Back to Tech Blog homepage
It’s easy to forget about Microsoft’s mobile phone efforts, given the buzz around Apple’s iPhone and the growing number of slick smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system.
But Windows Mobile is likely to grab back some of the limelight next week with the introduction of new phones based on its 6.5 operating system at an event in New York, along with the launch of its Skymarket “app store.”
And, as the iSuppli research firm says in a new forecast, “Reports of Windows Mobile’s death are greatly exaggerated.”
It sees usage of the Windows Mobile OS more than doubling over the next four years, with 68m smartphones using it by 2013, compared to 28m in 2009.
This would give it a 15.3 per cent share of the global market in 2013, second only to the Symbian OS, with 47.6 per cent, according to iSuppli’s forecasts.
“Windows Mobile is facing a host of challenges, including rising competition from free alternatives like Symbian and Android, the loss of some key licensees and some shortcomings in its user interface,” said Tina Teng, iSuppli senior wireless communications analyst.
“However, Windows Mobile holds some major cards that will allow it to remain a competitive player in the market.”
She lists Microsoft’s complete infrastructure of operating system, device support, an application store, a broad portfolio of applications and support from the developer community.
While Palm and Motorola recently deserted Windows Mobile, LG has become a major customer, promising to produce 50 new handsets based on the OS.
Ms Teng notes that Windows Mobile lacks the slick interfaces of Android and the iPhone as well as multi-touch, but she says a 7.0 release in 2010 should rectify this.
Meanwhile, Microsoft will be judged next week on how 6.5 and its new models stack up against the latest iPhone 3GS, Nokia phones, the Palm Pre and Android’s HTC Hero and Motorola Cliq.
Tags: android, iphone, symbian, Windows Mobile
David Gelles, Joseph Menn, Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters in the FT's San Francisco bureau upload their views - plus tech insights from writers in New York, London and Tokyo
Richard Waters
Chris Nuttall
David Gelles
Maija Palmer
Joseph Menn
Robin Kwong
Tim Bradshaw
The latest gadgets and gizmos, reviewed by Jonathan Margolis in How To Spend It.
Paul Taylor, the FT’s personal technology expert, answers your gadgetry questions