Microsoft fights back against Apple’s iPhone, also targets Google
The new version of Windows Mobile, to be unveiled later today, has its sights set on reclaiming lost mobile territory – and it’s shooting to kill.
Windows Mobile was once the only real alternative to Palm’s winning smart phones, and over the years, it even grew to outpace Palm. Then came the iPhone, and 1 million buyers went to Apple instead of Microsoft – or so say the analysts, reports the UK’s TimesOnline. Google is rumored to be working on its own phone, too, so Microsoft is facing serious competition from its two biggest competitors in a market it once dominated. Hmmm, sound familiar?
The new version 6.1 of Windows Mobile is intended to be more consumer friendly to reach a wider audience. While past versions have found success in the North American business segment, other sectors and countries have been slow to adopt the platform. A recent special-build of version 6.0 of the mobile OS by Vodafone may give some idea of what’s to come in 6.1. Speculation is wide and varied, but rumors include a rotating graphical menu and one-click access to its most frequently used features.
As BLORGE.com writer Danny Mendez noted earlier this month, it’s actually somewhat more likely that Google’s GPhone would go after Windows Mobile market share than after the iPhone. Of course Google’s main advantage in this whole mobile face-off is that its services are available no matter what phone or OS you use – Microsoft’s, Apple’s, or its own. So although the majority of the press seems to be focusing on the new release as a reaction to Apple, it seems at least as likely that it’s actually a pre-emptive strike on a potential Google phone.
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October 23rd, 2007
[...] Microsoft fights back against Apple’s iPhone, also targets Google » This Summary is from an article posted at TECH.BLORGE.com on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 This [...]
March 3rd, 2008
I think both Microsoft and Google will have to work on their media players to compete with the iPhone. After all this is the driving force for people one they look past the easy controls web access and business functionality.