iPhone Finally Surpasses Windows Mobile in U.S. Smartphone Usage

[kiranmk2]

The trend to watch is how Windows Mobile fares against Android. I had a WinMo phone as I could mess around with it and install programs. I get the feeling a lot of people who want to do this now will head for Android. Also, the bigger corporations may approach networks to tailor Android for them specifically in a way Windows Mobile can't be.

 

[BKroll1223]

I always find these numbers staggering. Keep in mind that in the US, the iPhone is only available on one carrier. How many Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint customers are holding on to their RIM devices because the iPhone isn't available on their network? How quickly would the iPhone's US Smartphone numbers shoot ahead of RIM if the iPhone were available on every carrier in the US?

Staggering......

 

[lewchenko]

How many Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint customers are holding on to their RIM devices because the iPhone isn't available on their network?

No doubt there are quite a few people....

but remember that not everybody wants an iPhone. I love Mac's to bits, but their iPhone (even the 3GS iteration) leaves a lot to be desired compared with the Bold 9700 or even the HTC Hero (for many reasons).

I browse engadget.com daily, and all I read about these days is new Android phones which look/feel/function significantly differently than the iPhone.

In other words... Apple's iPhone is starting to look pretty 'meh'... nothing special compared to the latest generation of Android and Blackberry phones.

and Black berry will always do well in market where people want a real keyboard. As much as I love my HTC Hero, I prefer my work's Blackberry bold. And in this segment, Apple has nothing other than a compromised phone.

As for Windows Mobile... I think we all agree its a sinking ship.

 

[benpatient]

staggering?

i thought they were much higher just based on the number of people I've seen with iphones all over the place. I guess you just notice them more.

Keep in mind this is ONLY smartphones...not all cell phones.

Most people outside of the big cities don't have smartphones. Which is ironic because the smartphones tend to work better in the smaller markets where data traffic is lower.

Except of course for AT&T, who has almost no 3G connection outside the major cities.

My wife's AT&T 3G phone doesn't connect to 3G unless we literally go downtown, or get ON the interstate. We live less than 1 mile from the main interstate, and in that 1 mile, 3G goes away. We are also up on a hill and can see the top of the downtown Nashville skyline from our house, and we don't get 3G. Verizon 3G works just fine all over our area, though.

I'm also honestly shocked that so many people are using WinMobile! That's the staggering number, to me.

I thought the pecking order was:

RIM
iPhone
Palm
Android
WinMo

with Android and iPhone on the upswing and RIM on the downswing.

I didn't realize how much of a lead they had.

 

[*LTD*]

Yeah, the Storm 2 is not the apex of the Blackberry line. Its their touchscreen model, but not their most popular or best handset. A TON of people I know are getting Blackberrys. Sure, its a different animal than the iPhone, but they are pretty solid devices. when it comes to email and some people need of a physical keyboard, BB wins.

A sensible view. I just wonder how long RIM's higher share will last with its current device paradigm. What's their next big move? That's probably the question on everyone's mind.

 

[kdarling]

It can be difficult to keep up with the real world. There's lots of activity on WinMo forums, and more touch-oriented applications hitting the online stores.

I picked up an Imagio as an alternate work phone and took it to business luncheons the past two days.

The combination of the slick custom HTC UI on the WVGA screen and the digital Flo TV broadcast receiver stunned the iPhone, RIM and even Droid owners.

"Wow. That's Windows Mobile?? I always heard it was hard to use." was a common puzzled exclamation. And they might have had a point... a year or two ago.

In the cell phone world, it's never too late to jump in with something good, as Apple has demonstrated so well (and so have the latest Android phones).

So I very much disagree that WinMo is out of the running just because WM7 is delayed. Heck, I used to write off MS all the time. But they're still here, folks.

The millions of US WinMo users on that chart is also notable. It shows there's a large core set of users, many of whom tend to upgrade to the next hot WinMo device... and those just keep getting better.

 

[*LTD*]

It can be difficult to keep up with the real world. There's lots of activity on WinMo forums, and more touch-oriented applications hitting the online stores.

I picked up an Imagio as an alternate work phone and took it to business luncheons the past two days.

The combination of the slick custom HTC UI on the WVGA screen and the digital Flo TV broadcast receiver stunned the iPhone, RIM and even Droid owners.

"Wow. That's Windows Mobile?? I always heard it was hard to use." was a common puzzled exclamation. And they might have had a point... a year or two ago.

In the cell phone world, it's never too late to jump in with something good, as Apple has demonstrated so well (and so have the latest Android phones).

So I very much disagree that WinMo is out of the running just because WM7 is delayed. Heck, I used to write off MS all the time. But they're still here, folks.

The millions of US WinMo users on that chart is also notable. It shows there's a large core set of users, many of whom tend to upgrade to the next hot WinMo device... and those just keep getting better.

You and I don't always agree, but this is an eminently sensible view. Can't deny that.

 

[womble2k2]

Certainly does look like WinMos days are numbered. Unless they can come up with something that makes people say Wow!...

Windows mobile 7 has been delayed. MS engineers are finding it hard to reverse engineer iPhone OS and make it work with a Windoze kernel!!

 

[powers74]

Seems that they've already successfully done that, recently:

Exactly what I had in mind!

 

[Rodimus Prime]

A sensible view. I just wonder how long RIM's higher share will last with its current device paradigm. What's their next big move? That's probably the question on everyone's mind.

I expect it to last a while longer. RIM bread and butter is the Enterprise and corporate world, the area Apple historically and what looks like a long time to come just does not play ball well in and never has done well it. . Apple bread and butter is the consumer world and they are damn good there. Both are very different beast in themselves. Apple philosophy it seems is very good for consumers side of things but not to good for business and IT side of things. Not that it is bad just the companies interested are very different.

I am too wondering what RIM next big move will be. I feel both the iPhone and the BB have both reach a point hardware wise that little while really change. Minor updates but the for example RIM basic hardware format really has not change since the introduction of the curve. They have kept it now and only done minor changes to it threw all there lines.

Some stuff I have seen on the Rumor mill from RIM is a combonation of the Storm/9700. THe screen is touch screen but still keeping the hardware layout the same so it will have a track pad and QWERT keyboard on it. I think that address a lot of the problems with the current format.

Others is they might make a new flip phone because the pearl Flip for them did really well. They have a few patents on it. Another is a slider.

BB email set up I think think is the industry leader and is the standard everyone else is measured by. I have not seen anything that comes close to unseating the push email of the BB. RIM owns the patents on that.

 

[ArrowSmith]

Steve Ballmer must be cursing out some VPs right about now.... FEEL THE WRATH OF BALLMER!

 

[DMann]

Steve Ballmer must be cursing out some VPs right about now.... FEEL THE WRATH OF BALLMER!

Ballmer strikes again:

 

[Digitalclips]

Does this really come as a surprise?

WinMo is trash. And MS has pushed back WinMo 7 to late 2010, when no one will care anymore. MS seems to have Zuned their entire mobile strategy ...

Sorry for the partial quote but I loved the verb 'zuned' as used ... it really should be entered into F&W and Oxford Dictionaries to mean exactly how you used it ... < "To Zune: The action of morons when they completely and totally FU computer technology, hardware or software.>... love it.

 

[Digitalclips]

It can be difficult to keep up with the real world. There's lots of activity on WinMo forums, and more touch-oriented applications hitting the online stores.

I picked up an Imagio as an alternate work phone and took it to business luncheons the past two days.

The combination of the slick custom HTC UI on the WVGA screen and the digital Flo TV broadcast receiver stunned the iPhone, RIM and even Droid owners.

"Wow. That's Windows Mobile?? I always heard it was hard to use." was a common puzzled exclamation. And they might have had a point... a year or two ago.

In the cell phone world, it's never too late to jump in with something good, as Apple has demonstrated so well (and so have the latest Android phones).

So I very much disagree that WinMo is out of the running just because WM7 is delayed. Heck, I used to write off MS all the time. But they're still here, folks.

The millions of US WinMo users on that chart is also notable. It shows there's a large core set of users, many of whom tend to upgrade to the next hot WinMo device... and those just keep getting better.

Partially true but trends can be hard to fight as can bad past experiences. I think more and more people are discovering the myth that Macs and Apple products in general are just for artists and designers untrue and is past. The reaction I hear over and over from switchers to what ever Apple product from what ever M$ product is "Why the hell did I put up with that crap for so long?" Coming out finally with half decent products isn't going to win back those people and they are becoming Apple's greatest sales force. Those of us that have been evangelizing for decades pale next to a recent 20 year M$ veteran's conversion self told.

 

[Kristenn]

And why is iPhone's share taking off? Altogether now...

"Developers, developers, developers, developers..."

x2

 

[AidenShaw]

MS has pushed back WinMo 7 to late 2010, when no one will care anymore.

Remember all the doubters who said that Apple was too late to the mobile game to gain ground against the incumbents.

It seems that people are willing to abandon platforms if they see a value.

 

[AidenShaw]

RIM better watch out. The only reason they maintain their dominant position is because of their agreements with corporations to provide handsets on the mass.

It's because they meet corporations' requirements, plain and simple. The Iphone meets Steve Jobs requirements - customers be damned.

The millions of US WinMo users on that chart is also notable. It shows there's a large core set of users, many of whom tend to upgrade to the next hot WinMo device... and those just keep getting better.

There's also the factor that people who use Exchange for work find that the integration with WinMo is superb. If I didn't have my calendar, contacts and email on Exchange - I'd probably pass on a WinMo phone.

However, since I do need Exchange, I couldn't imagine trying anything else. Especially when I see my manager with his "new shiny thing on the Internet" Iphone dropping calls and missing meetings because his network and phone are so bad at dealing with corporate realities.

 

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

wow, android is not doing NEARLY as well as you'd think from reading tech sites. I know it's still young, but still. I am in the camp that says RIM will falter sooner or later if they don't update their offerings.

 

[Azmordean]

RIM better watch out. The only reason they maintain their dominant position is because of their agreements with corporations to provide handsets on the mass.

The iPhone just does more. It’ll take time, but the iPhone will slowly move more and more into the corporate space as its security functions improve.

I don't agree with you. More than it is now, sure. Seriously threatening RIM's market though? I doubt it. But that's not a slight against Apple. They target the consumer market. That's true of virtually ALL of their products - computers, iPods, Apple TV, etc. They've never shown much interest in having Macs on the desks of Fortune 100 companies, and I doubt they have much interest in having iPhones in there either.

Namely, I don't see Apple building an iPhone with a physical keyboard, enterprise servers, and IT Policies.

You need to remember - yes the iPhone does more (more accurately, it does more more easily - the BlackBerry can do a LOT, it just takes more tech savvy to get it there). But a lot of what the iPhone does are things corporations do not want their employees doing on company time / with a corporate device. Most corporations provide BlackBerries for one thing and one thing only - e-mail. And at that, they are king. My company BlackBerry is locked down other than e-mail. I can't install 3rd party apps, the browser has the same filters applied to it that our corporate network does, etc. I sincerely doubt my company has much interest in giving me a phone that makes it easier for me to do "more."

An aside - BlackBerries are actually excellent devices (if you get an unlocked non-corporate one). I had one prior to my Droid and loved it. There are even lots of apps and capabilities - the experience just isn't quite as consumer friendly as say an iPhone or Droid.

 

[Azmordean]

A sensible view. I just wonder how long RIM's higher share will last with its current device paradigm. What's their next big move? That's probably the question on everyone's mind.

I think RIM's biggest problem, really, is lack of "flash". Their devices are rock solid (I had a Tour - gave it up for a Droid, but it was a tough choice), but they lack the "wow" factor. And, bottom line, for consumers, that matters. I think if they can "modernize" the OS a bit and increase it's "wow factor" a bit that will help them a lot. THe other thing is to simplify the SDK / do whatever else is necessary to encourage app development.

In terms of physical devices, the biggest problem RIM has with their traditional devices is screen size. My Tour was a fantastic device, but the screen was such that most of my browsing was limited to the mobile web. I'm not sure why RIM hasn't tried a slider type device. Something with a trackpad on the main body and a slide out keyboard. This would allow them to keep their physical keyboard whilst having a larger more useful screen.

 

[kdarling]

It should be noted that this year, for the first time, over 50% of Blackberry customers were NOT enterprise buyers.

So RIM not only STILL has their core enterprise business, but now ALSO has a just-as-large user base of casual users.

This is why they've been concentrating on more consumer features like touch, colors, style and bought a Webkit based browser company.

 

[Stella]

I was just going to post "I'd like to hear what Steve Ballmer thinks about this."

No one uses windows mobile ( outside of north america ) , and he knows it.

windows mobile has always been, and always will be 3rd rate.

 

[mikes70mustang]

I didn't know people were still using Windows Mobile.

+1
I tried it before. Horrible experience. I still have nightmares
Ill stick with my BB

 

[mikes70mustang]

It should be noted that this year, for the first time, over 50% of Blackberry customers were NOT enterprise buyers.

So RIM not only STILL has their core enterprise business, but now ALSO has a just-as-large user base of casual users.

This is why they've been concentrating on more consumer features like touch, colors, style and bought a Webkit based browser company.

RIMs not gonna die. If they ever get rid of the crappy/slow OS theyll be gold.

 

[lewchenko]

A group of my friends all have Blackberrys now.. about 6 of them. And believe it or not.. its all down to that BB Messenger service which allows you to basically instant message between other BB users for free just like an MSN client.

Basically they never have to text each other now, and to them its free.

What started as a couple of them having BB's has resulted in 6 of them now.

Things like that generate sales in the consumer space (as evidenced). Being outside the 'BB Messenger' loop in this case means I probably miss out on quite a few group chats etc. Stuff like this gains momentum.