Look out, Android-based device makers. Take caution, Apple. Two mobile powerhouses are rumored to be readying a smartphone that aims squarely at your business.
The speculation is swirling around Microsoft and Nokia. Some believe the Finnish phone maker is going to build a new line of smartphones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system.
This isn’t the first time there has been talk about Microsoft and Nokia tag-teaming to target competitors. With Stephen Elop, former Microsoft Business Division president, taking the CEO position at Nokia, it’s easy to see how these rumors gain merit.
Windows Phone 7 Success
Could Nokia and Microsoft take on Apple and Android in the smartphone wars? That remains to be seen — and that’s if the rumor is even true. In the meantime, Al Hilwa, a program manager at IDC, does have some observations about Microsoft’s mobile business. For starters, he noted that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has reached 4,000 apps two months after launch — one of the most rapid ramp-ups in recent times.
“Of course, with both iPhone and Android app stores being much bigger, Microsoft still has its work cut out for it,” Hilwa said. “However, reaching this milestone faster than Android — which took from October 2008 to March 2009 to reach about the same level — it is not bad!”
For a company that just a few months ago was an also-ran in mobile, Hilwa said, having 10 smartphones released in 30 countries is not a trivial achievement. As he sees it, Windows Phone 7 has changed the conversation, and it’s quite possible that Microsoft could have the third-largest app portfolio in the industry by the middle of next year.
That, he said, is because Microsoft has really strong application-development tools and a strong developer ecosystem from its PC universe, and it has…