Dual-boot phones and devices are something quite exciting, as users have more choice. Unfortunately manufacturers don't enable this, and to figure out how to do it you will have to know some advanced programming.

Gladly, there are people who do it for us, but it doesn't mean it becomes a piece of cake. An example of this is the recent porting of Google Android to the Nokia N810.

More Linux platforms are to come soon, as Nokia bought Trolltech, a cross-platform software developing company mainly focused on Linux, some time ago. What the community is really expecting behind this is support for applications written for the Qt framework, making it possible to write programs for one platform and it will on others.

Another Operating System variation of Linux making to the N810 is Ubuntu, but the software is still in development.

The real reason behind all the excitement is the announcement by ABI Research that by 2013, nearly one out of every five mid-end or high-end mobile devices will use a Linux Operating System. ABI Research has been trusted for some time now as an accurate statistics source on the mobile phone industry, and this simply makes us believe that in five years, most phones will become smartphones. This doesn't necessarily mean that Google Android will rule the market, as many other companies have their own variations of Linux.

ABI Research vice president Stuart Carlaw notes that, “Clever choice of public license support, along with software engineering that isolates proprietary items from open source items, allows operating system vendors to generate revenue from a very cost-effective OS solution.” He goes on to add that, “Linux OS solutions will be far more cost-effective than incumbent solutions, even when silicon requirements are taken into account, given that a fuller application layer will be included in the standard package and that the burden of customization falls mostly on the independent software vendor.”

Source: Slashphone, Engadget, Electronista