Windows Mobile Gains Ground on Symbian

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.canalys.com/pr/r2004041.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.canalys.com/pr/r2004041.htm</a><br /><br /></div>"Despite the top three positions being filled by vendors shipping Symbian-based devices Microsoft enjoyed its highest ever share (7.8%) of the voice-centric device segment. “Having Motorola on board is a big help for Microsoft,” said analyst Rachel Lashford, “Most of Microsoft’s smart phone shipments so far have been tied to the Orange network, but with the MPx200 becoming available on other operators’ networks and with more models appearing over the coming months, we would expect shipments to increase substantially."<br /><br />Alright, 7.8% is still nothing amazing when the competition (Symbian) has 91.2%; however the growth over last year shows good momentum at 102%. Symbian's growth over last year is still very respectable at 83%. For the complete set of numbers and analysis check out the <a href="http://www.canalys.com/pr/r2004041.htm">Canalys press release</a>.

[TANKERx]

As I've always said, there would be something terribly, terribly wrong if Microsoft didn't gain any ground against Symbian.

However, what Microsoft will find hard is to catch up in any way like it has nearly caught up with Palm with its PocketPC.

My reason for saying this is that in my opinion, in the PDA market, Microsoft was running to catch up (technologically) with a platform that was for a long time standing still (Palm) and it wasn't long before it overtook. Considering that even now Microsoft hasn't got the lion's share of the PDA market, I don't see that it's going to do too well against a competitor that is still innovating, developing and breaking new ground (Symbian).

In the past, Microsoft has been dealing with competitors that prefer the Status Quo - but not so with Symbian, so this is going to be fun.

If Microsoft wants more pie though, it's going to have to start targetting the consumers..... and to do that, it's going to have to work on the technology behind MSWM.

[possmann]

I consider this news significant given the small amount of time that MS has played in the phone sector. Congrats MS.

I also agree with you TANKERx - it will be interesting to see how MS fairs against someone still developing and innovating. Palm was dead in their development - if Sony hadn't taken over the initative the Palm OS would be way lower than it is now.

I don't know if this same model will work for phone as we still have to deal with the &*(*&%(^() carriers that want to get their grimy little hands in there and do their own special tweaks, months of testing and finally delivery of a chopped up OS instead of something focused more towards the consumers - better coverages, increased network speed. Stop fiddling around with the OS carriers and get the phones to market!

sorry - couldn't help the rant - sigh :roll: