Android and iOS are the lords of the land when it comes to mobile operating systems.  But their dominance is now being challenged as mobile companies start to diversify and look for options outside of these two platforms. Taiwanese company HTC is exploring the possibility of building a mobile phone that carries HTC from its core to the surface, now seriously considering buying their own OS and strengthening their technology initiatives.

With the news of purchasing their own OS, HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang makes it crystal clear that they are carefully deliberating about the decision and will take their time in weighing the pros and cons.  Perhaps, they’ve learned from the jaded HP webOS.

Wang said, “We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse. We can use any OS we want. We are able to make things different from our rivals on the second or third layer of a platform. Our strength lies in understanding an OS, but it does not mean that we have to produce an OS.”

If necessity is the mother of invention, competition is the trigger of partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.

Motorola, Samsung, Nokia and HTC: The Battle is On

Google is also laying its aces on the table and gambling on mobile full-time.  This goal was made all the more imminent with the acquisition of Motorola.  The deal has clogged the competition arena even more, even increasing competition amongst Android phone manufacturers like Samsung and HTC.  But the two are able to come up with equally headline-worthy response as the mobile showdown continues.

The Google-Motorola merger has certainly alarmed the opponents, as the search-engine/Android-maker would favor Motorola handsets heavily.  While Android puts Samsung at the pinnacle of the race against Apple devices, the Korean mobile leader also feels the threat, and is now tapping Bada to power their mobile services.

Then there’s two companies that are planning to make a big mobile comeback: Microsoft and Nokia. Hanging its hopes on Windows, Nokia will start to try and regain momentum following a downfall brought by iOS and Android market leadership.

China’s Eyes on Mobile

China, the powerhouse country, wants to partake in the success of the mobile sphere as well. After all, it has the advantage of an extensive workforce and huge consumer market, being the most populated nation in the world.  In a recent report, Val Galin named China as the next battleground for mobile and cloud.  Asia is also believed to usher the mobile entertainment business to a $54 billion market by 2015.  An emerging platform inspired by Android, Baidu is making a name for itself in China and even posing threat to the already established Alibaba.  Baidu’s entrée to the Chinese browser and search engine sphere marks a tighter competition.

HTC’s interest in its own OS is no secret–the handset manufacturer made mention of this shortly after becoming a global brand thanks to its initial support of Android’s OS. Towards this end, HTC has been on a shopping spree lately, relentless in their pursuit to limit dependance on a single operating system for their mobile success.  They are no longer concentrating their money on just hardware alone; HTC is also into fabricating a solid line-up for technology and patents, which is a growing strategy amongst hardware makers across the board.