Windows Vista, which hit shelves last week, is the most important version of Windows that Microsoft launches this year. But it isn't the last.
Next Monday at the 3GSM wireless trade show in Barcelona, Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT- news - people ) will finally take the lid off its long-anticipated update to Windows Mobile. While Vista runs on computers and needs a ton of memory, Microsoft's cellphone operating system runs in the palm of your hand.
Windows Mobile 6 isn't a huge upgrade from the current version 5, but it sports some new features aimed at both its traditional business users and mainstream consumers. For instance, it plays along better with some of the company's business software, like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It displays some e-mails better and works closer with some of Microsoft's Web-based Windows Live services like instant messaging and voice notes. It also has a redesigned, more attractive user interface, with Vista-like, three-dimensional graphics.
In Pictures: The Windows Evolution
The updates are important because Windows Mobile 6 will very likely be the best-selling edition yet. As recently as a year ago, most Windows Mobile smartphones were bulky and expensive, aimed at tech types and enterprise users.
"If you went back two years ago and I walked around with my Windows Mobile phone, and I showed it to people, they'd say 'Wow, that is cool! What is it?'" says Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division. "You'd say, 'It's a Windows Mobile phone,' and they'd say 'What's that?' And now you walk through an airport and you don't get that response."
That's because smartphones have gone mainstream, thanks to slimmer, cheaper handsets like Samsung's BlackJack, T-Mobile's Dash and the Motorola (nyse: MOT- news - people ) Q--all which run on Windows Mobile 5. Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) made a splash in January unveiling its own smartphone, the iPhone, heavy on both design and price: It starts at $500.
Most smartphones now cost much less, in large part because carriers subsidize the cost of the tiny computers. With good reason: Smartphone subscribers spend about seven times more per month on data services, ranging from text messaging and mobile Web browsing to streaming video.
Unlike Windows' dominance in personal computing, Microsoft's U.S. cellphone market share isn't much--about 1% in November 2006, according to research firm M:Metrics. But that represents 2 million people, and it's more than double its share two years ago. Last fall, it passed rival Palm (nasdaq: PALM- news - people ) OS in the U.S.
Worldwide, Microsoft sold 9 million Windows Mobile licenses last year, on devices from 47 different manufacturers and 115 mobile operators in 55 countries. Last quarter, the company sold 3 million licenses, up more than 90% from a year ago.
And the market is growing: In 2007, people will buy more than a billion cellphones worldwide, according to Yankee Group, with smartphones accounting for more than 113 million, or 11% of all phones sold. In 2010, Yankee Group projects smartphone sales to top 243 million, or 20% of all phone sales.
Microsoft doesn't sell its own phones--yet--but handset companies like Motorola and HTC pay the company a license fee for each Windows Mobile phone they make. And the more places people see the familiar "Start" button, the better for Microsoft's overall strategy of getting its software on more devices, ranging from the PC and cellphone to videogame consoles, music players and even cable set-top boxes
Next Monday at the 3GSM wireless trade show in Barcelona, Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT- news - people ) will finally take the lid off its long-anticipated update to Windows Mobile. While Vista runs on computers and needs a ton of memory, Microsoft's cellphone operating system runs in the palm of your hand.
Windows Mobile 6 isn't a huge upgrade from the current version 5, but it sports some new features aimed at both its traditional business users and mainstream consumers. For instance, it plays along better with some of the company's business software, like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It displays some e-mails better and works closer with some of Microsoft's Web-based Windows Live services like instant messaging and voice notes. It also has a redesigned, more attractive user interface, with Vista-like, three-dimensional graphics.
In Pictures: The Windows Evolution
The updates are important because Windows Mobile 6 will very likely be the best-selling edition yet. As recently as a year ago, most Windows Mobile smartphones were bulky and expensive, aimed at tech types and enterprise users.
"If you went back two years ago and I walked around with my Windows Mobile phone, and I showed it to people, they'd say 'Wow, that is cool! What is it?'" says Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division. "You'd say, 'It's a Windows Mobile phone,' and they'd say 'What's that?' And now you walk through an airport and you don't get that response."
That's because smartphones have gone mainstream, thanks to slimmer, cheaper handsets like Samsung's BlackJack, T-Mobile's Dash and the Motorola (nyse: MOT- news - people ) Q--all which run on Windows Mobile 5. Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) made a splash in January unveiling its own smartphone, the iPhone, heavy on both design and price: It starts at $500.
Most smartphones now cost much less, in large part because carriers subsidize the cost of the tiny computers. With good reason: Smartphone subscribers spend about seven times more per month on data services, ranging from text messaging and mobile Web browsing to streaming video.
Unlike Windows' dominance in personal computing, Microsoft's U.S. cellphone market share isn't much--about 1% in November 2006, according to research firm M:Metrics. But that represents 2 million people, and it's more than double its share two years ago. Last fall, it passed rival Palm (nasdaq: PALM- news - people ) OS in the U.S.
Worldwide, Microsoft sold 9 million Windows Mobile licenses last year, on devices from 47 different manufacturers and 115 mobile operators in 55 countries. Last quarter, the company sold 3 million licenses, up more than 90% from a year ago.
And the market is growing: In 2007, people will buy more than a billion cellphones worldwide, according to Yankee Group, with smartphones accounting for more than 113 million, or 11% of all phones sold. In 2010, Yankee Group projects smartphone sales to top 243 million, or 20% of all phone sales.
Microsoft doesn't sell its own phones--yet--but handset companies like Motorola and HTC pay the company a license fee for each Windows Mobile phone they make. And the more places people see the familiar "Start" button, the better for Microsoft's overall strategy of getting its software on more devices, ranging from the PC and cellphone to videogame consoles, music players and even cable set-top boxes
