Source: Venture Development Corp.VDC's findings are based on a survey of over 1,000 global mobile developers, it says, including 157 using Windows, 134 using Symbian, 118 using Linux, and 30 using Palm (the balance use proprietary OSes, RTOSes, RIM, and others, or did not specify an OS).
According to David Krebs, director of VDC's Mobile & Wireless Practice, "When evaluating mobile operating systems, a lot of consideration is placed on up-front license cost, however, a more relevant criterion should be total cost of development." Krebs suggests that factors driving longer development times for non-Microsoft operating systems include:
- Developing and porting hardware device drivers
- Software diagnostics, testing and validation
- Operating system image customization
Krebs continues, "While Microsoft continues to face an uphill battle in the total mobile device market, recent changes -- made to address wireless support, device management and security in addition to its simple licensing model -- positions the OS more favorably with device OEMs/ODMs, developers and ultimately end users."
Two years ago, Embedded Market Forecasters
published a study showing that development projects based on Windows CE and XP Embedded are completed 43 percent faster and at 68 percent lower cost, on average, compared with similar projects using Embedded Linux. That report provoked
spirited debate among partisans on both sides of the issues.
Further information regarding VDC's new report,
The Mobile Software Stack for Voice, Data, and Converged Handheld Devices is available
here.
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