Linux powering 31% of smartphone market share by 2012

Linux is due to run 331 million phones and mobile devices by the year 2012, according to a new study from ABI Research. The Linux smartphone market share is expected to grow at more than 75 percent per year, bringing the anticipated total percentage of mobile devices running the platform to 31 percent in five years.

"Serious initiatives from the likes of Intel and Access are gathering pace and momentum, whilst the carrier community continues to identify Linux as one of the few operating systems that it intends to support in its long-term plans," ABI research director Stuart Carlaw told PCWorld. Linux-based mobile devices have already taken off in Asian countries like China and Japan, with over 30 percent of the market.

Linux is benefiting from growing support in the handset OEM community, most notably Motorola, but also Nokia with less traditional types of devices aimed at mobile broadband applications. Between Motorola's plans to run Linux its handsets, and Google's rumored gPhone, the odds of you carrying a penguin in your pocket are improving every day.