Russia to Launch its own Mobile OS

China launched its own search engine ‘Baidu’ in the year 2000, two years after Google took the technology world by storm in 1998. Now, it seems that Russia is going to follow the footsteps of China, by launching its own operating system for smartphone devices.

Open Mobile Platform, a Russian firm has taken the initiative of developing the new operating system for local mobile users and big businesses, to counter the monopoly of android and iOS devices. And more  importantly, the company has gained much needed support from the Russian government.

The company has started hiring local android and iOS developers, online security experts, and others to work on developing the new operating system for the masses. The new operating system will also cater to the needs of Linux based systems.

Amid all this development, Google is seemed to have lost the ground, not only in Europe, but Russia as well. Google, the search engine giant, has come under direct scrutiny of the European Commission, which is now planning to hand a hefty fine of three billion euros (US$3.4 Billion) on Google for violating the privacy law’s provisions. And now, Russia has come up against Google, for violating and making unfair use of its dominant domain name position, with the assistance of company’s android developers.

The new mobile operating system will be built on top of Sailfish OS. It is interesting to note that five countries, including, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (popularly known as BRICS countries, are also working to curb down the dominance of American tech firms in recent years, and Russia has drawn the first blood in this regard.

Russia is making tremendous progress in the technology sector. There is another operating system, Tizen coming up for Russian smartphone users. This operating system will also cater to the needs of tablet users, laptops, and IoT devices.

As the situation stands, it seems that China and Russia – two of the largest countries in terms of population – are going to give the American tech giants a tough time in the coming years. The trend of homegrown applications, targeting the local masses in local languages, continues to be on the rise, since the launch of Baidu.

Will the American tech giants succumb to the pressure from Russia and China? Well, this is a question worth giving thought. Let’s wait and watch.