Motorola reportedly ditching Windows Mobile, going all-Android

Not surprising when MS themselves dont seem interested in WM. Maybe, just maybe they will surprise us next month but I really dont think so. MS have said in the past a "major" announcement will be coming only for it to be a non-event. We will see if this time will be different.

One thing is clear - the general feel from tech sites, consumers and manufacturers is WM is not the OS they want and this can only mean the beginning of the end of WM. May not be immediate but ultimately WM will not survive.

...or maybe Microsoft is starting to cull the garbage WM phones from the WM world.

Robbie has stated that WM is getting a consumer overhaul (especially since the BB OS got one) which i expect them to push out faster than expected.

WM will never die. They had a record year in 2008, with phones like the Diamond, Pro, Omnia, HD, X1, etc. Regardless of what "you" think of WM, considering they have the ugliest phone OS currently out there, they are still selling well.

I'm faily confident that Windows Mobile is on it's way out. Selling well? Heck, The IPhone which is one phone on one carrier has been out selling Windows Mobile phones, which have multiple phones on multiple carriers, by a LARGE margin.

Windows Mobile is great for techies like me, but for the average consumer, the interface is old, confusing, and not consistent from phone to phone. A big part of that problem is that Microsoft has given too much control over to the carriers on what to strip off the OS and too much customization.

@All:

The total number of phones sold with WM was 20 Million for 2008:

"they sold some 20 million sets running Windows last year"

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/01/10/windows-mobile-sales-tally-reac...

It is more than phones that were sold with the OSX platform and the Android platform.

WM is going nowhere.

What most posters are forgetting, is that yes, the iPhone out sold any other WinMo phone.

Platform vs Platform though, WinMo Dominated.

It makes it easy for me to understand why Microsoft wants to start making mfgs step up to the plate and make better phones with a more common platform. Via platform I mean graphics chips and the such.

WinMo in it's form from Microsoft is the ugliest OS by all means, but it is still the most flexible and functional. Now, add the fact that it has a level of customization and app suport that I dare say the iPhone app store can't touch, and you have whatever phone you need for the person.

The last thing I want is an iPhone. Why? Because all it is going to be is an iPhone. I'm sorry, but ever since the origional Ipaq PDAs I've customized my OS to my needs, and only WinMo had that.

Android will be interesting to watch, as right now I'm highly unimpressed with it, and think they should have just pulled a lesson from Sharp with the Zaurus series. Until it is functional with everything I need from WinMo, it will never be competition.

So no, WinMo isn't going anywhere. Saying it is, is like saying that within 3 years Microsoft won't be on any desktop/laptop computers. OS X and the Linux community offer choice, but they'll never push MS out.