Windows Mobile bleeds market share
By Michael W. Jones
The Gartner Group reported last week that the almost meteoric rise of the iPhone and the longer steady rise of the RIM Blackberry have been largely at the expense of Microsoft and their Windows Mobile platform.
Both the iPhone and the Blackberry have taken a huge bite out of the sales of Windows Mobile, and the newer Android phones show signs of joining the feast. Specifically, a recent Gartner report claims that Microsoft’s mobile platform lost fully 28 percent of its global smartphone market share during the 2008-2009 year. At the beginning of that year, Windows Mobile accounted for 11 per cent of the world’s smartphones; at the end, it accounted for 7.9 percent. During that same year, Apple’s iPhone rose from 12.9 per cent to 17.1 percent and BlackBerry rose to 20.8 per cent from 16. Android’s share has grown from nothing to 4 percent. Those are big gains and losses in anyone’s books.
The problem with Windows Mobile, according to a CNET story, is that it is seen strictly as a business platform. The iPhone and the Android phones do not suffer from that problem, and if anything may suffer from the opposite in terms of business sales. But even RIM has seen the light and is trying to capture non-business users, where Microsoft has seemed not to be. The Gartner report agrees that Windows Mobile “remains well positioned within the enterprise” but goes on to say that more than 80 percent of all smartphones are purchased by non-enterprise consumers.
Microsoft has finally recognized the problem is is trying to reposition Windows Mobile as “Windows Phone” including adding a number of consumer-oriented features in order to compete more directly with handsets like the iPhone. They are adding a number of consumer-focussed mobile services and working with handset manufacturers to produce phones that are closer to the iPhone – Android consumer ideal. It remains to be seen whether these new attempts will save Windows Mobile or whether it will be a matter of too little too late.
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November 15th, 2009
It remains to be seen whether these new attempts will save Windows Mobile or whether it will be a matter of too little too late.
November 15th, 2009
MS may have a monopoly through Windows on desktops and laptops, but the difference in the mobile market goes to show that in a free, open market MS cannot compete!
November 16th, 2009
Hi..
I have read somewhere that Nokia’s phone have dropped sharply and have fallen 15.4 percent from year to year and give it a smaller but still significant lead with 38.3 percent of the whole market.
Thanks for iniformation..
November 16th, 2009
CNET seriously thinks Windows Mobile is a BUSINESS PLATFORM? Are they completely nutz?
November 16th, 2009
The latest Windows Mobile is a significant step up for them. The last version I used on an Apache 6700, 5 was a horrible pile of unusable crap you had to mod the hell out of to make it usable.
I’m liking 6.5 on my Touch Pro. The ability to cook a custom ROM is a big part of that, however.