iPhone overtakes Windows Mobile in sales and usage

David Flynn
29 December 2009, 3:12 PM

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2009 has been a much better year for Apple than it has for Microsoft, with the iPhone eclipsing Windows Mobile in the US market.

Despite a decade-long head start, a legion of high-profile hardware partners, an army of developers, famously deep pockets and infamously Schwarzenegger-esque marketing muscle, Microsoft has fallen behind Apple in the smartphone market.

At the beginning of the year, analyst firm Canalys reported that Apple’s iPhone had for the first time overtaken Windows Mobile in sales.

Canalys pegged Apple with 28% of the US smartphone market, ahead of the 21% held by the combination of all Windows Mobile handset vendors and trailing only RIM’s commanding 41% share courtesy of the BlackBerry.

Now the iPhone’s surge has washed Windows Mobile away in usage as well as sales, reflecting a stagnation both of Microsoft’s platform and user base and the inevitable catch-up as Apple won new customers, including many who switched from Windows Mobile.

Research firm comScore, which conducts monthly user surveys to reflect actual handsets in use, reports the iPhone as America’s second most popular smartphone OS with 25% of users, ahead of 20% for Windows Mobile.

RIM’s fleet of BlackBerry devices, all of which were upgraded this year, has helped it maintain a healthy lead at 40%.

Nokia, Google and Palm trail the smartphone pack, although Nokia would have course have much higher representation in the non-smartphone segment.

ComScore claims that approximately 36 million Americans own smartphones compared to 196 million who are still using traditional mobile phones. That’s fertile ground which each of the smartphone players is hoping to till in 2010 and beyond…

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petert (Cornerstone member):

We are beginning to see that in a fair and equal playfield, MS cannot compete. IE is being dumped, Zune cannot compete, Windows Mobile is falling further behind the iPhone etc. It clearly shows that MS products such as Windows were not market leaders because they were the best, but because of the monopoly held by MS. There is little chance in the near future that MS will lose too much market share to Linux and/or OS X, but it does show that Ms can quickly lose market share when it becomes exposed.

29 December 2009, 3:26 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

apt.pupil (User):

winmo fell behind in sales...
i am not surprised.
For one thing- windows mobile phones are barely advertised.
their only efficient way of selling was by word of mouth and reliability in their niche(business) in which case, winmo is second only to RIM.

I prefer winmo devices because of the extremely compatible features, such as calendar account, file, alarms syncing, as well as .cab and .zip extension support out of the box.

When they announced winmo 6.5- they said things were about to change: i thought this meant actual market advertising

29 December 2009, 4:12 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chief Information Officer (New user):

It used to be the case that Windows Mobile was popular in business. No longer. Look at the latest statistics from InformationWeek:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/business/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222000504

In the enterprise, it's #1 BlackBerry, #2 iPhone, #3 Windows Mobile.
iPhone has now surpassed Windows Mobile in business use, installed user base, and new handset sales.

29 December 2009, 4:18 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chief Information Officer (New user):

Microsoft may not lose much PC market share, but it will lose web share, as most people will be accessing the internet via handheld devices, rather than PCs and laptops. Microsoft's Windows Mobile phone platform has crashed in the market, and Microsoft has been knocked out of the mobile game.

You'll notice that most handset makers are either phasing out Windows Mobile phones, or have already dumped them. The handset OEMs are moving to Android, which is backed by Google.

Anyone thinking of buying a new phone handset should choose a platform that is doing well, such as Android, iPhone or Blackberry. Avoid any platform that is in a market share freefall, such as Windows Mobile phone.

29 December 2009, 4:12 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

apt.pupil (User):

Quoting Chief Information Officer:
Microsoft may not lose much PC market share, but it will lose web share, as most people will be accessing the internet via handheld devices, rather than PCs and laptops. Microsoft's Windows Mobile phone platform has crashed in the market, and Microsoft has been knocked out of the mobile game.

You'll notice that most handset makers are either phasing out Windows Mobile phones, or have already dumped them. The handset OEMs are moving to Android, which is backed by Google.

Anyone thinking of buying a new phone handset should choose a platform that is doing well, such as Android, iPhone or Blackberry. Avoid any platform that is in a market share freefall, such as Windows Mobile phone.

i wouldn't be so optimistic yet.
we are talking a phone OS developed by one of the largest IT comapnies in the world.

Also note that companies such as Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and HTC still have a '10 lineup of winmo handsets. that and with winmo 7 expected to be released 2nd quarter '10, i wouldn't say the redmond powerhouse has collapsed just yet. save that slander for Motorola, who are on their last legs in the mobile division

29 December 2009, 5:21 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Chief Information Officer (New user):

You mention Motorola. It's sales slumped because it became a 100% Windows Mobile handset OEM. Last year it dumped Windows Mobile completely, and went to Android. And guess what? It's sales have come rocketing back up. It's Android based "Motorola Droid" phone (called the "Motorola Milestone" in other countries) is an instant hit, and one of the best-selling phones in the United States.

29 December 2009, 5:50 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

apt.pupil (User):

Quoting Chief Information Officer:
You mention Motorola. It's sales slumped because it became a 100% Windows Mobile handset OEM. Last year it dumped Windows Mobile completely, and went to Android. And guess what? It's sales have come rocketing back up. It's Android based "Motorola Droid" phone (called the "Motorola Milestone" in other countries) is an instant hit, and one of the best-selling phones in the United States.

Motorola did not stick 100% with winmo for the last year.
what they did wrong was release generally uninteresting phones- and do absolutely nothing to fix their Q700(Australian Hiptop Slide), which has a multitude of hardware failures, including issues such as frozen buttons, bad memory card slots, handset resetting when you use the slide feature.

Their V9xmaxx also had a few MAJOR issues relating to the top touch screen and frozen keys. both phones were some of the worst ones i have ever sold in my career of mobile sales.

long before the GFC Motorola was dying from their stale handset design and crippled features. do not spread false facts.

i honestly hope the DROID works for Motorola, since their handsets lacked with every other OS, including winmo.

yet on both my Xperia X1a and my HTC Topaz(Touch Diamond 2)- winmo is a rich offering.

my only gripe ever has been with the amount of memory winmo consumes

29 December 2009, 9:00 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (Regular user):

Quoting Chief Information Officer:
Microsoft may not lose much PC market share, but it will lose web share, as most people will be accessing the internet via handheld devices

Quoting Chief Information Officer:
You'll notice that most handset makers are either phasing out Windows Mobile phones, or have already dumped them.

And those mobile phones that DO still have WinMob are now mostly being shipped with Opera as the default browser because PIE is so crappy.

29 December 2009, 6:26 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

apt.pupil (User):

yeah. Opera > IEMobile.

but then again here is the list of winmo browsers and their general win factor:

Skyfire(has full flash video support. beat that Apple and Android)>Iris Browser(Was more stable than Skyfire and Opera put together, but is now abandoned because RIM bought out Torch Mobile, the company that makes Iris)>Opera Mobile>Opera Mobile 10 Beta(the speed dial is just a nuisance, and now it does not correctly render XHTML Strict)>Internet Explorer Mobile(is tidied up, and strangely enough loads a page better than Opera only slightly these days. Now they just need to fix up the restricted flash support)

29 December 2009, 9:05 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

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iPhone overtakes Windows Mobile in sales and usage

2009 has been a much better year for Apple than it has for Microsoft, with the iPhone eclipsing Windows Mobile in the US market.

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petert (Cornerstone member):

apt.pupil (User):

Chief Information Officer (New user):

Chief Information Officer (New user):

apt.pupil (User):

Chief Information Officer (New user):

apt.pupil (User):

Tin (Regular user):

apt.pupil (User):

isicko (New user):

isicko (New user):

isicko (New user):

isicko (New user):