Microsoft expecting 50 percent growth annually for Windows Mobile
Brushing aside threats from Android, the impending 3G iPhone juggernaut, and all other comers, Microsoft's managing director of embedded devices for the Asian region says that the company fully expects Windows Mobile to do double-digit volume growth in both 2008 and 2009. Oh, but wait -- not just double digit growth, but a full 50 percent is being tossed around as a minimum. Them's fightin' words, and though much of that growth is said to be coming from the US and Europe, more is being seen in emerging markets like Brazil and India where the platform is less likely to be stealing market share from its competitors as it cashes in. If all goes according to Microsoft's plan, 20 million WinMo-equipped units will have been sold in the fiscal year ending next month, so any way you slice it, they're projecting some serious numbers as we round out the decade.
Filed under: Windows Mobile
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Beastage @ May 30th 2008 5:26PM
So far MS been very good at hitting the expectations or surpassing them
50% is a very bold figure to claim
IMO, if MS meets that figure, everyone profit
LuniticLizard @ May 30th 2008 5:46PM
I plan on purchasing a WinMo phone for the first time this year despite the allure of Android.
Surur @ May 30th 2008 5:53PM
The smartphone market is growing 50% per year already, so growing sales by 50% means running to stand still.
Projecting 50% growth is actually admitting to a slowing in growth, because growth the previous year (2006-2007) was 90%, and they are projecting growth for this year past (2007-2008) of 80%.
Having said that the spectacular iPhone sold 4 million in 6 months, so about 8 million in a year, and only project to sell 10 million this year, so they themselves are only projecting 20% growth.
Alternatively, Apple sold about 6-7 million iPhones over the same 12 months (June 2007-June 2008) that MS is selling 20+ million Windows Mobile phones.
John @ May 30th 2008 6:41PM
Now all they have to do is release windows mobile 7... which i am guessing is going to take their Live services to the next level.. online multiplayer gaming over mobile Live, checking xbox live friends and chatting with them, live spaces, etc.
Mike W @ May 30th 2008 7:06PM
Not taking in the growth of smartphones as a whole, I must say I find this hard to believe. I know they have cool things planned for Windows Mobile 7 and are keeping it on the d/l. I'm sure with the Zune teams involvement and the fact we've known Photon would be a huge release for years there will be cool things... but I must say after seeing the things with Android and the rumors of things incorporated in the new iPhone... I may have to walk away from Microsoft unless they bring something big. The Raphael is a great device coming up soon, but I don't know if it's enough.
If Microsoft did something like what Apple/Google have done to promote application development I wouldn't feel so worried, but as a developer I haven't heard if XNA will be coming to it, and even if it is nobody knows and things won't be developed using things like that. Google and Apple both have their next gen SDKs out and huge amounts of money going to the community for development. Looking at Android's Round 1 winners I was majorly impressed, and to think Apple is doing at least 10x that in terms of prize money (and the fact it has a well-selling product in the market attracting people already)... I can't imagine Microsoft suddenly growing massively unfortunately. I truly hope I'm wrong, I hope on Monday morning I wake up to find out what they are planning so I could start developing for it but I'm not seeing that happening... and I just don't see them fixing all the world's problems when they're competing against Apple and Google who are both pumping large sums of money into the community to encourage growth on top of an equally capable internal development team. HTC has helped improve the UI and things in many amazing ways with the Diamond and some other small groups have made neat things, but I don't think it's enough at this point.
I hope this post is a sign they have something huge planned. I would fit in the Microsoft Fanboy category, but every day that goes by and I read this website I find it a little bit harder to go with. I think the Zune was an amazing piece of hardware and (not counting the iPod Touch) I would buy it over an iPod. It feels very intuitive, it's very responsive, and it's just a great experience overall I feel. I don't feel that with my Windows Mobile device and find myself on PPCGeeks too often hoping to find what someone has hacked to improve aspects of my phone. I love having that ability, but I wish I didn't have to do it so much.
That's just the 2 cents of a confused gadget geek who wants to make his next purchase a Microsoft one again... but is finding it harder and harder to justify.
Virtuous @ May 30th 2008 7:54PM
Microsoft is dreaming. Both Apple and Google will blow right by MS. It's not just the phone itself, but also the integration with your computer and your media as well. Microsoft's fumbling of NotPlayForSure doesn't inspire confidence.
Rick Mahn @ May 30th 2008 9:51PM
This is all well and good, but Microsoft and partners need to get the phones we want on the carriers that we use.
As a T-Mo subscriber, I have little choice at the moment, especially when T-Mo uses a different freq than AT&T for UMTS/HSDPA. Also, phones like the HTC Diamond aren't even quad-band GSM/EDGE! WTF?
I'm on my 3rd WinMo phone currently and would like to not have to pay as much as my laptop to get the next.
David @ May 31st 2008 11:57AM
I am far from an iphone fan, but hats of their marketing campaign for popularizing the whole internet/email/music on your phone thing. I think some of that has bled into the general smartphone market. Hopefully it gave WinMo a good kick in the ass to make their interface more accessable to the genral public. Although I feel if you've used a computer in the past 5 years you can understand the concept of dropdown/popup menus in your WinMo phone. Not to mention HTC's TouchFlo and other 3rd party apps that allow you to have a more fat finger friendly interface to commonly used functions.
As it stands today WinMo is much more functional than the iphone, even with the new exchange support, I am still not a fan of such a closed system, and do I need to use iTunes to sync media to my phone? No Thanks. Who knows how business friendly the Adroid platfrom will be. My next phone will be my 5th WinMo phone. HTC touch pro(raphael) or Experia, which every at&t gets.