Apple iPhone Has A Greater Share Of The Smartphone Market Than Windows Mobile

February 10th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

I’ve been paying a lot of interest to news about smartphones over the last couple of months, as I’m coming up to my annual upgrade. Currently I’m packing two phones, a Nokia N95 for personal use and a HTC S620 for work, and I can’t work out which platform, Symbian or Windows Mobile, I should get for my next phone. I love how the N95 is great for call handling, texting, internet use, taking pictures etc but I love the QWERTY keyboard and Microsoft Exchange support on the S620.

However, I think Windows Mobile is a shocking OS for standard phone features and it appears that other consumers tend to agree with me. In the US, Canalys.com is reporting that Apple grabbed 28% of the smartphone market and 6.5% globally for the fourth quarter of 2007, shipping 2,320,840 of its popular iPhone handset, and putting it in 3rd place behind Symbian and RIM based devices, with Windows Mobile devices coming in fourth at 21%.

I didn’t realise that Windows Mobile devices were so unpopular. I guess they are so unpopular because if people really want a smartphone they buy a RIM device, and most Nokia sales aren’t to people who want a ’smartphone’, they are to people who just want a good phone and camera, that just happens to be a smartphone.

Back to my purchase. I really don’t know what I’m going to get to upgrade my Nokia N95. I’m just praying that Nokia or another Symbian handset manufacturer, brings out a device that has a full QWERTY keyboard as well as good Microsoft Exchange support.  If I can find such a device, then I can ditch the S620 and carry only one phone around with me.  At the moment the only two devices that meet these requirements are the E61i and the P1, and I’m not a big fan of either.

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About the Author

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Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 7 Responses So Far. »

  1. #1

    Comment by 13111y on 10 February 2008:

    Check out the support for Exchange with Nokia’s Mail for Exchange app for the N95 on http://www.businesssoftware.nokia.com

  2. #2

    Comment by Everton on 10 February 2008:

    @13111y

    Tried it and I don’t like it. It doesn’t sync any folders below the inbox e.g inbox/follow up and it also doesn’t sync the sent folder. I need better Exchange support than that.

    The P990i I had for a while had better support than that, so maybe UIQ has better Exchange support than S60 symbian.

  3. #3

    Comment by Walter on 10 February 2008:

    In the summer/late summer, the iPhone will have all you need and more…..have you actually tried one?

  4. #4

    Comment by Everton on 10 February 2008:

    @Walter

    Not an iPhone, but I’ve played with a iPod Touch. What’s the keyboard on the iPhone like compared to a QWERTY keyboard?

    3G is essential for me, plus I’m on T-mobile and I’m not moving networks just to get a certain phone.

  5. #5

    Comment by Tim Houghton on 11 February 2008:

    So … could you remind us what the relevance of the iPhone marketshare is to your phone-buying dilemma?

    Also, I’m amazed to hear you say you’ve never used an iPhone, when you have previously bad-mouthed them so often.

  6. #6

    Comment by Everton on 11 February 2008:

    @Tim

    My point is that the iPhone has passed WM6 in market share, which says a lot about how popular WM6 is.

    As to having an opinion about iPhone’s without using one, I have done this over the spec of the phone which doesn’t require a hands on experience. Having a sexy interface is of no use to me, if the phone is lacking key features that I need.

  7. #7

    Comment by Tim Houghton on 13 February 2008:

    Fair enough I suppose, as far as WM6 goes anyway.

    As far as the iPhone goes I seem to recall that you cited the lack of 3G and keyboard, because you sent a lot of emails and texts, as the reason you wouldn’t get one. My response would be that the virtual keyboard is perfectly adequate but what makes it shine is the predictive text which is probably an order of magnitude better than T9.

    As far as 3G goes I live in rural Essex and even without EDGE the iPhone sends and receives emails without any noticeable delays or problems. I suppose if you are sending out huge attachments it might be an issue. In an EDGE area (annoyingly, only 5 miles away from the town where I live and work) I get about 400kbps download speed. There’s also that video by the German guy comparing an EDGE iPhone and 3G N95 side-by-side with very little noticeable difference in web page loading speed (sorry I dont have a link but it’s on YouTube). The N95 downloaded everything quicker but the iPhone rendered the screen quicker resulting in very similar apparent speeds.

    Anyway, I don’t want to sound like I’m moaning (not too much anyway). It’s just that I read and enjoy your blog regularly, and your shortsightedness about the iPhone is … irritating ;-)

    PS I should add that after using the iPhone for a couple of months I had to go back to using my old SE P800 for a day (lent iPhone to other half). Despite being a heavy UIQ user for 4 years prior to the iPhone I found it incredibly frustrating and difficult to use. Although I suppose that could be a sign of my failing memory as much as how intuitive the iPhone UI is.

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