Geekwire has the news that the Windows Phone 7 operating system’s share of the smart phone market declined one percent for the three months ending July. That’s while the smart phone market increased in size, up ten percent from the previous three months. Google’s Android system led the way with almost 42 percent, followed by Apple’s iOS with 27. RIM fell to 21.7 percent, while Microsoft dipped to 5.7.
The SunBreak’s Windows Phone 7 correspondent, Katelyn, will tell you that she loves the operating system. The tiles do what they’re supposed to do: simplify her phone experience, and she speaks as an iPhone émigré. So there may be something to complaints in Geekwire’s comments section that the problem is distribution and sales, rather than the OS.
That said, Mango, Microsoft’s new mobile OS flavor, is due out soon, and it should be even more dedicated to business-class smart phoners. Also, Microsoft’s marketplace has 30,000 apps to choose from these days (though that’s more than spitting distance from the half-million boasted by Apple and Android). Forbes has an eye on competition that Microsoft is poised to take customers from. And perhaps most importantly, there’s Nokia.
Nokia’s WP7 entry will build off its new N9 model, which shows the Finns jumping with both feet into smart phone design: there’s no mechanical keypad or home button, and they are very enthused about swiping. (There’s also a Penta-band 3G radio, and an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera.) What there’s not is much interest in a MeeGo OS.
Could the Finns save Microsoft mobile? Could Microsoft mobile save the Finns? Stay tuned, at least until something about the iPhone 5 leaks.
