LG predicts only three mobile OSes will survive - iPhone, Android and Windows Phone!

by Paul Nesbitt

LG mobile communications head, Scott Ahn, said that consolidation of the mobile phone market will ultimately see only the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone OSes survive in the medium term.

If Ahn is right that would mean the end of Symbian (the world's popular mobile OS), BlackBerry (currently the world's second highest selling smartphone OS) and Palm's webOS, to name just three platforms.

Ahn made his predictions during a speech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where it was notable for how many new or recently announced mobile OSes were being shown off.

LG's South Korean rival was talking about its Bada OS, Nokia announced MeeGo a new OS jointly developed with Intel, while other lower profile platforms like LiMo were being promoted at the show.

Ahn said that LG had no plans to create a smartphone OS of its own: 'Our strategy is not to make an independent mobile platform of our own at least for the next two to three years. For a while, we will concentrate on Android and Windows Phone 7 Series by Microsoft,' he said.