14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system seems to be losing more market share, at least this is what some of the latest reports and surveys have showed. Analysts also forecast that the mobile platform has already lost the battle in front of more appealing and more popular solutions, yet things might not be as bad as they look like, after all.
First of all, we should mention a recent report from comScore, which shows that RIM's BlackBerry OS (14.9 million users) and Apple's iPhone platform (8.9 million users) occupy the first and second place on the US market, while Microsoft's Windows Mobile client is only placed on the third (7.1 million). At the same time, the report shows that users of non-proprietary OSes are the largest in number (7.1 million users).
Moreover, we should also say that Microsoft is currently rumored to plan debuting a new series of Windows phone ads at CES 2010. According to Gizmodo, January 4 and 8 are the kick off days for the campaign, with a “Windows Phone Banners - Phase 2 Media” event set for the former, and “Windows Phone Q3 Media Refresh” for the latter. Needless to say that Microsoft seems to still have some cards up its sleeve in the mobile area.
One other aspect of Windows Mobile that seems to be ramping up for growth is the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The storefront was launched back in October with under 300 applications available for users, yet now we learn that it already includes over 800. This shows a steady growth, and might suggest that the software portal could soon see much more additions.
On the downside, 800 is the total number of apps available though all localized marketplaces, while the largest one, available for US users, includes 400. Considering that apps can only be installed on the internal memory of the phone, this is not that bad, but what about when things change? Microsoft is working on improving the storefront, and enhancements might emerge in this area too, in the end.