According to the latest report from ABI Research, Linux is set to be top dog in the mobile OS wars by 2013. The research firm predicts that Linux, led by Moblin, LiMo and Maemo, will be the OS for more than 50 million mobile Internet devices (MIDs) in five years.

ABI calls the MID market the “first real example of a greenfield situation” in that its believes all mobile OSs will start on “equal footing.” And the report expects mobile Linux to reign supreme due to its “flexibility, customization and very positive cost comparison to Windows Mobile.”

As LiMo is the only group that has included smartphones in its mobile Linux project, ABI says it is well positioned in that its platform can “span multiple device segments.”

Another study by research firm Forward Concepts
also predicts that Linux will rule the MIDs market, predicting that MID shipments will grow from 305,000 units in 2008 to 39.6 million units in 2012.