Reports are saying that Microsoft is expecting Windows Mobile to grow by 50% in 2008 and 2009. It is expected that by the time the fiscal year for Microsoft closes in June, over 20 million Windows Mobile handsets will have been sold. This is almost double what was sold the previous year, which came in at about 11 million Windows Mobile powered handsets sold.
The estimates state the at the very least, there will be a 50% growth sales over previous year for this year. This will be fueled by the exploding demand for smart phones, which is a trend that is being seen all over the world. All the fastest growing markets for Windows Mobile, are the same markets cell phones in general are growing in. This suggests Windows Mobile is widely adopted even by newer markets.
Though smart phones are a very vague class of device, the sales of them are growing very quickly, enough so that analysts say a 52.5% increase in sales is expected. This is basically in line with the figure Microsoft gives for Windows Mobile. Obviously Microsoft is not making this up, and with the strong partnership they have with the likes of Samsung and HTC, who knows how far the platform can go.
He said Microsoft expects to sell 20 million units in its 2007/2008 fiscal year ending in June, and expects to grow at least 50 percent annually over the next two years. It sold over 11 million units of its Windows Mobile software in its 2006/2007 fiscal year ended June.
"We're actually still seeing very good growth (for our mobile software) in markets like Europe and the United States," said Wu.
Wu added that growth of Windows Mobile is seen fastest in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Brazil, Russia and India.
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