Yes that was “woops” that you could hear coming from the HQs of both Microsoft and Nokia this morning. That came after the news that Google’s open-source Android OS may be starting to lose its grip on the fluctuating smart phone market. Legal losses by HTC at the hands of Apple and an aggressive patent push by Microsoft against Android is leading device manufacturers to rethink plans.
Inevitably, the next largest OS that could be exploited in this way is the Windows Phone as Blackberry and Apple are both closed to their own devices. There’s also the point that Apple isn’t as likely to go after Microsoft as it is Google. Apart from that system, according to SlashGear.com some manufacturers may turn to Nokia’s MeeGo thanks to the relative closeness of its system kernel and that of Android. What is clear is that the sooner rather than later, mobile gaming firms will have to start taking Windows Phone seriously.
Elsewhere in the smart phone arena, Blackberry fell even further behind in a survey that asked consumers what phone they’d buy. ChangeWave’s figures showed that a mere 4% would buy a Blackberry compared with Apple iOS (46%) and Android (32%). The gap between Apple and Android also widened compared with March by 1%. It gets worse for Research in Motion’s (RIM) OS.
In terms of satisfaction the fledgling system isn’t even on the podium. Apple leads this particular part with 70% satisfaction rating, Android on 50%, Windows OS at 27% and RIM OS at a measly 26%.
