Just when you thought the BlackBerry 10 had its work cut out for itself by competing against Android, iOS and the new Windows Phone 8. According to reports on the web, Linux-based Ubuntu OS will soon come to smartphones, giving the BlackBerry 10 one more competitor to fight for precious market share with. And this could happen as soon as October 2013, according to Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. The Ubuntu smartphone OS will be optimized for use on the Galaxy Nexus and app developers can get to work by the end of this month itself. The OS itself will be the same as the desktop version, which means users can connect their smartphones to a monitor and use it like a regular PC too. Ubuntu as a smartphone OS can expect to be well received in the corporate world, where security regulations are the norm. Given this strength, it makes perfect sense to go the Ubuntu way in organizations where corporate IT calls for stringent norms and control of employees’ smartphones. And that’s why we think BlackBerry 10 will have to fight even harder to stay on top. The corporate smartphone user has traditionally been BlackBerry’s favorite customer. But over the years, it ended up losing precious customers to iOS and Android. Now, BlackBerry 10 just launched a few days ago and so far, we’ve heard positive reviews from folks who have had a chance to try it out. But, will things continue this way when the Ubuntu smartphones hit the market? And do they really stand a chance anyway? Would it be powerful enough to pull people away from the likes of iOS and Android? Guess we’ll just have to wait a few more months to find out.
