This 3-Min Nostalgic Video Sums Up 2 Decades Of Smartphone OSs

Without a doubt, Android and iOS are the two most popular operating systems that rule the mobile world. However, there have been more operating systems left behind in the race, and a newly posted timeline video shows us just that, summing up around 20 years of their life.

The OS Journey

The video was posted by a YouTube channel, going by the name “Data Is Beautiful.” It starts with the year 1999 wherein PalmOS dominated the OS market with 74.05%, followed by Windows Mobile (14.43%), Symbian (0.52%), and BlackBerry OS (0.32%). The data has been taken from reports from Gartner and throws light on the four major OSs of that time.

For those who don’t know, PalmOS was the mobile OS made for personal digital assistants. BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, and SymbianOS also fall into the same category.

Transitioning from 1999 to 2001 saw the BlackBerry OS beating SymbianOS. However, it hit bottom again. By the end of 2000, PalmOS had a 49.67% share, Windows Mobile had 30.78%, SymbianOS had 4.32%, and BlackBerryOS had 3.35% share.

2002 saw the sudden rise of the SymbianOS, and by the time we reached 2003, SymbianOS took Windows Mobile’s spot and came to the second position. This wasn’t it; SymbianOS beat PalmOS as well and became number 1 in 2003.

By the time we reached 2008, Android and webOS came into being. webOS (based on Linux kernel) was also developed by Palm Inc (the one who made PalmOS) after PalmOS was discontinued.

Throughout 2009, SymbianOS led the pack, followed by BlackBerryOS, iOS, and Android. PalmOS, Windows Mobile, and webOS were at the fourth, fifth, and sixth positions, respectively. A new OS called Bada was introduced by Samsung.

In just a year, that is 2010, Android dethroned SymbianOS and took first place with SymbianOS in the second position, iOS in the third, BlackBerryOS in the fourth, Windows Mobile (fifth), Bada (sixth), webOS (seventh), and PalmOS (eighth).

2011 was the year when Android and iOS began to rule the mobile world.

With the death of the PalmOS, FirefoxOS (by Mozilla) was introduced in 2013, while Android and iOS remained at the first and the second positions, respectively.

At the start of 2014, SymbianOS also died, and there were five major OS: Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS, Bada, and Firefox OS. In 2015, while Android was the king of the tech world, iOS also began gaining considerable market share.

In 2016, FirefoxOS and Bada succumbed to the competition, and there remained four OS: Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry OS. 2017 saw the introduction of KaiOS, and by the time we reached 2018, BlackBerry OS was thrown out of the OS game. There were Android, iOS, KaiOS, and Windows Mobile.

To date, we have four OS: Android in the first place with 85.23% share, iOS in second place with 10.63%, KaiOS in third place with 4.13%, and Windows Mobile in the fourth spot with 0.01% share.

Which operating system have you used in these years? Comment below.