New state-approved mobile operating system – dubbed ‘COS’ – announced in China

New state-approved mobile operating system – dubbed ‘COS’ – announced in ChinaSubmitted by Neelesh Raghuwanshi on Fri, 01/17/2014 - 12:10 

China's Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has disclosed in Thursday announcement that it has - in collaboration with the Chinese government and company Shanghai Liantong - developed a mobile operating system which has been designed to challenge the overseas-born operating systems that are increasingly gaining control in China.
According to the announcement, the Chinese government-approved mobile operating system is called the `China Operating System' (COS).  The COS is based on Linux, and is an open-source OS which will allow handset manufacturers to work with it the way they want.

In a statement pertaining to the COS, the Chinese government said that the OS - which will take on the Google Android, the Apple iOS, and the Microsoft Windows Phone operating systems - can run on a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and set-top boxes.
Though some earlier rumors, including a recent Engadget report, have suggested that device maker HTC has apparently had a heavy influence in developing the COS, there has been no official confirmation about HTC's involvement.
Going by the hints gathered from a promotional video of the COS, the looks as well as the functioning of the OS are quite similar to Google's Android mobile operating system, and especially to the HTC Sense 5.  As per reports, the COS was demonstrated on HTC One and Butterfly S devices, which looked like "they were still carrying Sense 5."