ZTE Corp. and Firefox plan to release a new mobile operating system in the December quarter to compete with Android software.
As the second-largest telecom equipment provider in China, ZTE intends to reduce reliance on Android, according to businessweek.com. The company expects smartphone sales to double this year while market shares increase in Europe, North America, Brazil and Japan.
He Shiyou, ZTE's executive vice president, said the company will not rely on one operating system. The company is expanding in mobile devices and cloud computing — sales growth in these areas have been faster than in ZTE's traditional business equipment, businessweek.com indicated.
About 90 percent of the company's smartphones use Android, while the other 10 percent use Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile.
Pierre Ferragu, a London-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said in businessweek.com's article, ZTE's plan is a "very unrealistic strategy" because app developers are already committed to existing operating systems.
“Operating systems follow winner-take-all rules," Ferragu said. "How can an operating system limited to a small, low-end manufacturer gain traction ever?"
