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57 Comments
- DanielPhermous, on 11/09/2009, -1/+25It's just too old. The underpinnings are ancient and need a complete overhaul - preferably a re-write - to have a chance of competing. Even then, Apple, Palm, Blackberry and Android have all the mind share. Most people who have Windows Mobile phones don't even know it.
They're just too far behind in too many ways. - dawnraid101, on 11/09/2009, -3/+18Cool story bro, was there a moral to it?
- Flagg3, on 11/09/2009, -2/+15Dugg for writing an entirely new article within a comment.
- JohnnySoftware, on 11/08/2009, -15/+26I just learned that the Windows Mobile market share was only 4% about a month ago. I knew the Apple iPhone market share was half the pie or more for a long time. I never thought to look at what it was for Windows Mobile so the size came as quite a shock to me. I had expected it to be at least a quarter (25%) - not 4% (1/25).
To put that in perspective, look at the web browser market. See pie charts on the pages cited below.
http://theappleblog.com/2009/11/02/chrome-to-pass- ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_br ...
Firefox has 26% (over one quarter, and steadily rising) of the web browser market share.
Apple Safari, maligned by detractors for "only" having 4.4% of the market has more market share than Windows Mobile has in its market.
The Google "Chrome" web browser has quickly gained 3.5% market share after only existing for a year or so. And Chrome had to penetrate into a market populated by Firefox, Safari, and MS-Windows - all of which could trace their roots back to web browsers created over or at least nearly a decade ago!
Google uses the same web engine as Safari, WebKit - which was created by Apple from a large amount of code from open source web browser KDE Konquorer of Linux fame.
http://www.konqueror.org/ => http://www.apple.com/safari/ => http://webkit.org/ => http://www.google.com/chrome
So that gave Chrome a huge leg up. They were starting with a mature, proven web browser engine that was recognized as having good HTML/CSS support and a decent Javascript. Hopefully, Chrome has gotten some benefit from Apple adding some HTML 5 support this year to WebKit too.
Nevertheless, these statistics in a familiar marketplace illustrate how tiny Microsoft's presence is in the mobile phone marketplace is. Microsoft is wisely recognizing where the market as gone, and rather than denying it - they are inviting its developers to come, and bring their apps with them to Windows Mobile from the iPhone.
http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_Details_How_to ...
Microsoft has poo-pooed the Mac market share and Safari market share - even the Firefox market share as insignificant and not worth hackers' trouble. This is their explanation for the Windows & IE monopoly on worms & viruses. Now, that sized market share is one that Microsoft envies from its perspective at the bottom rung of the cell phone market.
However, Windows Mobile, with its scant 4% market share has already acquired a virus. One that is hopefully benign in its intentions but not at all benign in its propensity to spread on its own and tenaciously cling to life despite efforts to remove it from a Windows Mobile phone or storage media.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/02/27/windows-mo ...
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=33 ... (part 1/3)
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=33 ... (part 2/3)
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=33 ... (part 3/3)
There is also a virus that cross infects Windows PCs and Windows Mobile phones from one another.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=45 ...
Given the way market share is supposedly - well, according to *some* people, the leading driver in how much malware successfully infects a platform, one would expect worms & viruses galore on iPhone and Firefox (26% market share). However, that is not the case.
And why is it that Windows Mobile viruses have been reported in the news for years but the same is not true of Safari viruses. After all, Safari is the one with the larger market share.
So, for that reason, Windows Mobile is an interesting platform. When one notes that the features that malware programmers enjoy on the Windows PC platform - for instance "autorun" - are present on Windows Mobile and used by its malware programmers as well, one gets a sense that actually flaws and risky features matter a lot. Popularity, it seems, plays second fiddle. - DrHoliday, on 11/09/2009, -3/+14I wouldn't count out WinMo just yet. It's surprisingly customizable, and with a few tweaks here and there, it's the perfect platform for mod freaks like me.
I flash my phone about once a week to a new build of WinMo 6.5.1, and am constantly installing new shells, programs, and hacks. Frankly, as long as xda-developer is around, I'd buy another. - MMaster23, on 11/09/2009, -1/+11What? Your entire post is so confusing.. Why are you talking about possible malware on smartphones? Or web browers for that matter?
Gartner smartphone usage index 2009: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=910112
WinMo: 12.4% - sab0tage, on 11/09/2009, -2/+12Unlike some other mobile platforms, Microsoft doesn't restrict what you run on your device.
On mine I have Opera 9.7 as default, Internet Explorer, Skyfire and a beta of Fennec. If you are wondering, why anyone needs 4 internet browsers on a phone, the answer is I don't, but I can. The user agent on my phone doesn't reveal it's running on Windows Mobile, I would suspect that not all of them do, so I don't think the reported percentage is accurate.
I'm not suggesting it would be more than the iPhone, simply because the iPhone popularised mobile web browsing, and before it's release there were very few contracts with reasonable browsing packages. - pinchduck, on 11/09/2009, -4/+12I've had several WinMo phones. They went too long without a really good usability overhaul, and was too unstable. They had a 10 year head start on Apple and stopped innovating at about year 3. Microsoft deserves their crushing defeat just because they milked the cow rather than innovating.
- virtorio, on 11/09/2009, -0/+8Windows Mobile 7 is a pretty big upgrade.
But I still think Microsoft pissed about for far too long in the mobile sector and now they've lost it. - sab0tage, on 11/09/2009, -1/+8Same here, I don't think there's a single application on my phone (Touch Pro) that hasn't changed since I got it. I've gone from Windows Mobile 6.1 to 6.5.1, new versions of Touch Flo 3D, new versions of the office apps, 4 web browsers.
Long live XDA-Developers! - nurbsenvi, on 11/09/2009, -6/+13One of the worst OS ever.
- jrm125, on 11/08/2009, -12/+18Plenty of people. It's unrestricted, there are thousands of apps already out there, and it supports a wide array of hardware.
I have an iPhone, but prior to that I owned two WinMo phones. They weren't bad, and at the time offered the most smartphone features available. Newer iterations are likely even better. - DanielPhermous, on 11/09/2009, -1/+7Android will beat Symbian simply from being a more modern operating system. Symbian's only holding on through momentum just now. I can't see it has any compelling features left that Android hasn't matched or surpassed.
- sab0tage, on 11/09/2009, -4/+9There are more manufacturers developing WinMo devices than Android ones by far. The iPhone won't be considered a business tool until they take security seriously and change their terms and conditions allowing commercial use and modify the app store to reflect this. I think Android will be a popular business class device in a few years after the platform matures.
Currently though, companies like HTC are developing their next-gen devices with WinMo in mind and their Android devices are all based on last-gen hardware. It seems other companies are doing similar things. - MMaster23, on 11/09/2009, -5/+10It's still the only platform that has phones that does DESCENT Exchange push email that can last 48 hours+.
That alone makes it my platform of choice. Endless possibilities. Wide array of GPS apps available. Multiple browsers of which most support Flash. One of the few platforms that syncs with just about anything out there (Exchange, WinLive, Google, Facebook etc), unlimited Skype over 3G.
That said .. the UI isn't finger friendly. Sure this sucks for most people but it doesn't really bother me. Advantage of a open platform: it allows custom GUI. TouchFLO3D (or Sense these days) rocks.
I've used an iPhone3G for about 8 months. When I switched back to WinMo, I was truelly blessed by a working and great emailing/syncing system. Sure it doesn't has 100000 apps .. but who really needs 99000 pull-my-finger apps?
WinMo may not appeal to everyone, true. WinMo 7 might, really don't care anymore. It's a great platform for me and it works for me. That is why it is and probably will be my weapon of choice for a long time. - thetruckert, on 11/09/2009, -7/+11Windows mobile is hilarious. Balmer is so excited to have 8 year old software running.
- Orbital101, on 11/09/2009, -3/+6You'd think that plenty of people would want it... but the numbers just aren't bearing that out, are they?
- DJRobX, on 11/09/2009, -1/+4There's thousands of WinMo apps out there, but how many of them will actually run right on YOUR WinMo phone? On my BlackJack, for instance, a lot of programs simply weren't designed for use without a stylus, or worse, had problems with the menus. Even on a more standard 8525 which had a stylus, not all programs ran correctly, and it was difficult to locate software. There was no simple repository of software known to work on that particular device.
Microsoft's been working on shoehorning Windows CE into phones since at least 2002, and while the OS is full of features, it seems they waited too long to step back and look at the overall user experience.
- proverbs17, on 11/09/2009, -0/+3I say the more the merrier. Competition is what we (the consumer) want. Competition causes lower cost and breeds faster technology development. I'm very happy to see iPhone, Android, Pre, WinMo and whatever else is out there battle it out.
- Rudegar, on 11/09/2009, -1/+4the core is still called windows CE
wm5 to wm 6.5 are based on windows CE5
but the iteration of CE is at CE6 now so wm is behind CE - jakem1, on 11/09/2009, -1/+4I fail to see how anyone can write Windows Mobile off with phones like the HTC HD2 out. That's currently the phone to beat in terms of features, functionality and UI.
- Orbital101, on 11/09/2009, -2/+4I agree that security for the iPhone has to be taken seriously, but it's not like that's something WinMo can brag about.
- inactive, on 11/09/2009, -1/+3The dreamcast wasn't powered by Windows CE IIRC, it just had a BSP available for it.
- Orbital101, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2Android's not their main competitor yet. 21 million iPhones sold as of seven months ago... that's nothing to sneeze at considering how much of a head start WinMo has.
As for the 1 million Androids: That was the T-Mobile G1, and that was back in April. Not that the actual numbers are going to be a lot higher, but you're just citing part of the picture. - tnoy, on 11/09/2009, -3/+5Anyone who knows anything about the benefits of competition in the marketplace needs Windows Mobile phones to be available.
- nmessick, on 11/09/2009, -2/+4I just got an HTC touch pro2 about a month ago. Its WinMo 6.1. Its actually very good. The screen blows an iPhone away and I can load up whatever freeware I want and even write my own apps (which I do) for work.
- planetidiot, on 11/09/2009, -0/+2They need an appstore that sells XNA apps that run on either it or zune and they are golden.
- MtheoryX, on 11/09/2009, -3/+5Not really.
Competition, sure. But not specifically Windows Mobile Marketplace. There are competitors to the iPhone out there already.
/I have a WinMo phone, and it's ***** compared to my iPod Touch. - LightSpeed4, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3windows mobile sells 18 mill units per year
i think android has just recently passed 1 mill. - BubblesTheChimp, on 11/09/2009, -0/+2tl:dr
- phogasmic, on 11/09/2009, -0/+1Its only a matter of time before company policies change to allow any phone to connect to the Exchange servers, simply because Smartphones are becoming more popular with consumers and those consumers may not want to use one phone for work and one phone for personal stuff.
- jakem1, on 11/14/2009, -0/+1Sure, that's why they keep saying that their focus will continue to be with WinMo and all their flagship devices run WinMo.
- lektroluv, on 11/09/2009, -0/+1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0f54DmA4Os&hd= ...
- willdelaney, on 11/09/2009, -4/+5I'm not saying that this new "Windows Phone" on AT&T is a bad phone or anything (it's probably quite nice)
But honestly, they sent that thing (and the Nuvi phone) to die - illage3, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1It seems that too many companies are trying to beat the iPhone. There will always be a rival product/company. I think people should be allowed to make their own choice on this matter. The iPhone doesn't allow flash player to be installed and plus it's heavy price tag might make the iPhone less popular.
- Screwy1138, on 11/09/2009, -0/+1Right. Because intellectual property is not important.
Sure, the phones may mature in their security models, but right now, there are some that are vastly inferior. - Contrariety, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1I don't see what compelling features Android has that Symbian does not. It does not have a big US presence, but it have market share internationally. Furthermore, Symbian has gone open source as well. Really, I think that its all about oneness, user experience, and application integration. In that case, I think iPhone loses out due to its proprietary nature, but the war for creating the best mobile platform for licensing is still ongoing. I wouldn't count any one out yet, including Microsoft.
- robrohan, on 11/09/2009, -4/+5http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo
- krisrm, on 11/09/2009, -2/+3Yes, but it should have been out by now, if not a year ago - by the time it actually makes it out, Android 3 will be making waves :p . I'd like to see the iPhone and Android OS's force some competition out of Microsoft; maybe once their mobile marketshare dries up completely, they'll consider revamping WinMo. I happen to love Android, though, so it'll be a tough sell (and I imagine others on iPhones or Android devices feel similarly); I don't really want to go back to "pull out the stylus to text someone" :p
- tnvwboy, on 11/09/2009, -0/+1One thing I've not seen mentioned is business use. The company I work for (2000+ employees) only allows WinMo phones to connect with the Exchange server and other office tools. I've seen guys with iPhones and Blackberries but they are not allowed on the office network, so most just have WinMo phones.
I've been able to recently work with a Droid, a older Samsung WinMo and a Blackberry Curve and they all have their pros and cons. For me the Blackberry is still the easiest interface, but the web browser sucks, so if that's important then there you go. The Samsung and Blackberry have MUCH better keyboards than the Droid, so if that's important then there you go.
Get my point? It's GOOD that we have so many options to choose from because one size does NOT fit all, despite what any of the mobile OS developers would like to think. - MtheoryX, on 11/09/2009, -0/+1If you have MobileMe and/or Exchange, it's perfect.
If not, YMMV. - smacksaw, on 11/09/2009, -6/+7I've been burned by Windows Mobile/CE too many times. I'm done.
Interesting to note, the Dreamcast is a stellar example of what can be done with Windows CE. You get SEGA doing their thing and it works (unless you forget DVD capability LOL). A lot depends on the implementation. But like the DC, it doesn't matter how good or what potential you have, you need a good business model backing it up. Like an App store. Or open-source development. Google integrated. Things of that nature. What does WM offer me? Rebooting isn't all that entertaining. Other than that...nope. That's why I have an iPhone and my kid has a Motorola Q. - TrancePhreak, on 11/09/2009, -1/+1iPhone email is kind of crap compared with WinMo's. The contacts seem much less complete (ie WinMo has more info available).
- inactive, on 11/09/2009, -4/+4You know, when I write a long comment, I include a tl;dr version at the start. Since you didn't, here's my interpretation:
TLDR: Windows Mobile has had a virus written for it, but has less market share than Safari, Firefox and the iPhone, none of which have ever had any security holes whatsoever.
...Yeah, maybe you should check your research on that. - salimkhan2225, on 11/16/2009, -0/+0Hey guys, I’m sure you’ll will like this video. It’s quite shocking & hilarious. Check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wkYgiBhjA8
- ThirdPrize, on 11/09/2009, -2/+2You all seem to have missed one obvious fact. M$ are behind WinMo and therefore will always be the phone of choice when large companies roll out phones to theor workforce. For home users and personal use the iPhone is great and I am sure Android is as well, but they are never going to be mainstream business phones. Criticizing WinMo is a bit like criticizing Windows. It is easy but fairly pointless considering whose behind it and its target audience.
- devophl, on 11/09/2009, -1/+1Let's face it, there is still a huge market for simple on a mobile phone. Over 75% of the mobile phones run a simple OS like Symbian and that's unlikely to change any time soon. Now the battle for the smartphone market is a different story. I think WinMo succeeded not by creating something new and stylish. It succeeded by creating something familiar. If you ran XP at home or at work, then the phone acted very similar and you could run Windows like apps on it. But I think as the MS brand name has become more and more tarnished and seemingly a relic of the 20th century people are not buying in to WinMo any more. They just realize that the iPhone and Droid and other cell phones just allow you to do more on the phone. Familiarity is being replaced with flexibility.
- laking1221, on 11/09/2009, -2/+1yeah i cant wait to have this soon...
- frepnog, on 11/09/2009, -2/+1oh, and most game dev's ignored Windows CE on Dreamcast. Because it was slow and basically sucked.
- DanielPhermous, on 11/10/2009, -3/+2Agreed. Competition is only good if it's competant. I'm happy for WinMo to die. There are plenty of others to keep things moving.
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