AliOS

Aliyun

Developer	Alibaba
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source
Initial release	July 28, 2011 (2011-07-28)
Marketing target	Smartphones
Official website	os.aliyun.com (Chinese)

Aliyun OS(Chinese: 阿里雲) is a Linux distribution designed for smartphones. It is developed by AliCloud, a subsidiary of Chinese company Alibaba Group. Aliyun was released in Chinese markets on July 28, 2011. The first device to run the OS was the K-Touch W700.

It took three years for AliCloud, involving 1,600 engineers, to develop the Aliyun. The company is challenging the dominant Android in China and is looking to expand into Western markets too.

As of May 2012, 1 million Aliyun-powered smartphones have been sold.

Overview

Aliyun revolves around the idea of bringing cloud functionality to the mobile devices. According to the company, Aliyun will feature cloud-based e-mail, Web search, weather updates, and GPS navigation tools. In addition, the operating system will synchronize and store call data, text messages, and photos in the cloud for access across other devices, including personal computers. Alibaba says it will offer customers 100GB of storage at launch. The Aliyun would allow users to access applications from the Web, rather than download apps to their devices.

It doesn't use Android's Dalvik virtual machine, but the Aliyun system libraries and programs are a binary-compatible with Dalvik API's. An App Store was launched with the Aliyun that contains downloadable Android APK files.