 2005. "Some Windows Mobile products are more like a collection of parts that don't come together like an orchestra."

Another significant complexity impacting the mobile user experience is OS fragmentation: Besides iPhone, Windows Mobile and Symbian, mobile Linux continues to stake out an increasing share of the OS landscape as well. With so many rival operating systems and so many different devices in the mix, consumers inevitably struggle as they upgrade from one handset to the next. "If you rent a car at the airport, you have a good idea where the controls are, but driving a new device is like sitting in a completely different environment, which can be very frustrating," Tyneski says.

The further mobile operating systems evolve, the simpler and more intuitive the user experience will become. "One way a smart operating system can improve the user experience is by avoiding posing questions to the user when the device ought already to be able to work out the answer," Wood says. "Compare this with the evolution of cameras: Once upon a time, people who wanting to take a good photo had to adjust lots of different dials and settings on a camera--for shutter speed, aperture size and so on. But later, cameras gained more intelligence and were able to automatically choose the settings that gave good results for the vast majority of circumstances. Similar things can happen with smartphones."

Perhaps the most intriguing development in the mobile OS space is the pending release of Google's Linux-based Android open-source platform. Since Google formally announced the OS late last year, concrete details remain scarce: A handful of Android prototypes emerged at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, and T-Mobile International stated it wants to launch the first Android handset during the fourth quarter. But for now, most discussion is still fueled by speculation, not empirical data.

The promise of Android and open-source development in general is nevertheless very real, says Benoit Schillings, chief technology officer for cross-platform software development provider Trolltech, which Nokia acquired in January 2008. "Android offers a traditional architecture--the place where it is innovating is to provide a platform where experimentation can take place, and to make it easier for small companies to not worry about software and focus more on the user experience," Schillings says. "Open source is a way to collect good ideas. There's no boundary on how far you can experiment. If you look at any form of technology evolution, it works on trial and error. If you can make that easier to do, the technology evolves better."

While it may seem like another operating system is the last thing the mobile industry needs, Wood contends that the entrance of brands such as Apple and Google signifies the growing importance of the OS market as whole. "There are a lot of new players in this space, and that's good news--it validates the space as being important," he says. "It's a sign that people realize there's big money in this space, and they're expanding the market instead of fighting over an existing share. Each one gets something right, and that gives a kick to the others. The real winners, of course, are the consumers."