Windows Phone 7s Adoption Issues
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That legal battle is heating up just as
new data emerges suggesting that Microsoft's smartphone franchise, Windows
Phone 7, is having some issues with consumer adoption.
According to a
new survey from The Nielsen Company, taken between January and
March, some 31 percent of consumers indicated they wanted an Android smartphone
as their next device, up from 26 percent in the group's July-September 2010
survey. Meanwhile, Apple's iOS scored 30 percent, down from 33 percent, and
RIM's BlackBerry came in third at 11 percent-a two-point dip from 13 percent.
The combined Windows Mobile/Windows
Phone 7, however, scored 6 percent-a slight downtick from the 7 percent in
Nielsen's previous survey. That roughly mirrors recent data from analytics firm
comScore, which placed Microsoft's share of the smartphone market at 7.7
percent for the three months ending in January.
Microsoft also spent the week making
very clear its policies regarding how and when those Windows Phone devices
collect information on a user's physical location. Those statements were likely
in response to the growing controversy that gripped Apple over its iOS devices
storing location data.
"When you allow an application or game
to access your device's location, the application or game will connect to
Microsoft's location services and request the approximate location of the
device," reads an FAQ posted on Microsoft's corporate Website. "The
location service will respond by providing the application or game with
location coordinates of the user's device (when available), which the
application or game can then use to enrich the user experience."
Microsoft's location services
apparently rely on a database of local cell towers and known WiFi access points
to "provide an approximate location of the user's device." In addition to those
WiFi access points, Microsoft can leverage a device's GPS to provide observed
longitude, latitude, direction and speed. Users can also deny applications
access to their location information. And Windows Phones don't seem to store
the user's location on the device itself.
Microsoft itself didn't let much
information slip on how its Windows Phone 7 devices are performing in the
marketplace during its April 28 quarterly earnings call, although solid sales
of Office 2010 and the Xbox Kinect hands-free controller both helped the
company's revenue hit $16.43 billion-a year-over-year increase of 13 percent.
Net income rose 31 percent, to $5.23 billion.
Despite the strength in some of those
product lines, Microsoft's Windows segment reported a 4 percent dip, something
the company explained in a statement ahead of the earnings call as "in line
with the PC trends."
According to a recent IDC report, a
"cautious business mentality and waning consumer enthusiasm," combined with
recent events such as the earthquake in Japan, caused a 3.2 percent decline in
global PC shipments during the first quarter of 2011. Microsoft itself places
that quarterly decline at 1 and 3 percent.
It's data like that-and pressing
competition from companies like Apple-driving Microsoft to diversify its
product lines into mobility and the cloud.
