Windows Mobile isn't dead yet
WHILE MOST OF US have written off Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, beancounters at Isuppli insist that there is life in the thing yet.
Isuppli claims that its use in smartphones will nearly triple by 2013.
While it admitted that the Voleware had dropped to third place as the world's favoured mobile operating system, Isuppli thinks that it will be in use on 67.9 million smartphones in 2013.
It will only be eclipsed by the Symbian OS, which will still be the world's leader by a long way. The Vole's OS will have 15 per cent of the market while Symbian will have 47 per cent.
Still this is optimistic considering that another analyst firm, Gartner claims that Microsoft will pull the plug on Windows Mobile next year.
Palm has already announced it will not use the Windows Mobile OS and will concentrate on its WebOS instead.
Motorola wants to focus on the Android OS, although its enterprise MC9500 handset is still using Windows Mobile.
Isuppli analyst Tina Teng said the loss of Palm and doubts about Motorola are only some of the challenges Windows Mobile faces.
But she said that Windows Mobile can remain competitive, mainly because it supports a broad range of widely-used applications.
The Vole is a bit more helpful to customers who want to customise smartphones and supports software integration. Symbian and Android customisers have to invest in add-on software, she added.
LG also just signed up to use Windows Mobile and plans to make 50 Windows Mobile handsets.
When Windows Mobile 7 hits the shops next year it will have an enhanced user interface and browser as well as multitouch controls. This will give it enough legs to catch up, Teng indicated. µ
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Who is 'US'?
This is the most bizarre reports I've read. The authors must have been smokin' a Suppli of weed or somethin'.
Both Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 are the two dying platforms. Nokia will move to Linux based handsets.
A few years ago, Windows Mobile commanded 24% of world smartphone sales. Last year it went down to 12%. This year it is 9%. Put this on a graph, and there's no doubt where it's headed.
Rumours say that Microsoft is working on an entirely new mobile platform, codenamed 'Pink', which may eventually be rebranded as Windows Mobile (maybe Windows Mobile 7 is really 'Pink'), but Pink will be a new OS that is incompatible with today's Windows Mobile OS. People who buy WM6.5 today will soon have useless paperweights.
The current Windows Mobile 6.5 is almost dead-in-the-water. The new Microsoft 'Pink' mobile OS may come too late to save them.
I smell a rat with this iSuppli data.
Closer inspection of the report shows that the data is not based on handset sales. It is merely counting licenses.
Microsoft does not make its own phone. Instead, it makes the OS software, and licenses that to other manufacturers. This iSuppli report seems to be counting the number of manufacturing licenses each Operating System has.
Using such data, the best-selling phone on the market, Apple's iPhone, will get a low ranking, as its only licensee is itself. Another top-selling phone, the Palm Pre, will also get a low ranking, as Palm doesn't license its WebOS to anyone but itself.
For the past year, Windows Mobile has been getting consistently bad press, as its market share plummets. One must question why such a positive report would be released now. And what incredible timing. The iSuppli report is released a couple of days before the debut of Windows Mobile 6.5, and one of the biggest marketing campaigns for Microsoft. Just an amazing coincidence?
Just bought the Touch Pro 2 with Sprint and it seems to me it is very much alive thanks to the Touch Flo overlay and the upcoming 6.5 update. I can stream music to my phone with Windows Mobile and Windows 7, sync with my Zune Pass subscription, and edit/view documents in Office Mobile.
Windows Mobile is a business users' phone. So long as businesses use Microsoft products, the demand for a Windows Mobile phone will always exist.
Things will only get better for Microsoft on its Windows Mobile platform. When they lose marketshare in an area, they are pretty aggressive about getting it back. Not sure why the author is so excited to write it off and bemoan its existence.
Considering that iPhone have built-in support for Exchange Sync and it is on the way for Android too. Well it does support it right now, just not the security policies which most companies use. However, 3rd party applications exist that offer complete Exchange sync support.
So I don't see how it would give Microsoft any edge because companies are using Exchange when there are alternatives that works just as good or better.
Not to mention how easy and useful Apple's App Store and Google's Market are to the users, easy access to a big library of applications.
The hyperbole from Chuck is laughable. He no longer has credibility. Here is a quote from him up above:
"People who buy WM6.5 today will soon have useless paperweights." -Chuck
So let me get this straight... I have a Samsung Saga with WinMo 6.1. It works fine, but I will upgrade it this month to 6.5 using a sleek cooked ROM. Once WinMo 7 comes out, my Samsung Saga will all of a sudden stop working. Does anybody believe such drivel. Chuck... WTF???
The reason why WinMo will make a comeback is because Microsoft is the biggest software house in the world and is finally listening to its engineers who have been telling management all along that more investment is needed. Unfortunately, Microsoft's board members have been too focused on courting Yahooooooo uuuuu! Hey... even companies do dumb things when they fall in love. All us guy's can relate right? Thought so.
Microsoft - Time to DIE. DIE.
That Windows Mobile has been hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Oh the shock of it all!
Everybody knows the way market research firms work. They provide the data their paid subscribers pay for, thereby making product marketing managers look brilliant no matter how ridiculous their projections are. Then, when the forecasted market growth does not occur, managers can blame unforeseen circumstances. And of course the subscription is then renewed. Everybody wins! Meanwhile, the media rarely enforces the veracity of these forecasts, because they're all bought and paid for too.
Successful product marketing managers eventually realize the money is steadier and bigger - while accountability is pleasingly less - running market research firms.