Microsoft Not Worried About AndroidMicrosoft Not Worried About Android

Microsoft recently said they are not worried about the recent success of Android on the G1 handset and that Windows Mobile has felt little impact from its release. Is Microsoft just talking smack, or are they really not worried about it?Mobile News shares some comments from David Weeks, a Windows Mobile product manager.

Now, keep in mind this is the UK market. Overall, the G1 has sold over 1 million devices since launch, but according to Weeks, moving only 100,000 in the UK market in a few months is a poor showing for a device like this.

Microsoft's strength with Windows Mobile is business, where they have tight integration with Exchange, network access and device security. There is a perception that WinMo is relatively weak on the consumer side, simply because devices like the iPhone are far more appealing. WinMo 6.5 is supposed to rectify this to some degree. We'll know more by this holiday season once the OS is released and carriers have devices in stock.

Is there really room for multiple operating systems for phones? We have Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android and the soon-to-be-relased WebOS that Palm will have on the Pre. Android and WebOS are brand new. I don't know if the market can sustain six operating systems for smartphones. Blackberry isn't going anywhere as long as they keep IT departments happy and Symbian has a lock on the segment of the market that likes Nokia phones. Microsoft seems committed to Windows Mobile and is making a big push to get WinMo 7 out the door next year to finish what they couldn't in WinMo 6.5. WebOS is a big question mark. The Pre hardware has dazzled some people and the PalmOS faithful are excited about the first new OS from Palm since 2002, even if it means running old apps in an emulator. Whether it will save Palm, Inc. though is another question.

Android has been out a few months now and as I said, has sold well over a million units and has an app store. It has a fan base in those that like Linux, which is what Android is based on. Can it get out that niche though and be adopted by a broad base of people, people that don't know or care that it runs Linux or has Google backing it up?

Can Microsoft afford to keep Android out of their primary area of focus, concentrating primarily on Blackberry and the iPhone? Android is going to be more new devices and if they get on either AT&T or Verizon's network, the two largest networks in the US, their mind share will go up considerably. Too many times MS has underestimated what Google is capable of. Google came out of nowhere to be the de facto search engine for the world. GMail is the web mail of choice for many, and it continues to embarrass Hotmail in terms of features and spam trapping. While Microsoft continues to talk of cloud computing, Google Docs is here now and drop dead easy to set up and use. Android is being integrated into all of these services and more. If Microsoft wants to keep Android a niche player, it needs to consider it a real threat now, otherwise, it will eat into WinMo's share.