Windows Mobile Hanging By A Fingernail

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.changewaveresearch.com/articles/2010/01/smart_phone_20100104.html' target='_blank'>http://www.changewaveresearch.com/a...e_20100104.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//wpt/auto/1262672275.usr14226.gif" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>The chart says it all - ChangeWave's report on its survey of smartphone users barely even mentions Windows Mobile, and even Palm's Web OS gets more love. The big news is the surge of interest in Android (now coming up to version 2.0) which is shaping up to be the new major competitor to Apple's iPhone. Where, oh where, is Windows Mobile 7?</p>

[surur]

Actually the graph says even less people are interested in WebOS, with interest dropping even faster - WM went from 9 to 6, a 33% drop, while webOS went from 6 to 3, a 50% drop.

[badersk]

While I agree, interest in WM is slipping, what has really changed is consumer interest has exploded and are only aware of the iphone and android. I still see users that have never seen a WM device work.

[doogald]

Actually the graph says even less people are interested in WebOS, with interest dropping even faster - WM went from 9 to 6, a 33% drop, while webOS went from 6 to 3, a 50% drop.

Since they do not publish the margin of error, it's difficult to assess small numbers like this. What you can say is that they both fell by about 3%, which is the same number of users.

Look at the last chart in that report: cell phone OS satisfaction rating. iPhone OS 77%, Android 72%, Blackberry 41%, WebOS 33%, Windows Mobile 25% of current users are very satisfied with their device. That's an ugly, ugly number for Microsoft, and not much better for Palm..

[signothefish]

Wow, pretty amazing figures for Windows Mobile. And look at what Android has done to the iPhone! After 8 years of owning nothing but Pocket PC/Windows Mobile devices, it's apparent that unless Microsoft does something amazing, and quick (!!!), its days are numbered.

My next device will be either Android-based, or a huge step to a feature-packed uber-cool WM device (HD2?), most likely a 4G device.

[benjimen]

One has to wonder what market segment these 4000 respondents come from? Were they stopped by clipboard wielding survey-takers in a Ohio shopping mall?

[Don Tolson]

While I agree, interest in WM is slipping, what has really changed is consumer interest has exploded and are only aware of the iphone and android. I still see users that have never seen a WM device work.

I agree... I think what we are seeing here is more of a 'segmentation' of the market, and an explosion of consumerism for smartphone technology. The iPhone definitely put a very intelligent and capable box in the hands of the 'man in the street' consumer, but as people are finding, there are limitations.

Windows Mobile and RIM are, I believe, still the units of choice for the business/enterprise users so yes, the average person in the mall is going to say they are looking for or already have an iPhone.

Android is going to be interesting to watch, to see if it can capture the consumer's interest and bridge into the control and security required by the enterprise market.

[Reid Kistler]

An interesting article - although somewhat depressing from a Win Mobile User's perspective.
On one hand, wouldn't bother me at all if Windows Mobile disappeared as a MOBILE PHONE OS; OTOH, would be Crushed if it vanished as a PDA OS.

Which may be part of the problem: Win Mobile HAS to have a much higher percentage of users who started out with "dumb" PDAs (WiFi capable or not), than the other OSs (with the possible exception of Palm - ??).

I am willing to put up with the somewhat less-than-ideal Mobile Phone behavior of my Fuze simply because it is the best PDA I have owned: for my usage, PDA functionality trumps Mobile Phone functionality, and "features" such as Photos, Music, Video, GPS, "Finger-Friendlyness," Game Playing, & Whatever are either non-factors (pro or con), or actual detriments. WiFi and Bluetooth have value; data plan internet does not. Fast Data Entry WITH a Reasonably Viewable Document (ie: Fitaly ;) ) has value; "Finger Friendly" interfaces that eat up nearly all of the available screen space does not....

Would say that I am also willing to "put up with" the Win MO interface, except that I don't HAVE to "put up" with it: it is familiar enough to seem like an old friend, and it is instead the fancy new "Touch Friendly" interface (TouchFlo, in this case) that requires acclimatization. Fortunately, a touch of a ("soft") button opens the traditional Win Mo Today screen: not as handy for phone use, but much better for PDA use....

So: How many of the Powers-That-Be at MS are - or have been - approaching the whole "Windows Mobile Smartphone" idea from a similar perspective?
Might explain a lot.


Windows Mobile and RIM are, I believe, still the units of choice for the business/enterprise users so yes, the average person in the mall is going to say they are looking for or already have an iPhone.

This statement still seems to be true: No. 1 Son sells these things, and has noted both for the iPhone AND the new Android phones that a good number of people come in looking for one of the newer OSs, only to walk out with either a Blackberry or WinMo device - because that is all their company will permit.
At least for now....

BTW: The "somewhat less-than-ideal Mobile Phone behavior" of my Fuze has more to do with the fact that it IS a "smartphone" - that is, that the PDA & Phone Functions are combined into one unit - than with the fact that it runs Win Mo. Any other OS would face the same problem of not being able to READ THE SCREEN while the device is being held up to one's ear! (Hence the value of Bluetooth. If it is turned on, and if the headset is at hand...)

[Craig Horlacher]

The graph is about what I expected. Android is higher than I expected, but I expected it to be higher than everything except the iphone. I think the only reason BB is so high is because company's get/require them.

I will be interested to see how things go now that the Nexus One is out. That's my next device of choice if the main apps I use (Pocket Informant and Pocket Bible) get ported to Android. Based on their blog WebIS is already working on an Andrpid version of Pocket Informant. The fact that it can use the Amazon music store and has a real app store is just icing on the cake. I don't consider Microsoft's real because it won't work with my WinMo 6.1 device and most people don't know it even exists.

If Microsoft doesn't do something big very soon they won't even be on the next version of this Chart.

AndroidThoughts.com anyone?!?!? :)

[tnelson2000]

Anyone ever thought that M$ might not care all that much about this market? Isn't the only reason we use these lame versions of OS's on phones is because the hardware cannot support a full version of Windows/OSX/LINUX, etc.? How long will it be before we can run a full version of Windows 7 on a handheld size device? If that capability is just around the corner, would/should M$ invest huge amounts of $$$ in a crippled Windows Phone OS?

Bottom line, is that I want to run full M$ Office apps, Photoshop, Skype, OneNote, SQL Server, etc. on my hand held device.

A man can dream!

[Rob Alexander]

Seriously, hanging on by a fingernail is just about right. Windows Phone has near zero mindshare with the public or the media. I actually love my WM 6.5 Imagio. It's an exceptional product every bit as good as the droid, but even the people who are trying to sell it (Verizon) don't bother to advertise it and those lame muppet-app commercials of Microsoft's do nothing to motivate consumers. I mean, seriously, watch a Droid commercial and then watch one of those Windows Phone commercials. It's like they don't even want to sell them.

I've been with MS mobile devices since Windows CE 1.0 on the Philips Velo 1 and so they have a lot of mindshare with me. I know the systems well and I have at least one application on my Imagio that I've been using since the Palm-sized PC days. I'd like for Windows Phone to succeed --it's what I want to use-- but even my loyalty is only hanging on by a fingernail.

I'll use this phone until WM7 comes out and then it's all up for grabs. It's absurd that Google can decide to build a mobile OS from scratch and can complete the first two versions in the time it takes MS to do a single half-point update of WM. If WM7 is not better on the day of its release than Android is on that day, then I'm finally jumping ship. As Vector says, perhaps Jason will have an AndroidThoughts.com by then.

[Janak Parekh]

It's absurd that Google can decide to build a mobile OS from scratch and can complete the first two versions in the time it takes MS to do a single half-point update of WM. This reminds me very much of the WM-Palm days. In those days, it was Palm that couldn't update in any reasonable time, while MS was rapidly iterating on Pocket PC (2000, 2002, 2003, ...). I never thought I'd see Microsoft in Palm's boat.

--janak

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Actually the graph says even less people are interested in WebOS, with interest dropping even faster - WM went from 9 to 6, a 33% drop, while webOS went from 6 to 3, a 50% drop.

Actually I was referring to the fact that the report mentioned Windows Mobile exactly once, while Palm and WebOS got a couple of mentions. HTC as a manufacturer got one line, but Microsoft got none.

[FormerMVP]

Not only are the iPhone and Android easier to use, but they are far easier to develop apps for, and that of course significantly contributes to the platform popularity now that people know that their phone can run apps (something that was until the iPhone launch a mystery for most pda/phone users).

Take for instance GPS integration. It's very easy to integrate a customized Google Maps screen on an iPhone and Android. Good luck with WinMo. What used to take weeks on WM takes days if not hours on the iPhone and Android. The explosion of apps for iPhone just confirms that.

So even if MS comes up with a slick phone OS, writing apps is still nowhere as easy as it is for those other platforms. Worse, rumors has it that WM 7 will require a re-write of existing apps, possibly preventing significant leverage of the work already done. When MS introduced WinCE back in 1996, one of the biggest boosts was that the million of developers who knew Win32 would feel at home with CE. Now it's a handicap!

Back in the 90s, Palm OS lost to Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile and their latest attempt (WebOS) is not really catching up. But the same story goes for MS: Pocket PCs and WM ruled the PDA/phone markets, and are now becoming largely irrelevant. So nice phone OS or not, I just don't see what MS can do to get back in the game since developers will go where the customers are and where it's easier to develop apps.

[Richard76]

IMHO, M$ has had two major FAILS to allow their Mobile division to sink to these depths. First was allowing RIM to capitalize on the Enterprise market segment with BES and top notch encryption. And the second was to discount the importance of "ease of use". Whether it be touch screen, menu structure or just the "wow factor".

The sad part is that there was no one in a better position (read: bottomless pockets) to invent and develop all of the best "ideas" that are sinking MS Mobile today!

[Kibo Kid]

I'm getting on a bit, 62, can remember a time without mobile devices, even personal computers or faxes!

Last year I bought an unlocked HTC TouchPro 2 (I work abroad a lot, need local sim cards at assignment locations. It cost enough and stops me from abandoning it for, NOT a iPhone, but a Blackberry.

The ONLY non-business application I want is music, I'm not interested in tiny screens for videos, plus I'm not into the latest fashion, so no iPhone for me.

One thing: I like to get a manual or book, but can find NOTHING on WM6.1 or 6.5. Is this a sign that authors have given up on WM? Cannot Google any other decent resources.

Roger

[Sven Johannsen]

IMHO a lot of these types of surveys are skewed because folks haven't a clue what OS is running their smartphone, nor do they care. There is certainly great name recognition for iPhone, and you can't watch a half hour of prime time without seeing an Android ad, but ask the next ten folks on the street to name a phone that is based on Windows, or Windows Mobile, and I'll bet you get at least 9 blank stares. I've even had problems with that in cellular carrier stores, the sales folks not really knowing.

I would even venture to guess you would get less recognition for Blackberry if you had Research In Motion as a phone OS on the options list, or even RIM. I think this is way more of a survey of marketing effectiveness than OS functionality. Unfortunately, marketing is how you sell stuff.

[Richard76]

I'm getting on a bit, 62, can remember a time without mobile devices, even personal computers or faxes!

Last year I bought an unlocked HTC TouchPro 2 (I work abroad a lot, need local sim cards at assignment locations. It cost enough and stops me from abandoning it for, NOT a iPhone, but a Blackberry.

The ONLY non-business application I want is music, I'm not interested in tiny screens for videos, plus I'm not into the latest fashion, so no iPhone for me.

One thing: I like to get a manual or book, but can find NOTHING on WM6.1 or 6.5. Is this a sign that authors have given up on WM? Cannot Google any other decent resources.

Roger

What, no Windows Mobile for Dummies (lol)? Hey, I am with you Kibo, albeit 8 years your junior. Many years spent with a paper Daytimer wallet. In fact, after buying my first electronic device, I still ran both the ED and a Daytimer concurrent for about 5 years (ED for phone numbers and addresses and Daytimer for calendar and appointment/note functions).

Although I don't travel internationally (only N. America), I never leave the office without 2 devices in my bag.....just in case. And, wouldn't be caught dead without the ability to change SIM's on the go.

[kzemach]

I still see users that have never seen a WM device work.

I've been using WM for several years now, and I'm not sure even I've seen WM "work." I've been very, VERY patient. And very, VERY tolerant. But the future is so clearly not WM it's painful.

For me, it'll either be an iPhone or an Android, although not necessarily direct from "The Google."