Microsoft Aims to Be Top Seller Of Smart-Phone Software

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.rednova.com/news/technology/157562/microsoft_optimistic_on_smartphone_sales/' target='_blank'>http://www.rednova.com/news/technology/157562/microsoft_optimistic_on_smartphone_sales/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A Microsoft Corp. executive visiting Taiwan says the software giant is poised to lead sales of smart-phone software within three years. Microsoft vice president Ya-Qi Zhang said several factors are likely to work in Microsoft's favor as it battles industry leader Symbian Ltd., partly owned by Nokia Corp., the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. He noted the number of manufacturers producing mobile devices based on the company's software has risen to 48, whereas most of the phones using Symbian software are made by Finland's Nokia."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20050214-Microsoftlogo.gif" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/><br /><br />That's a pretty optimistic point on view. Can Microsoft actually change the tides in the mobile world inside of 3 short years? I'm not sure, there is a lot to do. What do you think?

[Sven Johannsen]

He noted the number of manufacturers producing mobile devices based on the company's software has risen to 48
And the number being supported by US Carriers is...1?

[Mike Temporale]

He noted the number of manufacturers producing mobile devices based on the company's software has risen to 48
And the number being supported by US Carriers is...1?

:lol: While it feels like it at times, that's not the case. Cingular has the MPx220 and Audiovox SMT5600, Verison has the Samsung i600, and T-Mo has PPC-PE devices (which are WM based). :wink:

[Stinger]

The reason for Symbian's success is simple - Nokia, the world's largest phone manufacturer, supports them and supports them well. They're churning out smartphones at a fantastic rate and they produce them in a varied range of form-factors. At any one time it seems as if Nokia is working on around 8 smartphones.

Microsoft currently doesn't have that level of support from any of the major players. Motorola is producing MS phones one at a time and Samsung is only now gearing up to produce MS phones.

Having 48 companies on-board isn't going to help, if they're all small OEM manufacturers with very little real influence is a 600+ million units per year industry.

There's also the matter of Japan. Microsoft is absolutely dead in Japan. That's a very bad thing. Not only do the Japanese buy a lot of phones, but Japan is also a very developed market. I'm sure that Symbian gains a great deal from developing technology for Japan, since it means that once the rest of the world starts catching up with a technology Symbian has a tried and testing solution ready to ship straight away.

I reckon that 5 years might be viable, but they need to get major backing from either Samsung or Motorola and they need to conquer Japan in order to do so. In my opinion. ;)

[Sven Johannsen]

He noted the number of manufacturers producing mobile devices based on the company's software has risen to 48
And the number being supported by US Carriers is...1?

:lol: While it feels like it at times, that's not the case. Cingular has the MPx220 and Audiovox SMT5600, Verison has the Samsung i600, and T-Mo has PPC-PE devices (which are WM based). :wink:

Really? Tried to get an MPX220 out of Cingular lately? the SMT5600 is what's on their page and I hear (here) that they are swapping out the Moto with the audiovox if you are having problems. I forgot about the Samsung, and we're talking Smartphones here. PPCPE don't count ;) But OK, so 3, out of 48 vendors, but once you pick a carrier you have one choice, or if you pick a a carrier first you have one choice. Guess the option is to get a phone third party, full price, unlocked, and then put the SIM of choice in it. WM in phones isn't going to take off with that strategy :? In the US anyway.

[Jerry Raia]

Another thing that factors in here is the carrier AND the manufacturer are in between MS and the user. Notice how hard or impossible it is to upgrade your OS.

[Sven Johannsen]

Another thing that factors in here is the carrier AND the manufacturer are in between MS and the user. Notice how hard or impossible it is to upgrade your OS.

You're tellin' me. I thought I'd give my blood pressure a workout by trying to get Motorola to provide the 1.43 ROM update. I emailed their tech support and provide the link I got here that indicates 1.43 is the current release, but the updater isn't working. I have 1.30

The responded that they and Cingular are working on making a better version of the software. They provided a link at Motorola where I could register to get announcements of new releases.

I responded it was nice that they were working on new stuff, I just want what they (Motorola) say is current. I tried to register but the registration won't accept my IMEI #.

The responded that if the (Motorola) site wouldn't accept my # I should call Cingular tech support.


It's a frickin Motorola phone, unbranded, unlocked. What the heck has Cingular got to do with my getting the latest update as indicated on the OEM site from the OEM. :evil: Yes I know...but it's still aggravating. What's worse is I see there is a 1.45 floating around that has WMP10 on it.

For reference, I am a Cingular customer, but I got an SMT5600 with my Cingular account. The MPX is an unbranded phone and I used it on T-Mobile for a while. It works fine when I throw the Cingular SIM in it, and I don't really have any issues with the phone, I just think I like the candy bar better, that's what Cingular had, and I went with them for coverage. It just irritates me that Motorola has a site that says 1.43 is the current ROM...but you can't have it. Bwahahaha

[phoenixag]

LOL.

On that note, O2's site won't accept my O2 unlocked phone's IMEI as well. I emailed their support and they asked me whether it was really an O2 phone and whether it had the logo. So I sent them all the details, plus I sent pictures of the phone and the bill and pointed them out to the page where I had bought the phone. It was listed as an official shop of O2.

So then they asked me to wait while they fixed stuff.

After 2 weeks, I see they put up a new site with a new form for registering and it still doesn't work. They then tell me to wait.

It seems Smartphone companies aren't very smart. It's almost impossible getting an update for your phone.

[Santa Fe]

I guess I would be more impressed with Microsoft's goal if they showed they could just get the opereating system right (clever, useful, quick, easy to use and so on).

[Jerry Raia]

Well, they are still working on Windows and its been how long?