Is Microsoft Back In The Smartphone Race With The Launch Of Windows Phone 7?

Nov. 10, 2010 - PRLog -- After losing the majority of its smartphone market share to Google’s Android  and Apple’s iPhone , Microsoft  is back with an entirely new OS that may be able to salvage their reputation in the smartphone race. Projections estimate that by 2013 smartphones will capture 70% of the mobile phone market. With a market this size Microsoft was in desperate need of finding a way to challenge the strength of growing players Apple and Android. While Nokia’s Symbian  still claims the largest slice of the smartphone market, Analyst Lee Jacobs at Provideo Financial believes that its share will continue to decline with Android, Apple, and Microsoft snatching up the majority of the market.

“Apple and Android have made great headway into the smartphone market in the past 2 years based on user experience and application development. Though Apple still leads the way for overall usability and selection of applications, Android isn’t far behind. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will be interesting to watch, and if app developers bite it stands to be a viable challenger to Android and Apple.”

“I don’t think that Microsoft will have the kind of personal loyalty and hype that we see around Apple and even Android, but what Microsoft does have is the ability to win over corporate clients. Where iPhones and Android devices are predominantly sold to individuals, Windows Phone 7 devices will likely be adopted by corporations due to their compatibility with their existing IT systems.”

“Currently there just aren’t enough available applications for the Windows Phone 7 platform for most consumers, but as corporations adopt the platform and the user base grows we expect app developers to jump on the bandwagon.”

Jacobs’ belief is that though Microsoft’s new platform may not be a huge success in the few months following its debut, it will gain momentum into 2011, and that after about a year it should be a viable player with a market share nearing that of Blackberry’s creator Research in Motion .

Microsoft seems to have learned a lesson from the success of its competitors. Gone is the complexity of their old Windows Mobile platform, and in is the sexy appeal of a stunning operating system built for enhanced user experience. Further the Window’s Phone 7 OS seems to be the best of both worlds when compared to the closed system of Apple or the “open source” of Android.

Andy Lees, of Microsoft’s mobile phone division noted that the new OS will provide manufacturers options to build on, but unlike Android, there will not be application compatibility issues from device to device.

It is still unclear whether the market will adopt the new OS, but Microsoft has built a winning product whose success remains to be seen.

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