A recent report from In-Stat shows that the competition in the smartphone OS market is intensifying -- as indicated by announcements from AT&T (News - Alert), Verizon Wireless, Palm and Microsoft.

“With Android on the upswing, Palm’s Web OS starting to expand, and Apple’s iPhone not showing signs of slowing down, the battleground, and subsequent weeding-out phase of the smartphone OS war has started,” revealed In-Stat analyst Allen Nogee.

 

AT&T will be now allowing VoIP applications that run over its cellular network to be installed on iPhones. According to In-Stat, AT&T has been tracking the FCC (News - Alert) regulations regarding network neutrality in the mobile arena and has taken the necessary action to oblige and allow these applications.

Customers subscribing for VoIP usage are business customers generally. It is expected that they will not adopt VoIP for some time now as their businesses pay for the service. The AT&T announcement however will have long-term effect as the US cell phone billing model is set to undergo changes.

In case other operators and AT&T are not able to increase charges for voice applications then they will most probably raise prices on data, according to the In-Stat report. Also AT&T and Apple may extend the exclusive agreement between them for another year.

Considering Verizon’s (News - Alert) announcement which reportedly said that the company was adopting Android phones and will allow Google applications to run on its phones, In-Stat said that Verizon does not plan to start selling iPhones in the near future. If Verizon is planning on adopting LTE (News - Alert) then it has to prepare itself right now.

As for Microsoft, which recently announced that its Windows Mobile 6.5 was ready, In-Stat said that the new OS is expected to help the company beat the competition. Microsoft (News - Alert) offerings are preferred for a PC OS as an update, but for mobiles this may not be the case, said In-Stat sources. With the smartphone OS market developing fast, even companies like Microsoft will find it difficult to gain market share.

 

Palm opened up its Web OS developer program which will allow developers to get a 70 percent share in profits. Also Palm assured that the rejection rate will be much less than that of Apple or Google. Developers will get a link in return for submissions using which users can install the application on their phones.

 

In-Stat provides market intelligence gathered from end-user research, database models and market research methodologies to analyze the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystems. Research findings are published in the form of reports, annual subscriptions, consulting and advisory services which help companies in making critical decisions.