iSuppli Says "Reports of Windows Mobile’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated"

"Despite intensifying competition and the loss of some high-profile licensees, the usage of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating system in smart phones will nearly triple from 2009 to 2013, allowing it to reclaim the No.-2 position in the global market, according to iSuppli Corp In 2013, 67.9 million smart phones will use the Windows Mobile operating system, up from 27.7 million in 2009. This will give Windows Mobile a 15.3 percent share of the global market in 2013, second only to the Symbian operating system, which will control 47.6 percent."

Analysts are a big like fortune tellers: no one ever goes back to check their track record to see how often they're wrong. iSupply is predicting that by 2013, Windows Mobile will control 15.3% of the global market share, second only to Symbian. Sound far-fetched? Maybe not - it's important to remember that on a world-wide scale, Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry devices are still minuscule players compared to the global number of phones shipped. As a Windows Mobile enthusiast, it's easy for me to look at the current situation and think "Oh, that's it, Windows Mobile is doomed". Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, the reality is far different: the fancy smartphones we've been using for years are still only a blip on the world-wide market of cell phones. Most of the world doesn't yet own a smartphone, so there's a long way to go for all the big players.