Pocket PC has 67% of Swedish PDA market

[Andy Sjostrom]

This is my first post for the new PocketPCThoughts.com! I thought I was going crazy. Didn't realize how much I enjoy being a part of this community!<br /><br />Some mean that Finland and Sweden are ahead in the wireless market. Analysts often look at these markets to predict the development of trends in other markets. Personally, and being a Swede, I am not sure if we have that much lead over anyone. I mean, how not cool is SMS and WAP!<br /><br />Anyway, a recent IDC study in the Swedish PDA market shows that the Pocket PC platform went from 18% market share to 67% during the last 12 months! Is this an indication of what will happen in other markets? Of course!

[JohnnyFlash]

Oh, I hope not :( ! The results would be catastrophic to society and innovation in IT :twisted: .

But, I accept the measure of inevitability that comes with your statements. It's going to happen, just like death.

[Andy Sjostrom]

We've all seen what happened in the mobile devices market before Microsoft entered. Nothing. Zip. Nil. Now, even competiton goes ARM, color, multimedia, wireless, web, expansion... etc.

Pocket PCs drives innovation in this market.

We've seen nothing yet, though. This is just the beginning! More MS success will bring even more innovation.

[JohnnyFlash]

:lol:
I like it man! That's so funny. The worrying thing is that there are people who actually believe that Microsoft drives innovation rather than hinders it.

:!:
These people actually believe that Microsoft invented the PDA and that nobody had even thought of the smartphone before WindowsCE!

:idea:
Looking back through history, we can see the visionaries who failed to get their products bought because the technology wasn't mature at the time, or to put it another way, they were ahead of their time. Remember Sir Clive Sinclair and his Pocket TV? Groundbreaking!

[JohnnyFlash]

As with all innovation, it isn't just becuase you invented something that it becomes popular. The price you can sell it for, the existance of third party apps and accessories, the ability to market, the ability to reach a global market.

Microsoft may not have invented much, but the rest of the pie they are damn good at; regarless of what you think of how they accomplish the task.

The PDA market has had some pretty cool innovation in the past, look at the Newton. But even with Windows CE 1.0 and 2.0; nothing happened. Everything just wasn't there yet. With Pocket PC; the hardware, OS and aftermarket all came into existance.

Now the world keeps turning and Palm hasn't done a great deal. They sat around enjoying the profits of an old invention while others worked hard to beat them at their own game.

One day the same will happen to Microsoft. Maybe not in our lifetimes; but one day. Nobody thought IBM could be beaten at its own game; but although it is blue chip; IBM isn't king of the hill.

For once I am glad that MS pushed innovation. In a few years we will probably all be bitching, but for now let's enjoy that which the innovation and great timing bring.

[Tycho Morgan]

I've heard similar things about Iceland (being a predictor that is). When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. When you have a small population that is located primarily in one or two centers, it's easy to have the best and most up to date technology. In the States and North America with the population as spread out as it is, it's hard for technologies to be up to date. I live in the biggest city in the state, and we've only had GSM for 6-9 months, and I'm not even sure we can get GRPRS yet.

*sigh*

Cheers,

[Chris Forsberg]

Well, 67% is good for Pocket PC, but 67% of almost nothing is not very much. Handheld clients will come in hundreds of millions, and to get 67% of that market is the real challenge.

And yes, we are quite a few who believe that Microsoft drives innovation. Not necessarily by inventing new things, but by serving it up in a nice fashion and rolling it out. And most importantly, building on existing knowledge (in both using and developing) instead of inventing odd, unfamiliar and strange new "standards". Thinking especially of desperate phone manufacturers who think that they can create rather than adopt common standards.

I held a Newton in my hand once, but to me it was completely useless. Why? Well, because there were no one else using one. The great thing about PCs and Windows is that there is a market. The same thing happened to Palm for a while, but they're already left behind (despite their hopeless attempt (OS 5) to copy parts of the working receipe). But it will happen with Pocket PC! Why? Because we are so many developers that know the Windows platform already and...software is what matters!

[Ferdinand_Lovetree]

I really hate being pushed into a corner where everything I say is anti-Microsoft because I really do like their products. Windows is excellent as is the PocketPC. With that, I have no problem at all.

What winds me up is when a Microsoft Fanboy sees the world through the same rose tinted glasses as the Hollywood fanboys who think that Americans caught the first Enigma Machine.

Without America in WWII, the war would have been lost and Europe would even now be under Nazi rule, but Americans weren't the only ones fighting and winning battles. Likewise, PocketPC is excellent and puts power in the hands of users, but they're not the ones responsible for all technological developments!

Where was Microsoft when the internet first became used by ordinary people? Even Bill Gates himself has admitted he got it wrong there and he had to change Microsoft's direction. Where was Microsoft when Psion released the first PDA? Please see that others can pioneer as well :x

You say that desparate phone companies are releasing "unfamiliar and strange new standards". What about JAVA and Microsoft's hijacking thereof only to go off and make up its own standard? UNIX is an established standard, why not do something with that? Microsoft isn't the only brain on the planet you know.

At least Symbian was designed with Mobile Technology in mind and not a cut down version of an OS that has only recently been made stable.

You are saying that unless someone adopts Microsoft's standards, they are going to produce a poor product. By saying that, you are saying that Microsoft rules and everything else sucks. By doing that, you are closing your eyes to the diversity that this world has to offer.

Again, I emphasise my point, Microsoft products are good (very good even - are you sometimes able to say that about Microsoft's competition).... but they're not the only good products and they're not always the best for everything a person may want to do, unlike how some people here insist.