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Get ready, the mobile space is heading for a shakeup

Summary: When we think of mobile Android and Apple come to mind. That's about to change with Microsoft entering the good fight this year.

James Kendrick

By for Mobile News |

The last few years we have seen the mobile space grow from a niche market to the big elephant in the room. The rapid adoption of smartphones and the appearance of the iPad has given mobile the primary focus of some very big companies. The size of the mobile market has forced players to scramble to fit in somehow, and the shakeup has only just begun.

Apple turned its attention to mobile first with the iPhone, and its success pushed rival platform Android into the picture. Then Microsoft joined the smartphone wars with a totally revamped Windows Phone, which hasn't created an impact like Android but is still around.

Then the iPad arrived and the entire tablet space was born. Apple wasn't the first to market a tablet, but it was certainly the first to make a big splash with one. The very definition of mobile in the gadget world changed to include both smartphones and tablets, as competitors raced to build tablets to compete with the iPad.

The main competitor to the iPad is Android, and while some models are selling in the millions, the companies producing them admit they aren't affecting the bottom line yet. The tablet market is perceived by players and analysts alike to be quite large, so the gloves are off for the fight.

Later this year we could see a big shakeup in the mobile space, compliments of Microsoft. Windows Phone 8 will be the next big version of the smartphone platform from Redmond, and it is beginning to have teeth to make a serious run at both Android and iOS. The partnership with Nokia, a company not the healthiest in mobile, may start clicking with Windows Phone 8.

The big shakeup potential is not Windows Phone alone, it will come in the form of Windows 8. While putting a mobile facade on a desktop OS is not enough to shake things up, the Windows RT version has the potential to upset the mobile space like nothing that has come before it.

Windows RT is the version of Windows 8 that will run on ARM-based devices, a true mobile platform by any definition. It may not be the full version of Windows that some were hoping for, but that's probably a good thing. A version of Windows written from the ground up to be a mobile platform for devices like tablets can disrupt the mobile space like other products have so far failed to do.

Microsoft can leverage Windows RT to get it into the enterprise, and consumer acceptance could easily grow from that. The folks from Redmond know how to make a platform that sings to the enterprise, and Windows RT should sing that song.

Don't be surprised to see OEMs and Microsoft work to bundle laptops, tablets, and smartphones for the enterprise. That has the potential to pierce the corporate veil like no other product/platform has been able to do. The enterprise likes to keep things in one basket, and Windows is a big brand in the corporate world.

If Windows RT devices start appearing in the hands of workers in great numbers, the mobile space will be changed forever. It is rare in a growing market for a new player to show up and start impacting things from the start, and Windows RT has the potential to do that.

A successful launch of Windows RT will have a dramatic impact on Windows Phone, too, as Microsoft has taken the steps to merge the underlying framework of the two platforms. That can be leveraged by Microsoft to bring Windows Phone to the enterprise as part of the Windows RT entry. The latter can feed the former, and no doubt that is what Microsoft is hoping will happen.

A new product like Windows RT will not be perfect out of the gate, but that's OK. Products don't have to be perfect to be successful, they only need to be accepted.

This shakeup is coming this year, and it will impact both Android and iOS. Microsoft is huge and has the resources to make things get crazy in mobile, and that may very well happen. A lot of things have to happen properly, but Microsoft is in a position to make sure they do. It's going to be a great time to be a mobile enthusiast in just a few months.

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65 comments
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  • Whatever

    The enterprise will not be updating to windows 8 anytime soon. Most will stick with windows 7. Windows RT has no advantage in the enterprise because it has no active directory support.
    The success of windows 8 is up to the consumer and the iPad is already the gold standard and is excepted by enterprise.
    Marzell
    Reply 1 Vote

    • Microsodt hates Window RT

      They're actively discouraging OEMs from using it, but pricing it so high. "According to multiple hardware vendors, Microsoft is charging OEMs as much as $95 for each Windows RT license." Why pay $95, for Window RT, when you can pay $50, for full Window 8?
      Jumpin Jack Flash
      Reply 1 Vote

      • .

        because it comes with a copy of office... which costs what... ??130? so almost $200?
        danjames2012
        Reply Vote

      • Office

        Not the same office, as everyone knows it on the desktop.

        Let's wait and see how crippled it will be and if it could compare to the barebones Apple mobile office suite. Or to the other numbers office suites that emerged.
        danbi
        Reply 1 Vote

      • Waiting

        Let's also wait and see what the actual device prices are. We hear rumors, but no hard facts. If Windows RT tablets come out near the same price as similarly equiped iPads, then I would have to doubt the $95 price tag.

        Personally, I just don't thik MS is THAT stupid. Windows RT tablets will be competing directly against iPad and Android tablets. If they cannot compete on price, then they will fail.
        AudeKhatru
        Reply Vote

      • This is FUD ... Microsoft wants, no NEEDS, Windows RT to compete ...

        ... with the iPad in the consumer space. Corporate decision-makers are bringing iPads into the office and Microsoft wants to provide those folks with a viable alternative to the iPad as well. Either Windows RT or Windows 8 tablets.
        M Wagner
        Reply Vote

    • Update to Win 8

      My company with more than 13000 employee jumps from Win XP to Win 8. Tablets are blocked until Win 8.
      Metro Eight
      Reply Vote

      • Cool

        It's nice to hear that someone is planning on going to Windows 8, and even without the Windows 8 migration, I think waiting on Windows 8 tablets (not WinRT) is a smart move for security reasons.
        AudeKhatru
        Reply Vote

      • I'm so excited.

        I think I peed a little.
        symbolset
        Reply Vote

  • Running riot

    Windows RT and Win Phone 8 will be runnnig riot in the mobile space by end of this year. The biggest looser in terms of market share will be android.
    owllnet
    Reply Vote

    • BS!

      M$ will flop again and apple will go back to its historic market share rate in low single digits. Android will flourish!
      The Linux Geek
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Gee, the LARGEST android supplier is Amazon, with 4% of the market.

        Apple has 68% of the market with the iPad. That leaves 28% left to the rest of the Android pack (all under 4%). What in the world makes you think that Android is will flourish as a result of a Windows-RT flop.

        In the end, Windows-RT will either hurt Apple's overall market-share or it will hurt Android's market share.

        Microsoft doesn't want to compete with Android but if Windows-RT has any success at all, ARM tablet makers may choose to make Windows-RT tablets INSTEAD OF Android tablets.
        M Wagner
        Reply Vote

    • .

      i think you are being a bit biased saying the end of this year, i am a MS fan, and i expect it to do well, but it will take time.
      danjames2012
      Reply Vote

      • Being fan is not enough

        Instead of collecting fans, Microsoft will do better to hire system architects, better programmers and humbler marketing.

        Sad for fans, I understand. This is why being fan is not the best of ideas.
        danbi
        Reply 1 Vote

      • Agreed

        Look for MS to be doing better next year, with sales of Windows 8/RT and Windows Phone 8.
        AudeKhatru
        Reply Vote

    • Android May Not take a Hit, iPhone Will.

      According to Gartner Windows phone will have a 20% share, Apple 19% and Android 53% in 2016. There will be very little change in the remainder of 2012.
      Patrickgood1
      Reply Vote

      • According to Gartner

        According to Gartner, Microsoft is Chuck Norris.
        symbolset
        Reply Vote

      • It seems that Gartner gets it wrong more often than they get it right.

        I don't know where iPhone stands today in terms of market-share but I sure don't expect that kind of Android smartphone dominance if Microsoft is successful with Win-RT and Win-Phone-8.
        M Wagner
        Reply Vote

  • If I can Office v.next on any platform, I will consider it

    I look forward to WindowsRT as. among other things, a replacement for my old GPS units for turn-by-turn navigation.
    Your Non Advocate
    Reply Vote

    • By Nokia?

      So you would be looking for Nokia branded device, running Windows RT so that you could benefit from the free Nokia Maps. Should Nokia decides they should bundle it for free with an tablet device, that is. And provided Nokia is still in business by then.
      danbi
      Reply Vote
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