Submitted by Acer is the latest smartphone handset maker to shift its resources from Windows Mobile to Android. And with competing OSes grabbing marketshare and attention daily, an observer couldn’t be faulted for assuming that Microsoft’s mobile OS initiative is in terminal decline. But it’s quite possible that the mobile computing market is growing so fast that there will be room for all these players, and more.Market Intelligence firm iSuppli predicts that while Windows Mobile’s overall marketshare might fall in the coming years compared to its competitors, the dramatic expansion of the overall market could easily provide continually expanding real installed base numbers for the foreseeable future. They even believe that in the short term, Windows Mobile will increase its share to retake the #2 slot, though I question their numbers.
That being said, it’s not all defections in Windows Mobile news LG is a relatively new Windows Mobile licensee, and they’ve got big plans, with 50 handsets on the planning board. And it’s worth noting that Palm and Motorola, the two big defections that have made news, are maybe less important than they seem, with Palm destined to return to its own OS despite WinMo’s strengths/weaknesses, and Motorola itself being in decline, separate from its smartphone strategy.
I think the biggest determiner of Microsoft’s mobile computing fortunes will be what improvements are made to Windows Mobile in the upcoming version 6.5 and 7 releases. Truth is, Microsoft was flatly outmaneuvered by its competitors, and the current version of Windows Mobile neither supports the kinds of hardware, such as a multi-touch screen, that the latest smartphones must have, nor does its dated-feeling user interface hold up well against the iPhone or Palm, for example. But Microsoft seems determined to make up for lost time, and it wouldn’t be the first time that they arrive late to the party and go on to dominate the market.
Win Mobile is losing market share but it continues growing? Growing what? Wings? Feathers? Besides,the link is anything but Win Mobile growing.
It’s that the market is becoming bigger, so even though Windows Mobile has to share that market with new competitors, it can still grow its installed base as it loses share. (did you see the “read more?”)
Edited 2009-10-05 17:25 UTC
Market Share is the percentage of the population that uses your product.
Growth of the product is the number of units sold per time unit.
So if the total population grew 400%
and you sold 100% more product this year. Then your Market share fell. But your company still grew.
Palm is not exactly “returning to its own OS”. This makes it sound like Palm dabbled in WinMo and then decided to go back to the classic Palm OS. Instead, the classic Palm OS was dying on the vine, so they started selling WinMo devices. Finally, the much awaited (like 6+ years!) WebOS came out. Palm rightly saw the WebOS as its future, and is dropping the clunky WinMo for the WebOS Palm Pre line. Maybe it’s semantics, but I felt clarification was in order.
PalmOS –> WinMO –> PalmOS — a regression
PalmOS –> WinMO –> WebOS — a progression
Resume normal transmission…
when it was just palm vs microsoft, microsoft had a chance at monopoly by targeting PalmOS’s weaknesses. Even still it’s surprising how Palm was able to hold out for so long.
It’s a lot harder now with iphone, RIM, etc.
Netscape also used to dominate the browser space and Microsoft was able to focus on them and wipe them out. The lesson is to not give Microsoft a single target for them to focus on.
You’re absolutely correct. For a while there, it was not at all destined that Palm would ever use a home-built OS again, or, indeed, would continue to exist at all.
Market share is two words, not one. This isn’t German.
Yes, it’s English, so if I can write it as one word, and you can read it as one word, then it’s one word. You can write it as one word, two words, or a hyphenated word, and over time, a sort of consensus will emerge, and consensus of usage will determine correctness. It’s not French, where your usage is judged by a committee.
Amazing how poorly their mobile development has been, considering they should have had a leg up in the competition. PDA’s and Windows Mobile, along with the accompanying software have been around for years. There are literally thousands of programs for the mobile platform, what is missing is an OS that fits in 2009/10 and not 2001. I got a free Ipaq back in 2003 which I hardly ever used, but now can reflect on the fact there is no difference between that and the new HTC smartphone I have. The only thing Windows mobile has going for it is a wealth of available software, but as for the OS itself it needs to go the way of the dodo.
Apparently Microsoft directed its resources to .Net development. C# and .Net are widely successful in the desktop and ASP area but alas have limited use in mobile applications.
It usually boils down to personalities. My guess is that there just wasn’t a sufficiently respected heavy weight in Microsoft management that could push for mobile development.