| Windows Mobile trouncing the iPhone? |
Jul. 10, 2008
 Some 4.5 million Windows Mobile phones shipped during the year's first quarter, up 1.8 million year-over-year, according to IDG figures cited by Microsoft's top Windows Mobile executive, Andy Lees. Apple, meanwhile, sold only 1.7 million iPhones according to IDG's figures for the same quarter, Lees claimed.
(Click here for a larger view of Andy Lees speaking at this week's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference)
Speaking at a Houston conference this week, Lees called Windows Mobile a "goldrush of opportunity." Lees (above), who replaced Pieter Knook earlier this year at the helm of Microsoft's Windows Mobile business, was delivering a keynote speech at the company's 2008 Worldwide Partner Conference, which began Monday and concludes today.
Citing IDC figures, Lees said Microsoft sold 4.5 million Windows Mobile devices during the January-to-March quarter. Dismissing the hype about Apple's iPhone, Lees said the above number means Microsoft sold 1.8 million more Windows devices during the first quarter of 2008 than it did during the same quarter in 2007. In contrast, Apple only sold 1.7 million iPhones in all during the first quarter, he added.
And even though it has forecast 26 percent growth in the smartphone market, "I believe IDC is significantly undercalling the opportunity," said Lees. Citing factors such as Moore's Law, an increased profit potential for carriers, and new Internet-based mobile applications, he said "Windows Mobile is getting ready for a massive explosion, a gold rush of opportunity."
According to Lees, the new Internet Explorer for Windows Mobile, announced earlier this year and scheduled for release in approximately six months, will be "the full IE 6, not a cut-down browser." Users will be able to run AJAX-based applications via IE that won't run on competing Apple, Nokia, or Google Android-based snartphones, he promised.
In the remainder of his 53-minute keynote, Lees compared Windows Mobile to Apple, Google, Nokia, and RIM platforms for application development, citing Microsoft's solution as the most robust and easily extensible. He also reviewed the company's recently released System Center Mobile Device Manager, claimed to allow setting policies for mobile devices "as easily as you would for PCs."
Further information
A transcript of Andy Lees' keynote speech to the 2008 Worldwide Partner Conference is available from the Microsoft website, here. A webcast of the speech can be viewed from the company's "Digital WPC" site, here [requires Silverlight web browser plugin].
Meanwhile, an interview with Lees by author Arne Hess appears on the website the::unwired, here.
For a comprehensive list of phones based on Microsoft operating systems, don't miss our massive, freshly updated Windows Mobile Showcase.
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