Windows Mobile Adoption Worldwide Seen as Tremendous

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.ciol.com/ciol-techportal/content/Mobility/Interviews/2006/2061030903.asp">http://www.ciol.com/ciol-techportal/content/Mobility/Interviews/2006/2061030903.asp</a><br /><br />India IT magazine CIOL interviewed Jason Lim, regional director, APJ, Microsoft's MED division recently. Here is one of the questions:<br /><b>Q: What kind of adoption is being seen worldwide?</b><br /><b>A:</b> Tremendous. Licenses for Windows Mobile-powered devices grew at 90% overall for FY '06 and 95% in Q4. We recorded a y-o-y growth in excess of 40% for the fifth consecutive quarter and achieved fiscal year operating profitability for the first time in FY '06. We now have 47 device makers actively shipping Windows Mobile-powered devices to business customers through 115 mobile operators in 55 countries. There are more than 100 different Windows Mobile-powered devices available worldwide.<br /><br />I didn't even know there were 115 mobile operators worldwide. 8O

[CTSLICK]

Interesting...despite this I've yet to find a converged WM device that really lights my fire, at least nothing thats obtainable in the US via an existing mobile provider and especially not for CDMA. I remain hopeful...and patient...ok...more hopeful and less patient :evil:

[cab124]

If this is the case, why is MS dropping support for applications written for Windows Mobile, such as Pocket Streets and MS Money?

And, yes, I agree that there aren't really any converged devices that excite me either....at least not until I see VGA on a converged device.

[JesterMania]

If this is the case, why is MS dropping support for applications written for Windows Mobile, such as Pocket Streets and MS Money?

I fail to see the correlation between dropping support for certain applications and the development of the Windows Mobile platform. More manufacturers other than HTC are jumping on the WM production bandwagon and I certainly don't see MS dropping support for WM5. In fact, I'm not at all surprised at the news - with the advent of the phone edition and wm5 smartphone, the market seems to be booming like never before.

[TOCA]

I didn't even know there were 115 mobile operators worldwide. 8O

Hmmm, thats allmost one device pr. operator :?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I didn't even know there were 115 mobile operators worldwide. 8O

That'd make it about 2 mobile operators for every 3 countries or so - I smell an opportunity!

[Gerard]

If this is the case, why is MS dropping support for applications written for Windows Mobile, such as Pocket Streets and MS Money?

Because MS Money was buggy, as complained about for years by so very many in forums? Because the code was such a hodge-podge of junk that they just couldn't face fixing it, and starting over seemed like an admission of failure? Pocket Streets... marginally better, at least not likely to corrupt years of accumulated financial data on a whim... But really, was it every anywhere near as good as the competition, namely Mapopolis or Tom Tom?

And, yes, I agree that there aren't really any converged devices that excite me either....at least not until I see VGA on a converged device.

A big ditto for me. I'll be hanging onto my cellphone, and my Toshiba e800, until at least one really worthy replacement comes along for this perfect screen and tosses a phone in besides. Keeping at least one, preferably two decent sized slots would help too, as would giving it at least a 4" display.

As an asde;anyone seen JackAubrey lately? I get the sense he's off in a corner, eating crow, as these devices haven't quite dried up and blown away like he'd predicted so many times. Hope he's okay.

[WillyG]

As an asde;anyone seen JackAubrey lately? I get the sense he's off in a corner, eating crow, as these devices haven't quite dried up and blown away like he'd predicted so many times. Hope he's okay.

Who is/was JackAubrey? :devilboy:

[Gerard]

JackAubrey, also known by his prior moniker 'Craig1959', was (and perhaps still is, should he return for another round) a doomcryer. Several times over the years he's pop his head in the door of a few forums, though mostly Brighthand, and either start a new thread announcing the imminent demise of the PDA - especially the Pocket PC, in which he apparently held no faith as a marketable item - and then baiting any and every contributor. He seemed to take great delight in playing hardball, escalating just to the brink of personal insults, then suddenly switching and alling for moderators as suddenly people were reacting to his insults. He'd say the most outlandish things, offer zero support for any of them, and claim it all as received wisdom. Quite a character, really.

Jack played this little game a few times. He'd eventually lose interest and move on, though on at least one occassion he was banned from a forum for his antics. That was especially good for him, as it 'proved' beyond a doubt that forum moderators and long-time members were all such fanboys (and fangirls) of these devices that they simply could not stand to be contradicted by his 'truths.' Hilarious good fun. I miss him. But now of course, with WM sales rising rather more rapidly than ever and manufacturers at an all-time high, he'd be rather hard pressed to make his old arguments. And old arguments were all he seemed to have. For all his talk about innovation, the guy simply had no new things to say.

[jaytee]

You know there was a time I honestly thought the PPC would die and Palm would flourish. Was I wrong. I love my PPC :D

[Cybrid]

the guy simply had no new things to say.Lol. Perhaps I missed the larger part of his erratic behaviour but it did seem he had a POV that he poorly expressed due to personal characteristics.

Overall though, the PDA as a stand-alone does appear to be dying. The move toward converged devices as evidenced by this thread is happening. Sad, really...I must be one of the marginal market forces that sees the phone and PDA need to be separate since the do-it-all is still huge as a phone.

[Gerard]

[quote=Gerard]Perhaps I missed the larger part of his erratic behaviour but it did seem he had a POV that he poorly expressed due to personal characteristics.
It's not that he didn't have a point of view, nor that he failed in expressing it. Far from it. No, the problem from my perspective (at least, and it seemed largely shared) was that he a) didn't think that most people either wanted or needed PIM functions, and b) felt very strongly that unless a PDA could operate his car and house security, make POS purchases in lieu of credit/debit cards, and basically do his laundry list for him, they would fail utterly. I suppose that converged devices might actually appeal slightly more to JackCraig, but my suppositions about him in the past have been refuted by the one-and-only, so best not to guess too much.

Overall though, the PDA as a stand-alone does appear to be dying. The move toward converged devices as evidenced by this thread is happening. Sad, really...I must be one of the marginal market forces that sees the phone and PDA need to be separate since the do-it-all is still huge as a phone.

That's the weird thing. Aubrey1959Whatever didn't seem to think that adding phone functionality allowed one to continue calling these things PDAs. And it seems you're agreeing with him? But what's so new about adding a phone? Bluetooth didn't impress Jack as important, nor did Wi-Fi. He wanted pop machines and payphones to talk with the device in his pocket, apparently expecting some sort of psychic connection between user and device and POS machine, so that intentions would become reality while maintaining better-than-ever security, somehow. One more radio in the device: does that really make it no longer a PDA? Or does it make it a slightly further enhanced PDA? The latter, in my opinion. Of course, the trend towards removing expansion slots has actually impaired functionality in my opinion besides, so it's a couple of steps forward, one big step back (or two, for devices lacking even an SD slot, where truly most devices ought to have both SD and CF).

Perhaps the whole argument over which device is rising fast and which failing comes down to nomenclature. Calling a family of devices so nebulous a term as Personal Digital Assistant leaves the field open as to what that should be interpreted to mean, including any perceived limitations on the definition. I happen to feel, and again this is on opinion only, is that a PDA is any sort of computing device of multiple functions which one carries around in a pocket or purse. Its primary function should always be PIM, or at least it should be assured that it does calendar and contact data well, regardless of other embedded functionalities. After that, it should allow itself to be adapted to a great many purposes, depending only on the needs and whims of the individual. That's what an assistant is, after all; a reasonably obedient helper.

These new-ish devices, the full XP boxes which fit into pockets, or in the case of the UMPCs fit into small bags, they can and probably will eventually come to be called something like PDAs. Once they have decent enough battery life and can wake up to remind us of appointments, how will they be so different from our old PPCs except in breadth of applications? And there's nothing wrong with that! Further, what's the harm in using a phone as a PDA? I don't see why it is, or even how, that phones enhanced with numerous PIM features are not PDAs as well as phones. They may be somewhat limited compared to a PPC considering that most of them lack touchscreens, and therefore fail to allow such diversity of input (no on-the-fly graphics editing for instance, a requirement of more and more users as they become aware of the possibilities), but that's only one of many usability aspects. If I weren't so committed to stylus input for quite a few operations I might use a phone as a PDA myself... and probably will eventually, once that phone is integrated into a device which suits my other needs.

As for a PDA being too large for convenient phone use... Cybrid, really? Your 6700 thingy is pretty darn small. Is it really so big to use as a phone? It's shorter than my opened Motorola V220, so length isn't excessive - I'd even go so far as to declare it too short, as I like the mic closer to where my voice comes out of my face. I have been on the receiving end of far too many calls from users of tiny candybar phones, where I can scarcely make out what they're saying. But my main argument against this reasoning has nothing to do with size. Headsets, dude. It's obvious that most longer calls ought to be done using headsets, as too often we need to be doing other things while on the phone, and it's ridiculous trying to juggle a telephone while changing a baby, carving a bit of wood, looking up something online which is pertinent to the call at hand, or any of the myriad other chores I do during phone calls which no doubt have parallels in the lives of most users. The size of the phone simply does not matter, once you use a headset. It could be a Tablet PC or somthing the size of a USB memory stick, or anything between. The phone functionality doesn't enter into it, once you have an earbud and a mic boom, whatever the type, wired or no.

[Cybrid]

It's not that he didn't have a point of view, nor that he failed in expressing it. Far from it. No, the problem from my perspective (at least, and it seemed largely shared) was that he a) didn't think that most people either wanted or needed PIM functions, and b) felt very strongly that unless a PDA could operate his car and house security, make POS purchases in lieu of credit/debit cards, and basically do his laundry list for him, they would fail utterly. I suppose that converged devices might actually appeal slightly more to JackCraig, but my suppositions about him in the past have been refuted by the one-and-only, so best not to guess too much. Lol. Believe it or not that sort of thing is possible and prolly down the road. I recently paid for parking through my phone. Pricey but functional. All other than load the actual laundry into the machine...but you never know... a large leap in robotics could accomplish that too.



That's the weird thing. Aubrey1959Whatever didn't seem to think that adding phone functionality allowed one to continue calling these things PDAs. And it seems you're agreeing with him? But what's so new about adding a phone? Bluetooth didn't impress Jack as important, nor did Wi-Fi. He wanted pop machines and payphones to talk with the device in his pocket, apparently expecting some sort of psychic connection between user and device and POS machine, so that intentions would become reality while maintaining better-than-ever security, somehow. One more radio in the device: does that really make it no longer a PDA? Or does it make it a slightly further enhanced PDA? The latter, in my opinion. Of course, the trend towards removing expansion slots has actually impaired functionality in my opinion besides, so it's a couple of steps forward, one big step back (or two, for devices lacking even an SD slot, where truly most devices ought to have both SD and CF). Yes, I agree that cf slots are essential. As for the connection, a not so Psychic BT connection to anything from anything would open up possibilities. There is a yet to be realised vision in there. Not a delirious pipe dream but a realistic attempt at that. A what if we could remote control everything from a phone, make purchases through a secure phone connection to some invisible POS. Some day maybe...

Perhaps the whole argument over which device is rising fast and which failing comes down to nomenclature. Calling a family of devices so nebulous a term as Personal Digital Assistant leaves the field open as to what that should be interpreted to mean, including any perceived limitations on the definition. I happen to feel, and again this is on opinion only, is that a PDA is any sort of computing device of multiple functions which one carries around in a pocket or purse. Its primary function should always be PIM, or at least it should be assured that it does calendar and contact data well, regardless of other embedded functionalities. After that, it should allow itself to be adapted to a great many purposes, depending only on the needs and whims of the individual. That's what an assistant is, after all; a reasonably obedient helper. Too true. What I see though is that most non pda users are very resistant to change. Previous discussions about our significant others and their non-pda habits come to mind.

As for a PDA being too large for convenient phone use... Cybrid, really? Your 6700 thingy is pretty darn small. Is it really so big to use as a phone? It's shorter than my opened Motorola V220, so length isn't excessive - I'd even go so far as to declare it too short, as I like the mic closer to where my voice comes out of my face. No, on the contrary its too small...for an ergonomically useful PDA. :lol: My Dell on the other hand is a nice sizeable PDA but rather funny to hold up to my ear...so I carry both. I do own a head set but not too keen on it.

[TOCA]

My Dell on the other hand is a nice sizeable PDA but rather funny to hold up to my ear...so I carry both. I do own a head set but not too keen on it.

He, he:"Mum! Why's the man trying to stick his calculator into his ear?" :lol:

Know that fealing to well :roll: