Microsoft CEO Admits Windows Mobile Market Share is ‘Unsustainable’
Microsoft CEO Admits Windows Mobile Market Share is ‘Unsustainable’
Recent global sales number proved what most of us knew already; Windows Mobile is not threatening Android or iOS anytime soon. Windows Mobile market share is decreasing and noting its small size, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella points that it’s not the devices that will take Microsoft ahead but the services that Microsoft provides to the users.
Recent global sales number proved what most of us knew already; Windows Mobile is not threatening Android or iOS anytime soon. Windows Mobile market share is decreasing and noting its small size, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella points that it’s not the devices that will take Microsoft ahead but the services that Microsoft provides to the users.
An Unsustainable Trend for Windows Mobile
In a recent interview, Nadella admitted that Windows Mobile market share is too small. He was quoted as saying the market is “unsustainable” for Microsoft. Microsoft CEO said “There’s no question that in the case of the smartphone, today, we are not that high in share.”
Nadella, however, was adamant that market share is not the right way to benchmark a company’s success in a market considering the products or services. More devices mean that there are more chances the users will access the same company’s services but “I think we do ourselves a disservice if we measure our success by just looking at: What’s the market share of HoloLens? What’s the market share of Xbox? What’s the market share of PCs? What’s the market share of our phones?” he said.
Nadella has been the CEO of Microsoft for about nearly two years, taking over the post from Steve Ballmer. He said that he has learnt that users access multiple devices each day and that’s why the company is aiming towards providing the proper experience across a multitude of those devices.
“Go back to what I said about the mobility of experience. If you think of this more like a graph, these [devices] are all nodes. Sometimes the user will use all of these devices … sometimes they’ll use only one or two of our devices and some other platforms — so be it. But we want to make sure that we are completing the experience across all of these devices.”
Microsoft was late to the smartphone and Mobile OS party and has always been trying to play catch up with Android and iOS. While those OSes continue to rise, Windows Mobile (formerly Windows Phone) has continued to decline ever since Microsoft bought Nokia and Nadella took over. Recent reports have noted that Windows Phone OS holds no more than 1.7 percent of the market share.
Will Windows 10 Save its Mobile Efforts?
Windows 10 is Microsoft’s latest effort to ramp up mobile efforts hoping that it catches up fast in the smartphone and tablet realm. The company has come up with Universal Windows apps which makes it easy for developers to make desktops app and their mobile counterparts. While Windows 10 has been selling like hotcakes with over 200 million active devices in less than half a year, the Windows app store has failed see any substantial growth in app numbers. Even the Windows Continuum hasn’t been able to catch on, perhaps due to lack of Windows flagship devices.
The company isn’t giving up yet. They are about to bring Project Islandwood and Project Astoria which should make it easier for developers to port apps to Windows and there are two more projects underway. With the release of flagships, ROMs for Android devices and these projects Microsoft might be able to hold on to some market share and maybe even gain some in the coming years.
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