The Register reports on a Microsoft and Palm rethink about how they get their operating systems, currently running at a far lower market share than Symbian OS, out to a wider market.
Read on in the full article.
Symbian competition have a rethink
It's an interesting story. The article points out that the success that Nokia have had with Symbian sales can largely be attributed to the fact they include the O/S in low end cheap phones too. I don't think this is as significant as they make out; Windows Mobile handsets are so cheap to buy on Prepay, anything from �100 to �150. Hardly expensive.
Windows Mobile handsets having different model names on different networks when they are in effect the same device also does not help the brand awareness.
I would suggest a major reason that Nokia have had high sales numbers with Symbian phones is due to the Nokia brand only being available in Symbian form on some high connection networks, like 3 in the UK for example. When the Nokia 6280 series 40 handset hits the market sales of the 6630, 6680 and N70 will drop like a stone on that network. At the moment people are buying the Nokia brand, because it is Nokia.
Maybe Microsft need to sell their phones by not concentrating on the smartphone label, it puts people off to a large extent, and pigeon holes the handsets to a particular market section.
Another point is the Symbian UI is so much better than the Microsoft Windows Mobile UI. I own Symbian phones, and I have a C550 having owned a C500 in the past, both used for work purposes. The Symbian handsets are a world ahead of Windows Mobile in usability.
3G symbian S60 has existed since the 6630. Windows Mobile are still to release a 'proper' 3G handset. That won't help them either.
Windows Mobile has a lot of things it needs to deal with before it can have any hope of reaching the popularity of Symbian S60 phones.
But it isn't just about the price is it? A sub-300 dollar PDA phone will sell only slightly better than current models, simply because it _is a PDA phone_. Most people aren't going to touch a phone with a touchscreen with a bargepole.
The most sucessful Windows Mobile phone so far has been the C500, simply because it is in a standard form factor, but they've never managed the economies of scale which mean a phone like the Nokia 6600 continues to sell around the world, for a good deal cheaper than the price at launch.