Why can't I swap the OS in my phone for another one?

That has been the question running on my mind for so long. I use a HP desktop at work, currently running Windows XP SP2. But I know that, if I want, Linux could be made to run on it with minimal efforts (which involve scouting for drivers).  At home, I run around with a Pavilion DV2000 that came with a Vista but I kicked that out and ran XP SP3 for about 5 months before laying my hands on Windows 7 Ultimate evaluation version(which is as sexy as it gets).

If I so desire, I can run some geeky UNIX variants on the same laptop (unfortunately, I’m not a geek so that wouldn’t happen!). Even Apple, the holy grail of closed system, can dual-boot Windows using BootCamp.

The same can’t be said for any of the smart phones in town today. The laziest smart phone today is probably faster and better than the first PC I ever used (Compaq Pressario. Windows 95, 16MB Ram, 800MB Hard disk) but I I still don’t get that degree of flexibility.

I am waiting for that day when I can swap my Symbian for Windows Mobile. Or WebOS for Android.

Author: Adedeji Olowe

Adédèjì is the founder of Lendsqr, the loan infrastructure fintech powering lenders at scale. Before this, he led Trium Limited, the corporate VC of the Coronation Group, which invested in Woven Finance, Sparkle Bank, Clane, and L1ght, amongst others. He has almost two decades of banking experience, including stints as the Divisional Head of Electronic Banking at Fidelity Bank Plc. He drove the turnaround of the bank’s digital business. He was previously responsible for United Bank for Africa Group’s payment card business across 19 countries. Alongside other industry veterans, he founded Open Banking Nigeria, the nonprofit driving the development and adoption of a common API standard for the Nigerian financial industry. Beyond open APIs, Adédèjì works deeply within the fintech ecosystem; he’s the board chairman at Paystack. Adédèjì is a renowned fintech pundit and has been blogging on technology and payments at dejiolowe.com since 2001.

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