Monday, June 23, 2003
Microsoft and Mobile Phones
Posted by Crystal Eitle in "NEWS" @ 05:15 AM
From Financial Times, the analysts' perspective on Microsoft's announcement of the new Microsoft Mobile operating system (the OS Formerly Known As PocketPC 2003). The article emphasizes Microsoft's rebranding of the OS to emphasize its "mobile" aspect, but notes that Microsoft has failed to make significant inroads into the mobile phone market.
Here's one of the most interesting facts from the article: "Last year, only about 12 million PDAs were sold worldwide. In contrast, the mobile phone market grew by 10 per cent to 420 million units." 12 million is a very small number, especially considering that Pocket PC sales account for only 30 percent of that.
One of the issues with smartphones is a struggle over branding: "Branding has become a sensitive issue, with tensions emerging between operators such as Vodafone and handset maker Nokia over the due prominence of their logos on handsets. But Microsoft has not wanted to appear as a threat. 'We don't want these to look like Formula One racing cars with 15 different logos on them,' said Juha Christensen, head of Microsoft's Mobile Devices Division, in an interview with the Financial Times."
The article concludes by noting that smartphones make up less than one percent of worldwide handset sales. Says Microsoft's Christenson: "It's a little too early to be beating each other up - we should work together to grow the pie." Hear, hear.
Here's one of the most interesting facts from the article: "Last year, only about 12 million PDAs were sold worldwide. In contrast, the mobile phone market grew by 10 per cent to 420 million units." 12 million is a very small number, especially considering that Pocket PC sales account for only 30 percent of that.
One of the issues with smartphones is a struggle over branding: "Branding has become a sensitive issue, with tensions emerging between operators such as Vodafone and handset maker Nokia over the due prominence of their logos on handsets. But Microsoft has not wanted to appear as a threat. 'We don't want these to look like Formula One racing cars with 15 different logos on them,' said Juha Christensen, head of Microsoft's Mobile Devices Division, in an interview with the Financial Times."
The article concludes by noting that smartphones make up less than one percent of worldwide handset sales. Says Microsoft's Christenson: "It's a little too early to be beating each other up - we should work together to grow the pie." Hear, hear.
