Kris Kumar
12-13-2006, 05:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Ballmer+discusses+life+after+Vista+-+page+3/2008-1012_3-6141081-3.html?tag=st.num' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Ballmer+discusses+life+after+Vista+-+page+3/2008-1012_3-6141081-3.html?tag=st.num</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Ballmer: Let's say the PC market is roughly 200 million units these days, and let's say the PC market goes great guns over the next several years and grows 14 percent or 15 percent a year. Those are big numbers. You go great guns, China booms. You get maybe over 400 million in a few years. The cell phone market is already a billion units a year, and the truth of the matter is that what I'll call "smart devices," as a percentage, the total is rising dramatically. When it comes to smart devices, there really aren't that many players. Basically, you have Nokia/Symbian, you've got us. Actually, I'll be so bold as to say that the two of us stand out in that area. Then you have some guys who are more niche players--Palm is more of a niche player, (Research In Motion's) BlackBerry is more of a niche player, those Linux devices from Motorola, particularly in China, (mean it) is more of a niche player."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-dec2006-ballmer.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />While I do agree with the comment that Microsoft and Nokia are currently the only two real players in the smart phone market, but I think it is a bit too early to start gloating about the success. One of the so called niche player, BlackBerry, is trying to broaden its market with Pearl. And I don't think it is a good idea to rule out Linux. Most of the current success for Windows Mobile is due to HTC; it is only recently that Motorola and Samsung have released popular products based on Windows Mobile. The competition has only begun.