There are a number of blog posts out there today responding to Cringely’s accusation that Windows Mobile will die. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes agrees. InfoSyncWorld has a little more experience with covering the mobile market, and they tend to disagree with Cringely’s assessment.
In regards to personal computers fading from ubiquity to invisibility, Cringely says, “And everyone I respect thinks the new dominant platform will be mobile. So it’s my job to tell you, then, that Windows Mobile is probably doomed.” This doesn’t really make sense since Windows Mobile is the most powerful, most flexible mobile device operating system around.
It’s kind of difficult to see Windows Mobile dying off as soon as 2011 as Cringely predicts. For one thing, Apple still needs to use it in their retail stores. There are many government and private sector agencies who use Windows Mobile for their custom applications. Multiple Windows Mobile phones (55) are available on many mobile carriers (175) around the world. That’s a lot of manufacturers and service providers depending on Windows Mobile! And in terms of applications, hardware support, and features, it’s still 5 years ahead of Android, iPhone, and Blackberry.
Originally published on Pocketnow on October 24, 2008. More Thought articles from the Pocketnow archive.