Both Telstra and LG have cut deals with Microsoft overnight as the software vendors looks to boost interest in their struggling Windows Mobile operating system.
LG are taking a massive risk say analysts following an announcement that Microsoft have reached an agreement under which Microsoft’s new mobile OS will become LG’s primary operating system for its smart phones.
The news comes as several manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola and HTC who use to be the biggest manufacturer of Windows Mobile devices move to the Google Android operating system.
According to the New York Times Windows Mobile had only appeared on one LG phone in the past. The new Windows Mobile 6.5 will debut later this year. Another problem for Microsoft is that Nokia who currently have 54.5% of the global phone market are supporting the Symbian operating system while Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry Smartphone is supporting their own OS. They have 16.5 percent of the global phone market.
At the end of 2008, Microsoft only had 13.9 percent of the global mobile operating system market. In 2009 this share is under threat from the Apple iPhone, Google Android phones and the Blackberry as well as Nokia whose share of the global phone market is sliding. In the US the Company slide from 15.5% share at the start of 2008 to 7.5% share at the end of 2008.
The New York Times reports “The mobile device is the computing device of the future,” said Bengt Nordstrom, the founder and chief analyst of Northstream, a company in Stockholm that advises mobile operators and equipment makers.
The cooperation with LG, which Microsoft said had agreed to use Windows Mobile as its primary operating system, highlighted a series of moves intended to extend the Windows brand to smartphones.
Windows Mobile 6.5 has a touch-enabled screen and user interface that resembles the one used in Microsoft’s Zune MP3 players. Even so, Windows Mobile 6.5 does not have the multitouch feature of the Apple iPhone, which has 9.6 percent of the operating system market, according to research Company Canalys.
According to the UK Register Microsoft and Telstra have also announced plans At the World Mobile Congress for applications and services wrapped in an interface that will be customized for devices using Telstra’s IP and 3G networks.
The companies have promised an “all-in-one” mobile e-mail, calendar contacts, web browser, and business software package for mobile wrapped up in a Telstra-designed interface for handsets running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.
Microsoft’s Online Services will be delivered through Telstra’s T Suite Portal and paid for via subscription, the companies said. Additionally, the companies are planning integration of Microsoft’s Office Communicator with Telstra’s hosed IP telephony service.
