Mobile World Congress 2014, held Feb. 24-27 in Barcelona, will display smartphones based on Firefox and Ubuntu operating systems.
The newer operating systems, which will compete to put a stop to the iOS and Android dominance, will face a landscape that has shifted a good deal since last year's conference, when the four operating systems were displayed and the phones that run Sailfish and Firefox OS on sale while the camp of Tizen and Canonical were hurt by delays.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the most successful to date has been the Firefox operating system by Mozilla, which has shipped about 390,000 phones. The figure is expected to increase this year to 2.5 million to give the Firefox OS a .2 percent share of the entire smartphone market.
Firefox OS: Strengthening Its Hold
Brand awareness, more operator backings, and improved software and hardware are some of the things the Firefox OS needs to strongly contend against current operating system titans, ComputerWorld reports Neil Mawston, executive director of Strategy Analytics, as saying. It's possible that Mozilla could be looking to solve each of these at the upcoming Congress. ZTE likewise said it will have a Firefox OS smartphone called Open C at the event.
Tizen OS and smartwatches
Meanwhile, the Tizen OS has made little progress since 2013, with operators NTT DoCoMo and Orange retreating. Tizen works technically very well on commercial-grade smartphones but the services and apps are still weak. Samsung has not said whether or not it will have a Tizen-based smartphone at the MWC event.
Recent rumors suggest that for its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Samsung will use Tizen, which would make sense since the competition for smartwatches is less fierce than that surrounding smartphones. In addition, Tizen's platform relies on HTML5, which will likely be less of an issue with fewer apps on smartwatches.
Sailfish and Ubuntu
Both newcomers to the world of smartphone operating systems, Jolla's Sailfish and Canonicla's Ubuntu have made important steps. While Jolla said its pilot version is ready, Canonical disclosed that BQ and Meizu, Spanish and Chinese companies respectively, will launch their Ubuntu smartphones this year.
Canonical hopes to achieve the coveted position of third-largest operating system. To meet this goal, it needs to ship approximately 9 million units a quarter - and if the growth of the Windows Phone continues at its current pace, about 13 million in the last quarter of 2014.
BQ and Meizu will display their early versions of products in MWC 2014.
Click here to view a live stream of the Mobile World Conference.