New Smartphone Numbers Show a Weak Quarter for WinMo
Although Windows Mobile is still seeing progress in worldwide numbers, the situation isn't quite as rosy as it might be when it comes to smartphone marketshare. Gartner's new numbers [via Engadget Mobile] show a few distressing trends for WinMo fans.
Firstly, we've long said that even if WinMo isn't #1, there's plenty of space for everybody in the rapidly growing smartphone market. That's still true, but we may need to stop saying the market is 'rapidly growing,' since it had its lowest year-over-year growth ever.
Next up: BlackBerry is clearly holding onto its lead in the US market and RIM still managed to increase their sales over 80%. Apple also grabbed a big old chunk of marketshare (though whether they can hang on without another iPhone 3G-style launch is an open question). Speaking of the iPhone, their big big iPhone 3G sales pushed them past worldwide Windows Mobile shipments for the first time.
Meanwhile, other numbers from Needham & Co [via] basically reiterate the above trends. One notable bit you can glean from the graphs, however, is that it looks pretty clear that the iPhone is hurting RIM more than it is Microsoft -- but that steady downward trend since late 2006 needs to be fixed there Microsoft, and fixed in a hurry.
