The Market of Touchscreen Phones

Question: Examine the development of a single open source software project, analyzing the factors that have contributed to its success and identifying shortcomings or problems that the project has encountered? Answer: Introduction Since it's highly awaited release on the market of touchscreen phones, back in the year 2009, the Android OS has experienced a steady rise in its popularity, ratings of consumer satisfaction and share in the market. As per August 2012, Android has beaten the iOS in regards to the competition of gaining market shares and at present, it is utilized by nearly 5.6% of the smartphone users. In less than one years time, the regular Android activation has increased from 7 hundred thousand to 1.3 million activations. Even though the cause of Androids rising popularity is as different as the users of Android, the very recent updates for the Android OS has made it even more popular than it was already. It is, at present, ready to continuously gain impetus in the market of smartphone technology. Synchronized with the launch of the update known as Ice Cream Sandwich in the year 2011, Google has launched a collection of precise design guides for the creation of innovative, reliable, pleasurable a nd entertaining applications for the Android platform (Trout, 2015). Therefore, as a consequence, there happened to be a noticeable increment in regards to the usability of both the specific Android applications and the whole Android ecosystem. The most recent update launched by Google and is known as Android Lollipop is founded on these consumer experiences and advances of designs. It, additionally, offers a large number of software and hardware performance enhancements. The latest initiation of Android devices comprises of- Enhanced messaging and multi-tasking Animations which are much smoother, and responsive real time Touch responses have become more uniform and reactive Enhanced capabilities of power management for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices. The main reasons for selecting the assessment of the Android OS as a part of the Open Source Project is quite straightforward. As of the year 2014, Android has nearly 1 billion users who are active every month. In regards to the users, this is, perhaps, the prodigious Open Source Project that has ever been developed and the amount of users who are active is still increasing daily. As a consequence, it is critical and noteworthy to comprehend the characteristics which have resulted in this extraordinary growth. The idea of this study is to comprehend the influence of various different factors of the Android project which resulted in its success for the past 7 years. Literature Review Over the last few decades, Open Source Software has quickly moved upwards the software stack so named. The Open Source Project, which mainly emphasizes on the lower portions of the stack like operating systems for instance, Linus Torvaldss well-recognized Linux initiative are daily, emphasizing on the top parts of the stack like application software for both desktop programs - like OpenOffice, Firefox, etc. And the all total corporate sections or operations. At present, there are thousands of systems of open source that are utilized for nearly everything ranging from operating systems from computer to software for departmental applications which will handle virtual content and consumer relationships. At the moment, open source software has a very strong influence on the governments and industries. The noticeable advent of open source, commercially, can be calculated in regards to the generation of revenues which are the consequences of it. Notarfonzo and Lawton stated that the ge neration of revenues from open source packaged applications was around $1.8 billion, in the year 2006. During the same period, the revenues that were generated from the Google Play Store was calculated to be around $5 billion, as of the year 2013. This is projected to be amplified by the year 2018 (Quartz, 2014). But, at present, open source software is a section ofpatented/closed sources items and the measurement of its advances simply by the revenue of packaged software may possible undermine its growth and size by a huge margin. To calculate the advancement of open source, the total advancement of projects of open source and the source codes of the same needs to be observed. The most common cause for the utilization of open sources is the cause of reducing costs. of the defendants take up an open source project for reducing the costs of viable software; is partial to its potential in regards of cutting costs for the development of personalized systems. As much as of the defend ants observe OSS as a method of reducing costs for maintenance of software and maintenance fees. The advantages in regards to open source software are straightforward and attractive to a number of US organizations reducing their costs of IT and diminishing their reliance on software organizations. Around 61% of the organization that earn under $1 billion yearly revenue have stated that they utilized open source software as a way to diminish their costs of IT support and 53% of the organizations that earned more than $1 billion as their annual review had also stated the same. Approximately the organizations with fewer than $1 billion in revenues (58%) and nearly 42% of larger organizations with more than 1 billion dollars in revenues utilized open source software for the reduction of their reliance on commercial software sellers. So, the reasons for the utilization of OSS by large and medium-sized organizations are as follows (Walli, 2013) - Cause Percentage Reduction of cost for commercial bundled software 74% Reduction of cost for personalized software 66% Diminished cost of support and upkeep of commercial bundled software 49% High quality and more protected software 47% Reduction of costs for computer hardware 44% Reduction of reliance on commercial bundled software 44% Faster creation of personalized system 38% Creation of software benchmarks for departments, operation and/or units or divisions of business 38% Functional requirement not present in commercial bundled software 37% Attainment of fresh skills and knowledge by technologists 32% The different reasons for cost savings by small to large size enterprises are (Walli, 2013)- Costs of software licensing and other updates in regards to more usage of the application Costs of assessment, selection and purchasing of software Cost of software licenses when initially purchased Costs of design and architecture of application Development costs for personalized applications Upkeep and support costs for software Costs for training and hiring developers of software. Mobile Devices and Ecosystem of Business The performance of any business firm is dependent on the success of their very own ecosystem of the business that can be greater than the business firm itself. An ecosystem built on wireless/mobile technologies generally comprises of a network of producers, distributors, items and/or markers of services and providers of technology that have an influence on or can be affected by the development and approach of the firms advantages. On top of this, an ecosystem based on mobile/wireless technologies is greatly interdependent among the participating firms and other sections and some of the members of these ecosystems, being properly situated, have a crucial part to play in regards to linking the members of the ecosystem and accelerating the connections between additional participants. Mobile devices like tablets and cell phones have become a base to endorse various types of data applications like taking and sharing pictures, downloading, sharing and recording videos and audios and collec ting intelligence from the Internet is just a few examples. At the same moment, the methods in which individual utilize their mobile devices have also changed significantly from text messaging and voice calling for data applications. The advent of this nature is due to the diminished costs of handsets, larger screen size of phones, mobile processors that are better and faster, affordable costs of storage devices, etc. Therefore, mobile devices have become complicated systems that require incorporation of a large range of parts supplier and a similar complicated system of distribution. The major groups are comprised of- OEMs or Original Equipment Manufacturers These individuals are responsible for the creation of new handsets or devices for the final users via the combination of externally obtained or internally created software and hardware Manufactures of Semiconductors These individuals are responsible for providing compatible drivers and hardware for the respective hardware elements OSVs or Operating System Vendors They offer the platform, OEMs features and SDK. They are additionally responsible for the promotion and support of communities of application developers Operators of Wireless Networks They offer channels of distribution for phones in various countries and additionally, make decisions regarding the software parts that should be readily present on the devices. Pre-Android Project Period Mobile computing began with the personal data assistants or the PDAs during the mid-1990s. Palm launched mobile computing devices which ran straightforward applications like notepads, calendars and contacts. In the year 2003, the smartphone, which were capable of push emails and Internet browsing was launched by Blackberry. In the mid-2000s, the dominant position was taken up by Symbian when they licensed their platforms to Sony, Samsung and Ericsson. The second largest player, during that time, was Windows Mobile that was released to a few major partners of Microsoft that included Samsung and HTC. During the same period, there was not much emphasis made on the ecosystems and these were not as closely wound as the post Android and iOS period. Due to a restricted ecosystem and licensing cost that caused expensive hardware, it additionally constricted the utilization of smartphones to very few people, these patented system never found any traction on a major scale. Post-Android Project Period Incorporation of required application into the Android Operating System Already, Google had some well-recognized applications present in the market, for instance, YouTube, Google Plus, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. These applications were very much enjoyed by notebook and laptop users as they were familiar with these operations and wanted to use them on a mobile platform, as well. Therefore, Google owned a non-replaceable resource of incorporating these critical applications within the Android devices. Killer applications would boost the purchase targets of the customers and this will influence more developers of software to compose noteworthy and inexpensive software. By the establishment of a scalable base of customer/developer, Android would have boosted the bargaining powers for the handset makers, carriers and customers. An honorable circle is developed and this was beneficial for the long term dominance of Googles Android. The healthy and powerful ecosystem will fortify the halo effect, thus making the Android-based mobile devices in the next produc tion of the market of smartphones. Android is the base for the ecosystem as Android is free and open. At the same moment, the utilization of Googles killer applications is the point of beginning of the creation of the aurainfluence. Open HandsetAssociation Already, Google had registered various OEMs and makers of handset into the ecosystem of OHA. From Googles point of view, they functioned as the automobile for providing Android and Google wanted Android as the mobile platform which is delivered to major handsets. At this point, Googles tactic was to situate the added worth of Android, Google applications, development of application and Googles millions of consumers as a propositional value for the makers of handset. The makers of handset had an option to create their very own platform or provide handset across the various mobile platforms that included Android. It was a choice between flexibility, retention for the seamless integration of software and hardware or outsourcing RD expenses that are associated with the maintenance of mobile platform and focusing on the differentiation of other features. The choice was clear various makers of handset swiftly began developing devices that supported Android. During the same moment, Google also co-operated with OEMs for precise devices or equipment or materials that included Qualcomm, Corning, etc. that were precisely created for Android. Among the various makers of handsets, strongly situated competitors like Apple/Nokia/RIM initially observed Android as a major competitor. More likely, competitors invested in Android to be their automobile for handset developers who were striving for price-leadership, those who did not have a powerful platform for mobile devices and the ones who were looking to make an entry into the market of smartphones. This description of Android was satisfied by Motorola, HTC, Samsung, etc. Various carries were also members of the OHA. They were a critical component of the Android OSs success as they approved and sponsored handsets that utilized their network, thereby walling the proverbial garden. Additionally, as customers are part of a contract with the carriers for a period of 2 years, it generally means that there is a period of 2 years be fore an individual upgrades his/her phone. Vendor Lock-in The situation during which consumers utilize services or products that cannot be easily substituted for a competitors service or product is known as vendor lock-in. This is usually the consequence of patented technologies which are incompatible to be used in competitors devices. But, this situation can also happen due to ineffective procedures or contract limitations, among various other reasons. Lock-in refers to an occurrence in which a consumer is reliant upon a vendor for services and products so that he/she is incapable of switching to another seller without going through significant changes in costs. It is, at times, seen that in computer industries, the huge costs that are required to switch from one software system to another is so substantial that consumers are forced to continue utilization of services and products from a specific vendor. In this regards, the vendor lock-in situation works in preference to Google (Zhu, 2011). This is due to the fact that is the manufacturer of cell phone hardware wanted to switch out the operating system they were utilizing for the phones they manufactured, they have to work in co-operation with the organization who developed that OS, from the start of the process of designing the phone. They are required to create drivers for precise hardware that will be utilized in the phones and ensure that the OS work smoothly on the phones and complies with the requirement of signal strength, battery life, etc. This same situation happens with carriers, specifically in the United States where carriers have quite harsh requirements of the design of the user interface of the phone. Investments by incorporating these conditions, in turn, makes it expensive to change OSs. Application Market The Application market is a virtual store of software that was created by Google, specifically for Android devices. Its announcement was made on 28th August, 2008 and was released to the public on 22nd October, 2008. Nearly every Android devices had the Market application preinstalled and this permitted users to buy, browse, rate and download various applications and other contents for mobile devices that were arms with an open-source OS. The advent of the mobile device marketplace application where users were capable of downloading free or paid applications had entirely shifted the industrys foundation. In this changed situation, the power had shifted from the manufacturer of the devices to the provisionary of devices who provided the platform for the developers of application and users to smartphones to transact for both of its creation worth. There were several other advantages of the market of android application in comparison to its competitors- Developers didnt require to pay $99 for store listing and Google didnt limit or restrict developers from taking part As the developer himself/herself upload the application, the application could be launched and updated instantaneously without waiting in long queues for being approved On the phones that are Android based, there will be a symbol which the users could utilize directly to access the market and download application to the storage of the phones without any hassle The marketplace will act as a centralized location for locating all the present applications of the developers who have been and want to be registered. Users are not required to search about in various sites Reviews of the consumers will be included The model of shareware can be utilized to permit demo versions If a virtual desktop store is present, it is possible that the store can be accessed via a regular browser and therefore, it can be utilized from any computer. During the same moment, creating Android applications were much simpler and direct. The already present software development kit or SDK is present within the surroundings for authoring, assessing and debugging mobile applications which are present in Android and thus makes it easier for the developers of mobile application to include its capability to collect information faster, easy tools for creating applications, compatibility to image, video and audio formats and lush environment for development of applications that permits easy convenience to create a very eye-catching application, simply and quickly. The utility which is derived from the item is dependent on the traditional items present (effect of indirect network) and the amount of users of similar platforms (effect on direct network). Each extra traditional item present generates fresh service when utilized with the platform. Additionally, extra users of the platform create additional utility which is derived from networking and compatibility. In mobile platforms, a strong influence of indirect effects is present, applications availability which are well-suited with the OS is quite important for the justifiable advancement of mobile platforms. In mobile platforms, direct network effects are not as predominant as they are at various other platforms, however, they are present as a result of some of the constraints of cross platform suitability that are implemented by the gatekeepers of the platform. The allure of an item is empowered by these two supporting circles indirect and direct effects of the network that is advantageous to Android. Variations and Personalization of Hardware Various functions and situations require, or rather, demand various types and sizes of devices for providing optimal functionality. The diversity of the configurations of android devices present offers a large range of possibilities for the business from the requirements of a manager of storehouse stock to an executive present on the floor of sales. With the price points of tablets as little as $159, the platform of android provides a diversity of devices and very minimal cost of entry into the domain of very well personalized mobile device technology. On top of this, these devices consist of various abilities that are dependent on the situations in which it is utilized. Due to this reason and a huge range of configurations, classes and sizes, android is capable to attract a huge section of the whole demography. Advantages of Open Source Accommodation of diverse applications and characteristics that are provided by various classes of developers is provided by the open source platform. This platform provides the users with the independence from the sellers and their various policies. However, the platform might subject the users to the rules of the various groups of developers or projects. Various applications are free of cost and users are not required to purchase a license for these applications and this makes the applications more viable. Additionally, it makes the work of the industry far easier in regards to the development and adoption of these applications. With the co-operation of distinct teams of developers, the open source platform offers the very best and cutting-edge technology in regards to applications and characteristics. With the assistance from the community of developers, the source code could be of high quality and could also be provided much quicker than the other projects of development. One of t he other benefits of utilizing the OSS is that an individual can request to view the source code straight from the individual who is creating the application and those requesting individual can make additional inputs or modify the source code in regards to his or her requirements. However, this can only be done, if the individual complies with the license for the supply. Findings Opensource softwares provide a range of benefits to organizations including cost, total cost of ownership, faster development, customized development as well as enhanced security. Ecosystem is important when it comes to mobile devices and operating system stands at the top of ecosystem of the mobile world. Licensing operating system from other companies adds up to the cost of the device significantly. The open handset alliance paved the way for Android domination via a complete ecosystem integration even before Android project saw success. Developing of an operating system is complex and requires huge investment in RD as a result manufactures opted to use the Android project on their devices which in turn created an vendor lock-in and added to the success of android project. Application market boosted androids success further as people enjoyed the idea of extending the capability of their devices by installing new applications. Since OHA was made up of a lot of manufacturers, OEMS and accessory developers, there were lot of hardware variation in terms of cost, features and use. Deduction The importance of the OSS is being continuously growing over the period of time. The study validates the claims made by open source projects by observing the all total advancement of Android one of the most popular open source project, of all times. Therefore, the utilization of OSS has provided the independence to think, utilize, incorporation, innovation, moderate and create new platforms for software that can uplift the innovations of technology among the common people to new and even taller heights. Future studies need to explore various questions as to how the factors of OSS can be made into an application structure for various other OSS projects so that these projects can withstand the exponential advancement. References Quartz, (2014).Revenue from the Google Play store will overtake Apples app store in 2018. [online] Available at: https://qz.com/235992/revenue-from-the-google-play-store-will-overtake-apples-app-store-in-2018/ [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015]. Trout, C. (2015).Android still the dominant mobile OS with 1 billion active users. [online] Engadget. Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2014/06/25/google-io-2014-by-the-numbers/ [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015]. Walli, S. (2013).The Growth of Open Source Software in Organizations. [online] Dirkriehle.com. Available at: https://dirkriehle.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/wp_optaros_oss_usage_in_organizations.pdf [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015]. Zhu, K. (2011). Lock-In Strategy in Software Competition: Open-Source Software vs. Proprietary Software.Information Systems Research, 1(1), pp.1-10.