Smartphones and Cell Phones

Matthew Miller

Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

By Matthew Miller | November 18, 2011, 12:05pm PST

Summary: Microsoft’s Windows Phone still hasn’t gained much market share, but the Marketplace continues to grow at a fast pace. Amazon just launch an Android-based tablet and are they now thinking of getting into the smartphone race too?

I tracked and wrote about the quickly growing Windows Phone Marketplace in my WP Wednesday posts for months and will get back in the groove again soon. The great news is that development continues at a great pace with new hardware hitting the streets as there are now over 40,000 apps to choose from. There is also a rumor that Amazon may launch a WP smartphone in late 2012. Mary Jo also mentioned some updates for existing devices and last night I gained WiFi tethering capability on my first generation HTC HD7.

Windows Phone Marketplace

Microsoft launched the new Windows Phone 7 operating system and devices in October 2010 and at the one year anniversary they had about 35,000 apps. I have every app I need on my Windows Phone devices and am really not missing anything I can think of with most apps looking spectacular with the Metro UI. All About Windows Phone estimates that Microsoft could pass the 50,000 mark in January at the rate that apps are hitting the market right now.

Games are always the hot sellers and look to be the top category for Windows Phone too. There are several plots of the data on the AAWP site so check it out if you are interested in the fine details.

Amazon Smartphone?

Amazon just release their first Android-based tablet with the Kindle Fire and now there are rumors that they may be considering the launch of a smartphone. Accoridng to the rumor on Forbes.com a hardware research analyst made the claim so I am not ready to line up for a phone or anything right now. Looking at the Foxconn Technologies manufacturing channels, it seems this device may have a 4 inch display, 8 megapixel camera, and Windows Phone OS with a TI OMAP4 processor.

It seems that Amazon succeeds in large part due to their ecosystem so I don’t really see how they can integrate this into a Windows Phone ecosystem. Right now, Amazon products work well on Android devices where there is no single ecosystem, but then again Microsoft has been fairly open with Windows Phone and allows competing music clients and streaming video services so they may be open to things such as the Amazon MP3 store and more. Do you think there is any merit to this rumor?

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Rumor, Phone, Smart Phone, Microsoft Windows Phone, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Smart Phones, Telecom & Utilities, Cellular Phones, Handhelds, Software, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

saravdsrc 27th Nov

MSFT would survive at the expense of RIM ! The Blackberry OS - QNX or BB7 as of now has no traction whatsoever. Not to mention Nokia, Samsung & HTC are already working on Windows based phones, i don't see any reason as to why they cannot create a market out for themselves. MSFT atleast has managed to attract developers to push out 40,000 apps. They are bound to experience a small and steady growth. Given the fact that MSFT came late into the XBox / PS3 battle arena and made sure they give Sony PS3 a big competition, i believe they can repeat the same on Phones.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

LoverockDavidson_-24231404894599612871915491754222 18th Nov

I don't think there is any merit to it but deep down inside I really want this to be true. An Amazon WP phone has a lot of potential. If they did this then WP could sky rocket in market share.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

ZombieSteveJobs 18th Nov

@LoverockDavidson_
"Microsoft???s Windows Phone still hasn???t gained much market share"

Ha ha ha failssssss failsssss

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Qbt 18th Nov

@ZombieSteveJobs

It took Android about 18 months to start getting real traction, only after the "Droid" marketing started. Nokia is just now starting to release hardware and for the 1st time we are seing some serious marketing (US will follow in early 2012). WP7.5 Mango is getting really good reviews, I expect WP7.5 to start taking off in a similar way as Android did.

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...It took Android about 18 months to start getting real traction

theo_durcan 18th Nov

@Qbt
Wrong, it took Linux/Android 18 months to swallow the market:
"...in just 18 months, Android has come from nowhere to become the mobile OS powering just under half of all smartphones sold in the UK"...
in the meantime, the OS from the beleagered company from Redmond went in 12 months from 2% to close to 1%, and going down.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Doctor Demento 18th Nov

@ZombieSteveJobs

Yes, because market share is the sole measure of the success of a company, that is why Apple is on the brink of dying, more than 25 years and the Mac still can't crack the 10% market share mark....what a failure...

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theo_durcan, what good is Android

Mister Spock 18th Nov

@Ztheo_durcan
if used on less then optimal ("cheap") handsets, which is what the majority of Android activations are? Are the end users really benefitting from it if the phones are plauged with issues?

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Rick_Kl Updated - 20th Nov

@Qbt I do not know what rock you have been living under, but I have seen a bunch of ads for windows phones. Personally I feel these ads are insulting to the majority of the population, maybe that is why they are not working? The point is Microsoft waited too long, and delivered too little. Instead of accepting that, Microsoft is playing their typical word games. When Barnes and Noble wins in court (see bogus IP claims) the OEMs will start to fie against Microsoft, fir the return of the extortion fees. Also look fir some of the OEMs that were wronged, to drop Windows from their mobile lineups.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

linux for me 21st Nov

@LoverockDavidson_

Wow!!! Now there are more apps available than Win7 phones!!!!

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

dheady@... 21st Nov

So, there's two apps for every WP7 phone owner? I'm probably being optimistic.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

spacespeed 21st Nov

@dheady@...

Or very, very trollish. Probably the second.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

OracleOfReason 22nd Nov

@dheady@... optimistic. spaceseed is the troll.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Shmythey 18th Nov

I think an Amazon WP could happen. It just depends on what incentives Microsoft gives them. Plus they could re-purpose all their Android devs back to server stuff and apps, which would make them more money. Though my bet is that any dealings with MS is about being able to create their own app store, like they have on Android.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Socratesfoot 18th Nov

@Shmythey If it does, Amazon will gimp it the way they have Android. WP7 will be judged based on the nerfed mazon OS, not the real OS. It will hurt Microsoft more than it helps.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Shmythey 18th Nov

@Socratesfoot

All true. I was just saying I could see it as a possibility, though it seems unlikely.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

grayknight 18th Nov

I'd love an Amazon Windows Phone. They do write software for Windows Phone, so it isn't entirely unthinkable for them to create one, though it would seem more likely to create an Android phone.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

TheFilipinoFlash 18th Nov

@grayknight why not do both since that is doable right?

And I miss the part were the article says Amazon will be abandoning Android.

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Where Are The Unique Windows Phone Selling Points?

ldo17 18th Nov

What is there in the Windows Phone Marketplace that is unique to WP7? It seems to me at best it only offers you the same capabilities you can get on Android anyway, and at worst it offers you less.

So why should anyone bother switching away from Android to Windows Phone? Seems like a complete waste of time.

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Not to defend the new MS epic failure ....

wackoae 18th Nov

@ldo17 REAL support for Office documents and XBox features are unique to WP7.

But the XBox integration is a dumb useless gimmick (because teens are not the primary market for smartphone) and full support for office documents is only needed by very few (editing a doc on a 4" display is painful). For the rest of the world, an acceptable quality viewer is enough.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Rick_Kl Updated - 19th Nov

@wackoae actually the target market is 13 year old girls that live on Facebook, and twitter. Microsoft is just trying to play the we have more bullet points, so we must be cool game.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

OhTheHumanity 20th Nov

@rick_KI
I think they are trying to position the phone to appeal across all segments. If you don't like Xbox and don't play games at all, then don't use it. If you don't like Linkedin and Office on the phone, don't use it. Pretty simple concept, offer it up and use what you want. Pretty sure its not about bullet points, but hey if it makes you happy to think that, have fun!

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Rick_Kl 20th Nov

@OhTheHumanity so you agree that Microsoft is saying ???We have more bullet points, so we must be cool???? For Microsoft it is all about the bullet points on a slide, even if the points are irrelevant.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

OhTheHumanity 20th Nov

@Rick_KI
Well lets just put it this way. For some reason you fear the Windows Phone and seems the bullet points make you worried that it will be a success. Its a great phone and thats just the way it is, get over it.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

spacespeed 21st Nov

@Rick_Kl

Irrelevant to who? It may be irrelevant to you, but very relevant for someone else.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Doctor Demento 18th Nov

@ldo17
70% of Americans are still using a basic feature phone, it's not about trying to convince people to switch, it's about trying to expand the market.

Your post reminds me of the automobile market back int he 70's, with everybody saying 'we already have Ford, Chrysler and GM, there's no point in these Japanese companies coming in and trying to sell cars'....the assumption that the market is set in stone and nothing will ever change is a dangerous one for a company to take....

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Re: Your post reminds me of the automobile market back int he 70's ...

ldo17 18th Nov

@Doctor Demento "... with everybody saying 'we already have Ford, Chrysler and GM, there's no point in these Japanese companies coming in and trying to sell cars'" -- wrong way round. Notice who is having the most success with Android? It is Asian companies like Samsung, HTC, Huawei and so on, while the US "home-grown" Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is struggling to gain traction, and Apple's IOS is gradually losing it.

Certainly your analogy applies. And it proves my point.

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ldo17, so what you are stating is that every phone should be Android

Mister Spock 18th Nov

@ldo17
and that no other company should create a superior phone OS as we should just accept Android's "good enough" functionality?
There is no logic in what you are proposing
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Re: ldo17, so what you are stating is that every phone should be Android

ldo17 18th Nov

@Mister Spock "and that no other company should create a superior phone OS as we should just accept Android's "good enough" functionality?"

Where did I say that? Of course anybody is free to come up with some platform superior to Android if they can. I am merely pointing out that Windows Phone 7 is not that platform.

Hint: if you want to try, you should probably start from a Linux base, as Android has done.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

OhTheHumanity 20th Nov

@Idol17
But you actually have it all wrong. American manufacturers of phones and tablets has gone up over the past few years. Samsung, HTC, and Huawei have all been making cell phones for a long time now and so their market share has not exploded, just their smartphone sales, while their flip phone sales have gone way down. Apple, Motorola, and Google have done better in the smartphone world. Heck Apple didn't even have a cell phone before 2007! They have stole a bunch of market and gained new markets from those suppliers you mention. And you are comparing phone hardware manufacturing with software manufacturing companies. Microsoft has no hardware to sell, so your point just gets all confused and nullified and really has no basis to stand on.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Rama.NET 18th Nov

It seems they got it wrong with Amazon Branded Windows Phone. Microsoft approved only Qualcomm processor, but Amazon Windows Phone specs are with TI OMAP processor. I see it as conflicting.

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irrelevant OS with close to 1% market share

theo_durcan 19th Nov

Why anybody should care?
Is a fact that MS is unable to compete when people has options, the only market were they can survive is those where they were able to establish an early lock-in.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

Rick_Kl 19th Nov

[Microsoft launched the new Windows Phone 7 operating system and devices in October 2010]. If it was a new phone OS, it would be one thing. But the so-called new OS is built on the same core as the OS it replaces. Simply changing the name does not suddenly change the OS, but it is consistence with Microsofts actions. Change the name and charge the customers again for the same product.

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RE: Windows Phone: Marketplace passes 40,000 and Amazon may join smartphone race

spacespeed 21st Nov

@Rick_Kl

And how about changing the interface? Fundamental operational mechanics? Methods of programming apps? At what point does the kernel become irrelevant, and it does become a new OS? You might as well as say that Android is the same as Ubuntu at that point.

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Odd that there's so many apps for a practically non-existent phone type

ego.sum.stig@... 20th Nov

I guess Microsoft is subsidising their production, or maybe app developers are porting them "just in case" the WP thing takes off. Good luck to them. Now back to building a Dalek, which I predict will dominate the new market in "smart devices that accidentally have a desire to rule the universe."