The fourth quarter of last year seems to have been a rather good one for Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which managed to gain a little more market share than Apple’s iPhone OS, which runs exclusively on the iPhone and iPhone 3G, at least this is what the Redmond software giant has recently announced.

At a conference call on the fourth quarter earnings, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated that there have been around 5 million smartphones running on the Windows Mobile platform that were shipped during the last three months of 2008, and that the sales leave behind Apple, which managed to ship only 4.4 million iPhone 3G units in the same time frame.

Apple's iPhone has been reported a few times before to be pushing Windows Mobile onto the fourth place when it comes to global market share, and it seems that Microsoft's mobile platform has seen a little more traction on the market.

The turn of the tide could be based on the fact that the iPhone is widely available in the markets all around the world, and it might have come to the height of its popularity. The results in the previous quarter are interesting from certain points of view, such as the smaller price of Apple's device compared to the WinMo counterparts, not to mention that the iPhone is usually seen as a great gift during holiday seasons, while Windows Mobile-powered phones are not.

Given all these, some even wonder if the iPhone will ever be able to surpass WinMo sales. On the other hand, we should also consider the upcoming devices that will compete against Apple's handset. One of these, namely the Palm Pre, comes with a brand new OS and is already seen as a great rival to the iPhone. At the same time, other platforms are also enjoying great success among users, and that could affect Windows Mobile's performance as well.