Telsyte confirms Windows Mobile's shrinking market share

Stuart Corner
Monday, 31 August 2009 13:37

IT Industry - Strategy

Telsyte's latest research into the Australian market has confirmed international research findings and what Optus' IP Index revealed: Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform is losing ground in the smartphone market, particularly to BlackBerry,

According to Telsyte "smartphones, now used by two-thirds of Australian businesses, have proved to be a very vibrant battleground, with market leader BlackBerry widening its lead over Nokia in the past 12 months. With the rise of Apple and Google in the smartphone OS market, Microsoft's popularity has shrunk markedly, both in terms of the installed base and as a platform of choice to standardise on."

Research director, Warren Chaisatien, said: "Apple and HTC are the two fasting-growing vendors, each preferred by an impressive nine percent of Australian businesses as their primary smartphone suppliers."

Telsyte's findings closely reflect those of Optus in its recent IP Index survey of enterprise use of various communications technologies. iTWire reported that "Since 2008 Optus found a substantial increase in the number of organisations standardising on one mobile OS. As the platform of choice, Blackberry soared from 25 percent to 36 percent of respondents, while Windows Mobile lost ground, from 28 to 22 percent. Symbian gained marginally from nine to 10 percent, and the iPhone achieved four percent, an impressive result given its short time in the market."

Internationally Canalys reported last month that Microsoft was losing share in the smartphone market as the number of platforms proliferates and now commands less than 10 percent.

Chaisatien attributed Microsoft's waning fortunes as being, in part at least the result of a lack of new form factors in Windows mobile handsets in the last 18 months to two years, during which there had been a steady stream of new BlackBerry products as well as several Android devices.

He said the launch by HTC of three new Windows Mobile devices at the end of June  represented the first significant new products for some time, but added, "I think you will see HTC [one of the biggest manufacturers of Windows mobile devices] moving more towards the Android platform.

Canalys' Chris Jones, made similar comments saying: [Microsoft'] smartphone market share has now fallen below 10 percent and the trend is likely to continue as many of its OEM partners, including HTC, Motorola and Palm, are focusing investment on other platforms."

Chaisatien attributed Symbian's lacklustre performance to Nokia's decision to make the once-proprietary system open. He said corporates tended to be wary of open platforms on security grounds.