SmartPhones

Recently this blog reported on results of a study that showed the RIM Blackberry OS to be the "best" smartphone OS among industry analysts. However, according to an informal survey conducted by internet technology review stalwart CNet, the preferred smartphone operating system among consumers (or at least, CNet readers) is Windows Mobile.

Smartphones running Windows Mobile include the Samsung Blackjack, the Motorola Q (the top two tier-1 smartphones), as well as many manufactured by HTC, including the widely-popular HTC Tilt.

Based on pure market share alone, the study of 130 users showed Windows Mobile at 42.3%, RIM Blackberry at 19.2%, Apple OS X at 17.7%, and Symbian and Palm OS at 10%. Those are the stats for operating systems. As for smartphone manufacturers, RIM and HTC both took the lead, tying with a 19.2% market share each, Apple following close behind with 17.7%, Motorola at third with 11.5%, Palm at 10%, and all the rest (Nokia, Samsung, etc.) taking the remaining 22.3%.

Interestingly enough, the praise for Windows Mobile was balanced out (read: marred or tainted), however, by half of the respondents reporting complaints of the very same OS. Finally, a whopping 66% of CNet readers responding the survey said they would be likely to consider purchasing an Apple iPhone as their next smartphone, three times more than those who said they'd opt for the second place contender, the Blackberry.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Blackberry, CNET, HTC, HTC Tilt, iphone, Microsoft, Motorola, Motorola Q, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Samsung, Symbian, Windows Mobile

For sheer quality and durability it may be argued that Nokia makes the best smartphones around. And for software functionality and versatility none is more revered than Microsoft. So it's no wonder that the two industry leaders would eventually bring together their winning expertise into a single offering. In fact, one only wonders what took them so long.

HTC and Motorola customers already enjoy the PC performance that the Windows Mobile OS gives their smartphones, not least of which is access to mobile versions of the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Now Microsoft is aiming to put their coveted OS into a Nokia N-Series smartphone. About time!

Following on the heels of the most recent convert to the WinMo family, Samsung, with its T-Mobile Shadow. And if Samsung can diverge from its Symbian loyalty, so can fellow Symbianite Nokia, right?

It likely won't happen until after Windows Mobile 7 or Windows Mobile 8 hits the market, but one thing seems certain - it will happen.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: HTC, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Motorola, Nokia, Nokia N-Series, PC, Samsung, Symbian, T-Mobile, T-Mobile Shadow, Windows Mobile

Yahoo! may have turned down Microsoft’s takeover bid, but not every company is so reluctant to join the technology giant’s entourage.

In an obvious reaction to what one savvy blogger (not yours truly, alas) smartly calls “Apple envy”, Microsoft announced this week its plans to buy Danger, Inc. the compaany that gave us the Sidekick smartphone.

Attempting to hop onto the consumer-focused, user-friendly mobile app bandwagon, the company who brought smartphone users the popular Windows Mobile OS

What will Redmond-based Microsoft do with Silicon Valley-based Danger, exactly? Who’s to say? Hopefully they’ll do what so many other companies have been struggling with, that being: perfect the Windows smartphone.

With a recent report revealing that more people use the Apple iPhone to surf the web than all Windows Mobile enabled devices put together.

The T-Mobile Sidekick 3 is a sleek and stylish smartphone with a unique slide-out display screen revealing a generously sized QWERTY keyboard for easy messaging convenience. Hopefully Microsoft will build on this already stellar product rather than scrapping it and starting from scratch.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Danger, messaging, Microsoft, QWERTY, qwerty keyboard, Sidekick, Sidekick 3, T-Mobile, Windows, Windows Mobile