Mobile OS Duopoly

The cluster discusses the dominance of Android and iOS as the primary mobile operating systems, comparing it to historical desktop OS competitions like Windows vs. Mac and debating the lack of viable alternatives.

➡️ Stable 0.7x Hardware
3,052
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#6510
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
2
2008
25
2009
85
2010
223
2011
274
2012
224
2013
242
2014
143
2015
130
2016
142
2017
178
2018
121
2019
127
2020
207
2021
213
2022
172
2023
154
2024
178
2025
199
2026
13

Keywords

MS e.g US CPU THIS DOS OSX FB IOS OK android os mobile ios windows android ios oses ios android apple operating

Sample Comments

lwhi Jan 9, 2011 View on HN

Sounds a bit like Android vs iOS (or Windows vs. MacOS).

mixmastamyk Sep 30, 2013 View on HN

Windows was entrenched first, this time Android (and ios) are. Also Android has an advantage, it is free and has a rich corporate patron.

pjmlp Sep 30, 2014 View on HN

Society has lot of mobile OSes to chose from, not only from Apple.

worik Jun 27, 2022 View on HN

Apple/iOS is not the only mobile platform.

Fnoord Jun 25, 2020 View on HN

The amount of people without a "Microsoft/Apple/Google smartphone" (ie. not running iOS, Android, or Windows Phone [sic]) is very low in absolute and relative numbers. You might run say Sailfish OS, they have an Android emulator. Backwards compatibility is extremely important in the software ecosystem.

wiineeth Sep 27, 2016 View on HN

The problem is Android and IOS basically came at the same time and got almost same apps in them. For a new platform there is not much to innovate other than we have the same features, but not the same company. There is only way to win in this industry now. Its to create a OS which has compatibility with android apps and has excellent hardware integration.

maxklein Sep 1, 2009 View on HN

Android is the linux of the smartphone OSes, and the iPhone OS is the windows.

kristianpaul Sep 11, 2020 View on HN

Two only choices of mobile OS, thats concerning for sure.

mixmastamyk May 28, 2022 View on HN

Android and to some extent iOS, are the reason.

aaomidi Mar 12, 2024 View on HN

Mobile OSes are not the same as windows or even Mac.