Google’s Android operating system gave Linux-on-mobile sales a healthy boost in the fourth quarter of 2008. In its latest report on the state of smartphones, IT analysts Gartner said that Linux-based mobile sales increased from 2.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 3.2 million units at the end of 2008.

Two just-published market research reports bode well for Linux's future in the market for higher-priced smartphones. J.D. Power reports that rising smartphone sales are driving handset prices higher, while ABI Research predicts Linux will take a 23 percent share of the smartphone segment by 2013.

According to research firm Canalys, worldwide shipments of smartphones running Google's open source Android mobile operating system increased by 886% in the second quarter of 2010

Linux will power about 31 percent of all smartphones sold in 2012, and by then will have shipped in 331 million devices, says ABI. The research firm forecasts 75 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for Linux in smartphones through 2012, making it the fastest-growing OS in the sector.

The open-source Linux operating system is seeing major growth in the mobile and embedded space, especially in the smartphone market. Handset makers and mobile carriers are adopting open-source software because it significantly reduces licensing and development costs and also provides higher flexibility.

In China, the world's largest mobile phone market, smartphone sales for Q3 grew 11.3 percent quarter-over-quarter, reports CCID Consulting. However, Linux's share of the market declined, largely due to weakening volumes for Motorola smartphones, the Hong Kong-based market research firm reported.

According to ABI Research, a market intelligence company that specializes in global connectivity and emerging technology, Linux-based smartphone shipments will outstrip growth of the entire smartphone market in 2010. By 2015, they anticipate that the market share of Linux-enabled smartphones will be at 33%.

Gartner has released a report predicting that by 2014, Android will be second only to Symbian in mobile operating system marketshare worldwide, with the two platforms accounting for nearly 60 percent of the mobile OS market within the next four years. The news follows numerous recent bullish reports on the state of Android in the U.S.

Orange has given its thumbs-up to the Intel-Nokia Linux venture Meego, the OS formerly known as Maemo and Moblin. The mobile phone network essentially said it would develop its applications, marketed under the Signature brand, to run on the operating system, allowing it to offer customer user experiences on anything from netbooks to smartphones.