What's an iPhone? 14.3m Windows Mobile phones sold in the past six months alone
By Nilay Patel 
posted Feb 11th 2008 2:31PM
posted Feb 11th 2008 2:31PM
There might be a world of iPhone hype out there, but if there's anything Microsoft knows how to do, it's fight back with sheer brutal volume -- and it looks like the WinMo juggernaut is just getting warmed up, with sales of 14.3m units worldwide in the past six months. Microsoft says the strong performance is based on sales of over a million BlackJacks and over two million HTC Touch phones, and that it expects to hit 20m WinMo phones sold by June. That's an awful lot of phones -- and with even hotter models on the way, we wouldn't expect to see these numbers slow down anytime soon.
And with Nokia and Microsoft getting cosy...
There is no proper GUI in Windows to handle mobile phones. To automatically securely wireless proximity sync. SMS's should be viewable and securely save on the PC, and PC IM's should be accessible from the mobile phones, UMPCS, and portable gaming devices. Same with recent caller lists, multimedia, and contacts. With this Danger acquisition, Microsoft may have the technology to do that .. but they may end up not going anywhere with it.
This really is simple:
Blackberry and Microsoft =
You can't compare the two. This is the same argument as Mac vs. PC. A Mac and OS X come bundled together, whereas Windows comes on HP, IBM, Dell, Gateway, Acer, etc. You can't compare 1 company's product to a group of companies who all sell a competing product.
And doesn't this just emphasize how poor Windows Mobile is? How can they outsell the iPhone by so much, yet the iPhone's browser beats it in overall usage?
Macs would be on more systems if Apple sold the OS, but they don't. Quit splitting hairs.
@Johan S
First off - WiMo is both a shell and an OS. There are lots of other shells - some that emulate the iPhone even. Much of what you suggest is doable, but is there really any demand for it?
well i don't wanna sound like an ass but if the competition is selling 25% in the the US and 3 european countries, compare to the almost 194 countries windows mobile is available, thats not good for windows mobile, not good at all. maybe the writer has not realize iphone is just available in the US and 3 small european countries, its not even available in canada, but it will soon
On Windows Mobile you can install Opera or other browser, so Mobile IE usage data does not truely represent Windows Mobile users that browse. Secondly the iPhone comes as with unlimited browsing where as Windows Mobile users may use other functions but rarely browse.
Last, how does any company know what sites I visit and what browser I use. Considering Mobile IE probably directs most traffic to the carrier and or Microsoft then such stats can be false considering perhaps iPhone users browse more of the web and Windows Mobile users browse carrier pages and or corporate pages that probably don't publish usage stats.
@snitch: firstly, even if the iPhone is accounting for 25% of smartphone sales in the US (though God knows why, it's not a smartphone), it's certainly not doing that in the other countries it's on sale in.
Secondly, I seriously doubt that WinMo devices are available in 194 countries.
And even if they were, criticising MS because their market penetration of Kenya or Turkmenistan or wherever is low is pretty pointless as they're clearly not putting any effort into selling devices in countries like that.
@Tom
You can compare the two because Nilay Patel is comparing mobile OSs. Just wait until Microsoft intigrates the Zune software in WinMo. I don't think it's going to be in the next version, but the version after that will have it. Then there will be a few more people other than business workers who use it.
@ Garst
Zune in PPC? What?
Are you familiar with Zune? Microsoft doesn't want to affiliate itself with the player. Look a Zune, it doesn't even say Microsoft on it! (It says greetings from redmond... or washington... or something like that) Microsoft didn't even use it's own "secure" standard for the device.
Zune is as integrated into to Windows as iTunes is.
I wouldn't say the new Zune is a bad player, quite the opposite in my opinion, but Zune is supposed to be a completely seperate brand from any version of Windows. I highly doubt
I re-read this twice, and my eyes do not deceive me. There is not one snide, anti-M$ comment in here! This is journalism! Hooray!
my sweet Engadget... she's all grown up.
*sniff*
Amazing isn't it?
After "That's an awful lot of phones" I was expecting "and a lot of awful phones" but Niley resisted. Hooray!
Actually, the use of "sheer brutal volume" implies that it is quantity and not quality. So, there is still some anti-MS slant on the article.
You call that slant? For once, that is truth! Honestly now. :-/ .
Thank you! I will continue to read Engadget now that I am reassured there is at least one person on the writing staff not super biased!
"anti-MS slant on the article", GOOD.
@L M Lloyd: Except of course Apple said that about iPhone sales in the USA! You know, the only market where the iPhone had been out long enough to get sales figures for two quarters. These figures for windows mobile devices are WORLDWIDE sales figures. So Apple are not lying in any way, you're just comparing figures from two totally different sources. Why is this so frickin' hard to understand?
And no, I couldn't give a monkeys who 'wins' the smartphone market although I am glad that Apple have come in and shaken things up a bit. I just wish people would take the time to understand what they are commenting on before they start attacking the 'enemy'.
A drop in the ocean, unfortunately...
Engadget are such Apple Fanboys! Does every post have to have an Apple product in the title!
caleb, i really hope that's sarcasm that you think their jab at an iphone is actually fanboyism. very very sad. now go outside and play, the weather's been great.
Apple always compares Apple to PC's, so why can't we compare Apple to WM devices. If it's ok for Apple to compare their single company to every other PC maker, why can't every WM maker compare themselves to Apple?
Sarcasm? Jab? Fahnboyism? Me?
Noooo....
Conversely I've never seen such rabid PRO-Microsoft based comments on any other site. It really doesn't jive with the amount of tech sites I read. Makes me wonder if Engadget is on Microsoft's astroturf list. I don't think I'm being paranoid when the FACT is that they've done this before: http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=microlob23&date=20010823
That's like GM saying it is better than Ford because its many brands have sold more cars total than Ford has sold F-150s.
I came to say exactly that pretty much. iPhone = product. WinMo = mobile OS. Apples and oranges Engadget.
Forgive me, for I'm a German car guy, but...
Isn't everyone better than Ford?
Where's that common sense logic when people claim that the iPhone > Windows Mobile?
Did you read the article well? The writer said: "14.3M Windows Mobile phones sold" not "14.3M Windows Mobile OS's sold". The article mainly explains how healthy the Windows Mobile market is, people are still preferring it, and I bet that at least half of the people who bought the iPhone are "new" in the smart phone market, meaning that they did their shift from regular mobile phones to the iPhone, but only few did a shift from Windows Mobile phone to iPhone. Many of the people around me feel that whenever you go "Windows Mobile" you are going to stay "Windows Mobile", simply because it has stuff that iPhone dreams of getting adding the fact that iPhone's software is owned by one company unlike the Windows Mobile market which has many options hence creating good and healthy competition. In the other hand, iPhone is just an enhanced experience of a mobile phone; a very good evolution for mobile phones.
All in all I really believe based on numbers and my own idea on this whole thing that Windows Mobile will always be the preferred OS for business people, business as in real work, as in media or finance, including graphic designers like me and my coworkers; iPhone is good for my young brother and my sister who wants to show of in front of their friends, I mean I seriously haven't seen anyone around me using the iPhone for what it was made for, and this means one thing: iPhone's software is good, but it is selling for the wrong people or the people it wasn't meant to be sold for which also means that people who prefer smart phones are not buying the whole iPhone thingy yet, including me.
What do you think guys? :)
I don't know where you're a graphic designer there Rabi, but pretty much everybody I work with is going to the iPhone. Creative professionals have never been able to stomach M$ and the second the iPhone came out it meant salvation. Now the only time I even see an M$ product is when I walk past the guy that makes the plane and hotel reservations for people. Thank god.
Sure, that would be a fine argument, if it weren't for the fact that Apple is flat-out lying, and claiming that the iPhone is selling better than all Windows Mobile devices combined. Remember, it was Steve Jobs who got up and said that Apple was second only to RIM in the smartphone market. He claimed that the iPhone had far outsold all Windows Mobile devices combined. Obviously that isn't the case.
You have a very solid point right there L. M. Lloyd, kind of an eye opener.
clambake, I'm not a hotel nor a plane reservation guy! I'm a worker who like the idea of having Microsoft Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile, Exchange ActiveSync in my smart phone and some other features like video recording and 3G, nothing more than that! Now if Apple had their OS out their for companies to use on their hardware I would love to see the competition in hardware releases, but, right now at this point I can't but hate the idea of having on mobile phone that does half of what my Windows Mobile phone do without naming brands. The question here: Can I get all of the things I mentioned anytime soon from other companies for the sake of price competition and features?
Rabia,
I am a long time user of mobile devices and there is very little I like about windows mobile. Windows mobile is capable of doing lots of things but it does very few things easily. The trade offs made between feature creep and the devices small size meant that easily understandable menus and ease of use features got paired down. The fact that to close a program to free up memory you have to go into the settings menu is insane! (This may have been changed in version 6 which I have not tried).I was underwhelmed by the launch of the iPhone especially given it's price tag but last week I came across a good deal on an iPod Touch and decided to see what all the hubbub was about. I instantly knew why it was so popular. The fact that Apple locks the device down application wise is definitely a minus for non geeks who can't or don't want to jailbreak their devices but I am hopeful they will loosen this requirement soon. More hopeful than Microsoft making an interface I can use. BTW the Touch is my first ever Apple product so no I'm no fanboy....well, except maybe for my Blackberry 8800!
Saad Rabia. You're missing the point. Windows merely made the OS while the phone companies themselves made the product; this is a very large defining point to this article which makes the iPhone vs. WinMo argument nearly pointless as they are not the same thing. Close, but not the same thing.
As for the argument that the iPhone is merely something to be used by kids with "something to show off", that's a personal opinion. Mine regarding the matter is that I don't believe you have used one, or if you have not nearly long enough. To each his own though.
L. M. Lloyd - you'll remember that Steve carefully referred to North American sales, whereas this is talking about worldwide sales. The iPhone is both less available and less popular outside America.
I'm yet another guy who came here to say how silly the comparison is; the iphone is a single model, but we're talking about hundreds of different WinMo models here. When you think of it like that, it's actually pretty embarrassing. For individual manufacturers, anyway.
You have a good point there Chad, I mean Windows Mobile seems to be geek material, haha, and I'm proud of being one my self. :p
Yeah, I think it all comes to life style, I mean seriously a successful man could use iPhone or a Windows Mobile device, at the end it all comes on how well you are going to use the features you bought in the device you chose. I want to see how Sony is going to tweak the Windows Mobile system; from what I've seen it seems to me that having a stable and nice Windows Mobile experience could be delivered by the device makers them selves, which is kind of cool! I also want to see what Apple software developers will bring out next month, I mean we could see an open source Office application inside the iPhone, which could also mean me shifting to iPhone, hehe, Why not? I will buy the better device. Let us wait and see. :)
@ L. M. Lloyd: no lying there. Jobs talked about the American market. Yes, more iPhones sold than MS Mobile phones. The world is a different thing. All in all it's pretty much ridiculous to compare the ubiquitous MS Mobile phones with the iPhone, which to date is only available in a few countries.
You are correct sir!
No, it's not silly to compare iPhones sold to all Windows Mobile devices sold, just like it's not silly to compare all Macs to all PCs sold. You're comparing ALL DEVICES THAT RUN ONE OS versus ALL DEVICES THAT RUN ANOTHER OS. It just so happens that the only device with the iPhone's OS is the iPhone (and don't try to start the whole 'it runs regular OSX' argument).
What you're trying to do is spin the numbers so that you can say the iPhone outsold XXX phone, and immediately infer that Apple > Microsoft. That's as silly as saying the 13" MacBook outsold the HP Pavilion dv2200t. Of course it did. HP's consumer laptop line alone has more different models than all of Apple's computers. If there were several varieties of the iPhone(other than capacity), total sales numbers would still be similar to what they are now (unless there were cheap models-100 or less).
ya, I'm a student and everyone I know who has an iphone still oogles at my phone's ability to use one note to take notes in class. (I have an HTC Touch)
To everyone claiming that it is ridiculous to compare Windows Mobile to the iPhone, where are all of you when just about every article on this site claims that every new Windows Mobile device is a copy of, or response to, the iPhone? Seriously, Apple had more press for the iPhone than I have ever seen for any other model of phone ever, and yet it only sold roughly twice as many units as HTC's most popular model, even though hardly anyone even knows who HTC is. You can backpedal all you want, but that doesn't change that the narrative in the entire tech press for almost a year now has been that the iPhone was going to be the "game-changing" device that would have all the phone manufacturers running for cover, as they realized they couldn't compete with the amazing Apple technology that was light years ahead of what they could ever hope to bring to market.
I'm sorry if it doesn't favor your beloved company, but this is how mobile market share is always talked about. No one talks about the success of the Nokia n95 vs. the Blackberry 8800 vs. the Treo 700. No one, not even your hero Steve Jobs. It is discussed as Symbian vs. RIM vs. Windows Mobile vs. Palm. You can make all the "but it is just one model vs. hundreds of models" argument all you want, but that doesn't get the iPhone any bigger market share. The fact of the matter is that no matter how much you love it, the iPhone is a flop. No matter how much the press gushes about it, the sales figures are weak, and in light of the unprecedented media blitz it had, actually kind of pathetic. Those Apple figures saying it is "#2 in America" are based on some completely cooked definitions of what constitutes a smartphone, and even then are somewhat dubious. Any independent analysis of the smartphone market ranks Symbian as #1, Windows Mobile as #2, RIM as #3, Palm as #4, and the iPhone down there in the "others" category with the Sidekick. Maybe that will change in the future, but if you want to declare victory before your team has even met their own lackluster sales targets, you have to expect to get knocked down a peg when the actual big guys in the game release their figures.
L.M. Loyd is my hero.
"Seriously, Apple had more press for the iPhone than I have ever seen for any other model of phone ever, and yet it only sold roughly twice as many units as HTC's most popular model, even though hardly anyone even knows who HTC is."
I see HTC phones all the time but I didn't know HTC made them until recently because they don't say HTC. You said it yourself, the iPhone is outselling even HTC's most popular device. Comparing sales of the same product type is the only valid comparison and, as much as it irks some people, Apple is doing very well with the iPhone.
the iPhone has only been out for 6 months and internationally in only 3 other markets for 3 months. 4M iPhones to date for a brand new product is pretty damn impressive to say the least especially given the carrier exclusivity deals.
It makes no sense to compare that to all WiMo phones sold worldwide in the last 6 months - its not a level comparison. You can either look at the sale of WiMo phones for the same period of time for the same markets the iPhone is sold in or wait a few years until the iPhone has reached the level of product life cycle maturity that the WiMo phones have now.
WiMo phones have been around for years and have never appealed to anyone outside of tech/business. Thats why companies like Helio exist and thats why at the end of the day ordinary consumers are going to buy iPhones. They are easier to use and offer more useful programs that they can actually operate without being a tech geek.
I hear they ship a lot more copies of Windows XP and Vista than Apple does OS X as well.
Which means...well, nothing really, other than they ship a lot more products.
The rule is usually the better product the more it will sell
HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHH!!!!!! You know, because the Ford Taurus is such an incredible car! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!! And Titanic is the best movie ever made! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! And everyting in Oprah's bookclub is genius! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Funniest comment ever bar none.
HP and Dell ship a lot more $400-600 notebooks than they do $1000+ notebooks with modern hardware. That doesn't mean the el cheapo devices are better.
"The rule is usually the better product the more it will sell"
Whose rule, because it doesn't seem to reflect market reality? What determines success tends to be market strategy, pricing, and a host of considerations. What is better rarely equals success (though if the product is crap it has a much higher chance of failure). The amiga was WAY better than the mac for example, but that didn't really matter.
What one could argue is that making just the software platfrom will allow a company to reach more customers than making the whole widget, and MS has generally always shown that to be true over apple (though with the noted exception of PMC vs iPod). What causes MS to sell more is their stategy rather than the quality of their product (this isn't me commenting on the quality of WMo).
ya, but how many were returned after christmas?
*insert Apple fanboy comment here*
*Insert pity laugh here* :P
But, but, but... iPhone is better. NOT.
@ Nilay Patel: "...but (if) there's anything Microsoft..."
Are you high? Have you ever even tried an iPhone? I've been a WM user since 2003 (4 different devices). You're crazy if you think WM is better than the iPhone. I'm not being a fanboy. This is common sense for anyone who's actually used both. The web browser alone is like comparing a BMW to a go-cart.
Certain devices are more useful than the iPhone for certain people (like those who need a real keyboard). But to say WM software is better than iPhone software - again you're insane.
the iphone is overated. i really don't care for WM as well. maybe i am just biased but I just prefer the blackberry software and interface. the iphone is cute but than again the Miata is cute but you would not see me driving one. the iphone is like a sidekick to me. the iphone has alot of features but I just prefer a keypad.
@ Sean O: Thank you man.
@ timatl: It is your choice, do what suites your life style not what people think is cool. :)
knows how to do, it's fight back
That comma confused me. Not having a go, just saying you might want to remove it
Sorry, my mistake, the comma is correctly placed, just the is should be an if
Of course, you have to figure in that Microsoft likes to play with numbers.
And of course, Apple, being the honest, for-the-people, shit smells like roses company they are, doesn't?
It's not soley Microsoft numbers. HTC quoted those Touch numbers earlier.
The numbers don't surprise me either. The HTC Touch has many features the iphone doesn't offer. If you need to features, guess what phone you (or your company) are going to buy?
I don't understand the obsessive comparison between the iPhone and WinMo....They're not the same thing. The iPhone is a fully integrated appliance between hardware and software with limited functionality, but broad consumer appeal. Of course it gives you a better, more cohesive experience on the 5, 10, 15, whatever umpteen thing it does.
WinMo is an operating system running on a billion different platforms, designed for broad interoperability and business applications....Of course it does a bunch more, but it's user experience is clunky by comparison.....and even that varies dramatically between devices...
I don't think it's beyond Microsoft's ability, it's just not what they're up to. Their business model is to partner. Regardless if what you think of it, the Zune is an example of how MS can have a good user experience on a device....man say it's better than the iPod classic.
My opinion is there is no better or worse, but different devices. Pick your preference and live with it.
There are... what? *counts* 1 iPhone with 3 different size offerings thus far. Tell me... how many Windows Mobile enabled phones are there?
Yeah so it's Mobile OS X versus Mobile Windows
And Windows Mobile is still on hundreds of different phones. No matter how you look at it, Mac OS Mobile is outnumbered.
I believe the fault would lie with Apple for not allowing their mobile OS on other phones. If it is Apple's choice to only allow their mobile OS on 2 phones they must deal with not being able to get more marketshare. So just as in the full OS war, Apple's draconian business practices will never allow them to realistically compete with Microsoft mobile marketshare.
It is called choice. Don't like the Blackjack, get a Dash. Don't like the Dash, get a HTC Touch. Don't like the Touch, get the Palm Treo. That covers the 3 major carriers in the US, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
It is odd (ok, not really, people will find a way to bitch about Microsoft some way) how people complain that Microsoft takes away choice, but when there is choice people try to spin it to make Apple somehow better. Microsoft does not make phones, they make an OS. 14.3M copies of that OS available in 6 months. Apple is projecting that there will be 10M copies of their phone OS out there at the end of 2008. Microsoft sold 43% more copies of their OS in 6 months than Apple projects to sell in a year. A phone is a phone is a phone, and that is 14.3M WinMo phones in 6 months. Apple is projecting 1-1.2M iPhones in the current quarter (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/24/apple-halving-iphone-projections-for-quarter-probably-not/), but 10M over the year. That is (on average) 5M/6 months. A far less than the past 6 months for Microsoft.
Quit trying to make excuses and accept the fact that for as much as Engadget and the Apple illuminati try to make the iPhone out to be the greatest thing ever, there is something out there that people like more.
stephenbratz2
"Microsoft does not make phones"
You must be new here....oh wait, this is Engadget.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/11/microsoft-buys-danger-windows-mobile-sidekick-imminent/
The following statements were once true:
Microsoft does not make Mice
Microsoft does not make Keyboards
Microsoft does not make Webcams
Microsoft does not make Game consoles
Microsoft does not make a web browser
The following statement has always been true
Microsoft will do whatever it thinks it needs to do to dominate a given industry....period!
@Chad:
Show me where I can buy a Microsoft branded phone today. But nice diversion, trying to distract from the topic being discussed and Josh trying to spin the numbers to detract from WinMo and make the iPhone seem better because there is only one manufacturer.
And for your last sentence, Apple, FireFox, Sony, Nintendo, Logitech, etc. do not do the same? If you think they do not, well, there is nothing more I can say to get through the blinders.
@Chad
Correction for ya. Change this:
"Microsoft will do whatever it thinks it needs to do to dominate a given industry....period!"
to this:
"Any successful business will do whatever it thinks it needs to do to dominate a given industry....period!"
There. That's a much better statement.
@stephenbratz2
@JLTate
Except none of the business' you mention are convicted predatory monopolies with a history of anti-trust violations. It's you who choose to use blinders.
The new SonyEricsson XPERIA X1 will rock and boost the figures even more for msft I think.
Damn right it will, I'm getting rid of my brand new kaiser the moment the xperia comes out
so will Apple release a non-smart phone at a lower price point?
I think that would be killer - iPhone nano at $199
Then again solid state memory is killing the lower price points for Apple while WiMo just provides a SD slot and not much in the way of built in storage.
Fine by me though. I like that I can take my microSD card out and swap it with another. It gives me unlimited space. It would be nice if the iPhone would add removable storage as well, but they'd probably just be too worried about locking people down because they might share music or something rather than actually making the consumer happy. :(
14.3 million is still pretty small sales compared to symbian I expect...
Latest figures put Microsoft on 13% and Symbian on 67%, so Symbian must be selling around 140 million phones a year.
Symbian what? S60 or UIQ? I'm not sure S60's would be considered "smartphones". UIQs certainly are, but unfortunately UIQ numbers are between low and dead. I think Symbian diehards should embrace LinMO.
@ Chip
How would you say S60 isn't a smartphone platform - because they don't have touchscreens? Have you ever used S60, properly?
"I'm not sure S60's would be considered "smartphones"."
Because...? Because they ship with an advanced web-browser? Because they support push e-mail? Because they support advanced 3D games like Quake? Because of the support for natively coded apps? Why wouldn't they be?
@Chip
Are you sure you know what you are talking about? S60 phones supports copy-n-paste, multitasking, push email, editing Microsoft documents, and etc. If those are not enough to define S60 phones as smartphones, I don't know what does.
Some people are crazy. How many companies are mentioned in the article that make winmo phones. So it takes all those companies together lol. Apple makes one phone. ONE. Microsoft didnt sell 14.3 million phones those other companies did. Microsoft doesnt make phones. LOL
Whatever makes you sleep at night (on your Steve Jobs bedsheets)...
yup LOL
Another interesting comparison appeared here recentlly. iPhone accounts for more web access than all the windows mobile devices put together. Think about how many millions windows mobile devices sold in these years. That shows something as well, doesn't it?
Ok:
"... the strong performance is based on sales of over a million BlackJacks and over two million HTC Touch phones..."
So there are two "products" that have sold 1 million and 2 million units in 6 months. I would say that is a whole lot of product.
What, Appl's inability to produce an OS which runs on different kinds of hardware is MSFT's fault?
I never said that. The article says microsoft is boasting about how 14.3 winmo phones sold in 6 months. They didnt make the phones those other companies did. Lets see individual company numbers. I have a ATT Tilt and like it but i also have an iphone so im not bashing. What i am saying is apple makes one phone. ONE ONE ONE. Together all those companies sold 14.3 million. there where still more iphones sold than the black jack etc etc. Next time read and understand before you speak.
Hey my comment was not directed at you.
It is amusing when there is something good posted about the iPhone ppl go "Yay apple, microsoft suXor." And when there is post about how well MSFT did getting its OS on to all those handsets the same bunch go "Meh apples and oranges"
Billy P, would you feel better if they got annoying specific for you?
"Windows Mobile OS runs more phones than the OS on iphone when comparing only the OS. We're comparing OSes ONLY because we know that Apple doesn't license their mobile OS to other manufacterers"
Man that seems too long.
@Billy
Well seeing as how, like you said, Microsoft doesn't sell phones, what the hell are they supposed to measure their success by? Seeing as how that are in the software business, it makes sense to me that they would measure their success by the number of products running their software, and it's A LOT. Nowhere in that article does it mention Microsoft claiming to outsell Apple. The iPhone was only name-dropped by the author of that article and this one to increase page views. How about YOU try to understand before throwing a fit?
PS - The number of Apple made computers also drastically outnumbers the number of Microsoft made computers. Oh no, sell your Microsoft stock now, they don't stand a chance!
this is the reason apple is not the #1 computer. This is why Microsoft owns over 90% of the market. The consumer wants options. Plus software has much more profitability than hardware. This why Microsoft can offer to pay $45 billion cash for another company.
2m HTC Touch phones sold in 6 months... 4m iPhones sold in a year... Or was the number 2 above your countable spectrum?
You guys are funny. I never said i didnt like micro i love the xbox360 its wonderful. and windows xp. Well not love win XP. Anyway Apple put a spark plug and some fire under the phone industry and if you dont like them you have to thank them for bringing it alive again.
Right, because OS X only runs on one kind of hardware. Oh wait, there's Intel, there's PPC, there's the iPhone... yes, clearly Apple is totally incapable of writing an OS that runs on more than one kind of hardware. That must be it.
@Zak
No one said incapable, you ignorant fanboy tool. We said unwilling. Apple is UNWILLING to allow it's software to be installed on other hardware. Your comment only strengthened my argument. Thanks!
Well, I was expecting for the iphone to become officially unlocked or to be sold in Mexico.. I don't care anymore because my next phone will be an XPERIA..I guess I'll thank Apple for taking so looong!
The iPhone vs WinMo comaprison is the same as PC vs Mac. Windows (Mobile or otherwise) is an OS that can be installed on virtually any hardware, whereas Apple's OS is (more or less) tied to Apple hardware.
This is hardly surprising news, but it's nice to see a some MS love here, or at least a lack of snarky comments in the story.
@Sean O.
Here's a different test: Edit a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet on your iPhone - without using the browser to access these features on a server. Or write a .Net application and deploy it to your iPhone. Connect a GPS or a barcode scanner over Bluetooth without having to resort to hacks like Jailbreak. Or...
No disrespect, but you're kind of cherry picking the one or two things the iPhone does well and generalising a lot. If that's all you need - well, then yeah, the iPhone may well be a better choice - but if you want to do more than that - WiMo blows the iPhone out of the water.
As for UI, there are lots of apps out there for WiMo including much better shells like PointUI. Choice is good.