Microsoft Eyes 40% Share Of Mobile Device Market By 2012

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/13/Microsoft-eyes-40-percent-of-smartphone-market_1.html' target='_blank'>http://www.infoworld.com/article/08...e-market_1.html</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;Microsoft is aiming to capture 40 percent of the smartphone market with Windows Mobile by the year 2012, an executive said Tuesday. The target is ambitious considering the company's relatively small share of the market for smartphone operating systems today and stiff competition from the likes of Symbian, Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry, and newcomers such as Google's Android platform. &quot;</em><br /><br />Microsoft is betting that new devices like the HTC Touch Diamond will help it in the consumer space and server products like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobiledevicemanager/default.mspx">Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager</a> will help it in the enterprise space. Do you think 40% is in their reach by 2012, when today Nokia has nearly 70% share compared to Microsoft's 13% share. I remember a time not too long ago when Microsoft's main mobile rival had 80% share compared to MS's 10% share.<br /><br />

[Stinger]

I think it's a good target but massively ambitious.

Microsoft has been in the smartphone game for a long time now. It has never managed to grab more than about 15% of the market - and that was with just underdogs like Symbian and Palm as its rivals. With Apple and Google now entering the smartphone race, I can't see Microsoft ever gaining 40%. Microsoft would need to buy RIM or Nokia to do it!

[mbranscum]

Do you think 40% is in their reach by 2012, when today Nokia has nearly 70% share compared to Microsoft's 13% share.


No, I do not, unless MS bought one of the companies like the previous poster mentioned, or RIM was the target of a terrorist attack by Al Qaeda and completely wiped off the map overnight.

The only way I ever see MS getting that much of a share would be to get better control of the devices that WM is going on and improving the OS/user experience dramatically.

In spite of the iphone, RIM is doing some impressive things right now and I personally feel that they will be the force to be recond with over the new several months.

[virain]

Sure, it is possible that MS will get 40% of the market share. That is if they count on licensing parts of WM OS such as Active Sync, Exchange Server, etc. To win consumers over from RIM, Apple, MS needs to do something really dramatic with their OS, and either force OEMS to build more capable hardware, or take it in its own hands. MS makes Zune, so now maybe Danger can make WM devices as well.

[Russ Smith]

It's good to have ambitions. It's even better to have a strategy to make them happen.

Is it possible for MS to capture 40% mobile device market share? Sure. They already did something similar once with DOS/Windows on the desktop. The key was making it work well enough and making deals for it to be placed as the primary or only OS on the hardware. That strategy gave rise to the current anti-trust suits that would make a similar strategy less possible now.

Is it likely that they'll figure out a way to do it? I'm not so sure. They seem to have some difficulty figuring out a good strategy and sticking with it. They're currently losing market-share in Windows at least in part because of conflicting strategies.

Would it be a good thing if they did? I'm of mixed minds on this. On the one hand, Windows is the target for software these days because of the overwhelming market-share. It's also the target for viruses and malware for the same reason. The competition between alternatives usually forces a faster rate of improvements. That's good for the consumer because we get more functionality but bad because you "need" to upgrade more often, with the associated expenses and re-learning time. Who wants to buy a new phone every two years only to find that some of your data and most of your add-ons won't work on or transfer to the new one?

There are also expenses associated with buying "the wrong standard" before the competition shakes out. People with AMD SLI motherboards and with HD-DVD players know what I'm talking about.

[Ed Hansberry]

I think it's a good target but massively ambitious.

Microsoft has been in the smartphone game for a long time now.
I don't think they have. 2002 was the first phone device for them and it was late 2002 at that. The 2003 models from 2003-2004 were still very early and the "Pocket PC Phones" were strictly for geeks with the menu structures the way they were. WM5 is when it really changed - soft keys and no losing your data when the battery died.

Still, add it ALL up and the the most you could say they have been it it is 5.5 years. Now long as Nokia been in it? And RIM? Not sure when RIM started, but I know they were around in 2000 or 2001 at the latest, and MS is ahead of RIM. I also think Nokia's numbers are a bit inflated. How many of the smartphones are they selling that are freebies that the user never goes beyond SMS or maybe MMS with?

It is ambitious, but to go from zero to 13% in 5-6 years isn't bad., especially when only the last 3 years were when MS got a lot of it right - not everything, but a lot. :-)

To go from 13% to 40% only requires tripling share. They have been doubling every few years lately. To triple in 5 years? Ambitious but not impossible or even unrealistic.

[phoenixag]

I think its quite ambitious, but not unachievable.

All the people I know who got iphones returned them because they found them too difficult to type messages on. This being Asia, where SMS messages are the craze, might also be a factor.

Google's Android, while impressive on paper, hasn't seen the light of the day and apart from minor improvements, I can't see it being overly feature rich over WM.

MS has to tread a careful path here with WM7. They need to make sure that they lower the boom on these smartphone companies with it.

WM is really not for experts at PPC anymore. I gave a WM Standard phone to my mom (the HTC S620) and she loves it. She won't use any other phone over it and was asking me if any other phones were like it (for an upgrade path). And its not like she's tech savvy. The only other phones she's used have been low end Nokias.

[Stinger]

Still, add it ALL up and the the most you could say they have been it it is 5.5 years. Now long as Nokia been in it? And RIM?

The first Nokia S60 phone was released in Q2 2002 according to Wikipedia. The first Blackberry with integrated voice was released in Q2 2003. Microsoft has been in the game as long as the other players.

I guess you could argue that Nokia has been making phones for far longer and Blackberry have been making e-mail devices for far longer. But how long has Pocket PC been around?

How many of the smartphones are they selling that are freebies that the user never goes beyond SMS or maybe MMS with?

I would assume that a large portion of Nokia smartphone users are taking photos, listening to music and browsing the web. That's certainly what I see on the streets. Sounds like another certain consumer-centric smartphone platform, doesn't it?

It is ambitious, but to go from zero to 13% in 5-6 years isn't bad., especially when only the last 3 years were when MS got a lot of it right - not everything, but a lot. :-)

Symbian went from zero to 70% in an instant and has stuck around that figure ever since. Apple managed to grab 27% of the US market in only a few months. Windows Mobile is certainly improving but so is the opposition.

To go from 13% to 40% only requires tripling share. They have been doubling every few years lately. To triple in 5 years? Ambitious but t impossible or even unrealistic.

Microsoft's sales have been doubling but I haven't seen any real increase in market share. Their market share has always floated around the 8-20% mark. As I said, Microsoft is improving but so is the competition around them. In such a competitive market, you need to improve fast just to stand still. Just look at Motorola's fall from grace.

A tripling of market share does not equal a tripling of sales. It's probably more like getting twelve or even sixteen times as many sales.

[r@dimus]

If the past six months that I have spent using an AT&T Tilt are any indication, Microsoft has a LOT of work ahead of them if they expect to come anywhere close to 40% of the market.

[ionen]

40% is not that realistic imho because of the iPhone, the Linux-enabled phones and Google's Android.

But with services like the Mesh, Windows Mobile could remain the thing for most of the users by 2012 :)

[Crimguy]

They're definitely smoking the crack pipe. They are officially "behind the curve" right now, and have a lot of catchup to do, starting with their mobile browser. I also believe their OEM's are not uniformly building stable products (Hello, HTC???)

[alese]

This target would be realistic if Microsoft would put some real effort into it.
For now it just doesn't look like that, all they managed in one year after iPhone was to copy threded SMSs and zoom in a browser, there will be another year (2 years after iPhone) until WM7 devices come to market and WM7 at least from what we know is still "just" a copy of iPhone's interface... I'm just not sure they are working hard and fast enough to be ahead (or at least on par) of the competition when it comes to mobile OS (and desktop OS too, but that's another story).

The one thing going for them is Sony Ericsson Experia - they have one of the major manufacturers (Motorola doesn't count, having them is more of a liability than an advantage ;) and Samsung is just releasing new models of every OS/form factor possible, left and right...) on board and if the X1 is a success this could be huge for them.

[hotphil]

Two letters - UI
Unless MS can sort out the UI they have no hope of pushing Windows Mobile devices to 'ordinary' consumers. The centralised device management may make inroads to the enterprise, but average Joe isn't going to purchase a Windows Mobile device until it can be used stylus-free, the menus are sensibly laid out and the bugs are ironed out.
Other manufacturers are able to produce slick, user-friendly UIs with mass market appeal - why won't MS?

[Ed Hansberry]

The first Nokia S60 phone was released in Q2 2002 according to Wikipedia. The first Blackberry with integrated voice was released in Q2 2003. Microsoft has been in the game as long as the other players.

I guess you could argue that Nokia has been making phones for far longer and Blackberry have been making e-mail devices for far longer. But how long has Pocket PC been around?
Totally different. Those were disconnected devices and their focus was Palm. Nokia had a HUGE market presence before smartphones started coming out so their Symbian devices weren't exactly starting from ground zero like WM based devices. RIM was around with connected devices too long before MS released a PPC phone or SmartPhone, so they had inroads to the email market. Voice was just an addon a few years later. And MS has already surpassed RIM.

I would assume that a large portion of Nokia smartphone users are taking photos, listening to music and browsing the web. That's certainly what I see on the streets. Sounds like another certain consumer-centric smartphone platform, doesn't it?
No, not from what I see. People are also using the WM devices with email, GPS/mapping and other third-party software installs. It would be interesting to note the percentage of Symbian users vs WM users that really use the device beyond picture taking. I never see anyone using either device for music though. They all have iPods.
Microsoft's sales have been doubling but I haven't seen any real increase in market share. Their market share has always floated around the 8-20% mark.
You'd argue that Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, Smartphone 2002 and some of the early 2003 devices garnered 8-20%? I don't think anyone at MS would make that claim.
A tripling of market share does not equal a tripling of sales. It's probably more like getting twelve or even sixteen times as many sales.
Exactly, which is why I never discussed tripling of sales. In fact, my post doesn't even have the word "sales" in it. I think you confused sales with share in your own post.

[Stinger]

No, not from what I see. People are also using the WM devices with email, GPS/mapping and other third-party software installs. It would be interesting to note the percentage of Symbian users vs WM users that really use the device beyond picture taking. I never see anyone using either device for music though. They all have iPods.

I was trying to subtly compare the mass market appeal of Symbian to the iPhone. I obviously failed. :)

You'd argue that Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, Smartphone 2002 and some of the early 2003 devices garnered 8-20%? I don't think anyone at MS would make that claim.

I'd definitely argue that. The market for smartphones in 2002 was less than a million units worldwide and only around 3 million in 2003.

It's hard to find any hard data but this Google cache (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:o8wOIPobf2cJ:www.canalys.com/pr/2004/r2004102.htm+canalys+smartphone+market+2003&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=firefox-a) puts Microsoft's share at over 25% of the combined smartphone + PDA market in 2003. It's hard to say exactly how many of those units were connected devices but it's obvious that Microsoft's market share of the smartphone market was at least 10%.

[Ed Hansberry]

I'd definitely argue that. The market for smartphones in 2002 was less than a million units worldwide and only around 3 million in 2003.

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS9612657919.html - "Shipments for the entire year of 2003 grew 23.3% from 432.7 million devices shipped worldwide in 2002, to 533.4 million handsets in 2003."

It's hard to find any hard data but this Google cache (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:o8wOIPobf2cJ:www.canalys.com/pr/2004/r2004102.htm+canalys+smartphone+market+2003&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=firefox-a) puts Microsoft's share at over 25% of the combined smartphone + PDA market in 2003. It's hard to say exactly how many of those units were connected devices but it's obvious that Microsoft's market share of the smartphone market was at least 10%.
No way MS had 10% of a 500,000,000 unit market in 2003.

[Ed Hansberry]

Woops. Nevermind. It was about $3.7M units. STill, I am not sure MS would have had 10% of that at the time. WM2003 didn't ship until June and the Phone Edition didn't get out until Aug/Sept - remember back then it wasn't a single unified platform and the phone bits took 2-4 extra months to get in place after the PDA's shipped. Treo was king of the converged devices in the PDA world at the time and RIM was way ahead as well as they already had email devices well established and just bolted on voice that year.

[soho_1]

<table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 1124pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="1496"><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"> <col style="width: 49pt;" span="11" width="65"> <col style="width: 54pt;" span="7" width="72"> <col style="width: 53pt;" span="3" width="71"> <tbody><tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" height="17" width="64">
</td> <td class="xl30" style="width: 49pt;" x:num="" align="right" width="65">2003</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl32" style="width: 49pt;" x:num="" align="right" width="65">2004</td> <td class="xl33" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl33" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl33" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl30" style="width: 49pt;" x:num="" align="right" width="65">2005</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 49pt;" width="65">
</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 54pt;" width="72">
</td> <td class="xl32" style="width: 54pt;" x:num="" align="right" width="72">2006</td> <td class="xl33" style="width: 54pt;" width="72">
</td> <td class="xl33" style="width: 54pt;" width="72">
</td> <td class="xl33" style="width: 54pt;" width="72">
</td> <td class="xl30" style="width: 54pt;" x:num="" align="right" width="72">2007</td> <td class="xl31" style="width: 54pt;" width="72">
</td> <td class="xl34" style="width: 53pt;" width="71">
</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" width="71">
</td> <td style="width: 53pt;" x:num="" align="right" width="71">2008</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl29" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Microsoft</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10844005815321321" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.5276738271962286E-2" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10435007622337104" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11743697478991597" align="right">12%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10703124146296154" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.345606145510967E-2" align="right">8%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.9674664590869545E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10141275056064022" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.6483385527810879E-2" align="right">8%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.7749221935984899E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.3991781068639406E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.3483643187600801E-2" align="right">9%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.7324753201010348E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.1101505760934855" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11178126914656056" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11337578385073933" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11971006778624524" align="right">12%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11144351106435257" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.12188120260981428" align="right">12%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11630533556892053" align="right">12%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.13652445283374057" align="right">14%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Others</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.2790750984804157E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.8013314863439947E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.1961275152306106E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.8479516806722687E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.3760340060974943E-2" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.6155057008737869E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.6350718134224704E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.0563278536116537E-2" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.6502046208279055E-3" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.8193728577369811E-3" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.6304637214158529E-3" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.3353343446830518E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.5274955443206132E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.9214219406978651E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.7535584300515956E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.0994619493690486E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.8372940980979954E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.2680821609808242E-3" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.3665012209432202E-4" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.6462205776868431E-4" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Linux</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.3030716947318958E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.9641192720227754E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.0378985606789078E-2" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.7754675142751254E-3" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.300298386128278E-3" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.2278569584250683E-2" align="right">3%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.7763956713747051E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.4626548272543913E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.9956230475391548E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.4051152186971008E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.141302230726046E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.7048269722071688E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.8118642365750315E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.2010537551730465E-2" align="right">3%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.3709061170410804E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.8502689573553109E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.6733003725576742E-2" align="right">6%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Apple</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0" align="right">0%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.2720724951636382E-2" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.554536747694844E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.5334623037433329E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.4153782751431914E-2" align="right">5%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Symbian</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.71345667766590859" align="right">71%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.77237579341286411" align="right">77%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.69651285109159744" align="right">70%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.72377888655462186" align="right">72%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.65640674002600718" align="right">66%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.68425409930699677" align="right">68%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.71203466275928384" align="right">71%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.72881345285282639" align="right">73%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.76425301850363514" align="right">76%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.75381246439827421" align="right">75%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.72798707511076122" align="right">73%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.7347652036340101" align="right">73%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.7611319211883929" align="right">76%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.72358206374342449" align="right">72%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.72115078774030894" align="right">72%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.70943814353177981" align="right">71%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.70903926180405163" align="right">71%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.72157021184837655" align="right">72%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.68106388960927244" align="right">68%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.64593709426963752" align="right">65%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.5873920581235762" align="right">59%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">RIM</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.7109592263933549E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.8149151280831972E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.7145926971822668E-2" align="right">8%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.2237394957983194E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10380765574289992" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.13730531283703301" align="right">14%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.11810293511607674" align="right">12%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10389150276708146" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.7564319300871135E-2" align="right">9%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.8428281124038874E-2" align="right">9%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.7194855009598268E-2" align="right">9%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.118238881716601E-2" align="right">8%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.2080732808751786E-2" align="right">9%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.7272907224376122E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.4714891857225241E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="8.8510296508477207E-2" align="right">9%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.8717631763932931E-2" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.10508429964647174" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.1058564833240468" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.1139243000746572" align="right">11%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="0.1371505761351943" align="right">14%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Access</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.8202920932140503E-2" align="right">10%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.6185002170901645E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.0029870560902749E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.8067226890756302E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="6.5963305759837401E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.9188276671894934E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="7.3458033792756075E-2" align="right">7%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.7543547769060196E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.4748773660726655E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.8912090099714395E-2" align="right">5%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="5.5431868375838231E-2" align="right">6%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="4.1606881743996113E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.5978866782132822E-2" align="right">4%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="3.2021878811044978E-2" align="right">3%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.8186470518593203E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.95280444375629E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.2577102181921837E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.5902632776451504E-2" align="right">2%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="1.1407345687412859E-2" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="9.7313354180296584E-3" align="right">1%</td> <td class="xl35" x:num="2.8046126430480281E-2" align="right">3%</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

[Ed Hansberry]

Thanks soho. Do you have the source for that?

[Stinger]

Looks like Canalys's numbers but I couldn't provide you with a link. Good work on finding them, soho_1. :)

[Ed Hansberry]

Looks like Canalys's numbers but I couldn't provide you with a link. Good work on finding them, soho_1. :)
It does, but the title says "Quarterly Shares of Mobile Operating Systems" and I have no doubt MS overall had 10% share of moblie operating systems. But in 2003, not sure how many of MS's devices were phone enabled. I know on the Pocket PC side of things, the phone devices were the small piece of the pie with devices like the iPAQ 2215 and Dell X-30 devices were the lions share of the market.

I was hoping to see some of the commentary with those stats to make them meaningful.

[soho_1]

Numbers are from Canalys (www.canalys.com). Published every quarter.

[soho_1]

The numbers exclude any non-cellular devices. In other words, Canalys classifies "handhelds" separately. These shares are for "wireless handhelds and smartphones" combined.