<P> Windows Mobile was based on the Windows CE kernel and first appeared as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system . Throughout its lifespan, the operating system was available in both touchscreen and non-touchscreen formats . It was supplied with a suite of applications developed with the Microsoft Windows API and was designed to have features and appearance somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows . Third parties could develop software for Windows Mobile with no restrictions imposed by Microsoft . Software applications were eventually purchasable from Windows Marketplace for Mobile during the service's brief lifespan . Windows Mobile was eventually phased out in favor of Windows Phone OS . </P> <P> Symbian was originally developed by Psion as EPOC32 . It was the world's most widely used smartphone operating system until Q4 2010, though the platform never gained popularity in the U.S., as it did in Europe and Asia . The first Symbian phone, the touchscreen Ericsson R380 Smartphone, was released in 2000, and was the first device marketed as a "smartphone". It combined a PDA with a mobile phone . Variants of Symbian OS began to emerge, most notably Symbian UIQ, MOAP and S60, each supported by different manufacturers . With the creation of Symbian Foundation in 2008, Symbian OS was unified under one variant under the stewardship of Nokia . In February 2011, Nokia announced that it would replace Symbian with Windows Phone as the operating system on all of its future smartphones, with the platform being abandoned over the following few years . </P> <P> Firefox OS was demonstrated by Mozilla in February 2012 . It was designed to have a complete community - based alternative system for mobile devices, using open standards and HTML5 applications . The first commercially available Firefox OS phones were ZTE Open and Alcatel One Touch Fire . As of 2014, more companies had partnered with Mozilla including Panasonic (which was making a smart TV with Firefox OS) and Sony . In December 2015, Mozilla announced that it would phase out development of Firefox OS for smartphones, and would reposition the project to focus on other forms of Internet - connected devices . </P> <P> The Bada operating system for smartphones was announced by Samsung in November 2009 . The first Bada - based phone was the Samsung Wave S8500, released in June 2010 . Samsung shipped 4.5 million phones running Bada in Q2 of 2011 . In 2013, Bada merged with a similar platform called Tizen . </P>

When a software company developed a new phone