TheWindowsPhone

Another 2010 Q1 market share report has been released, this time focusing exclusively on smartphones. While the report we wrote about yesterday was interesting for showing that smartphones barely crack the top 5 in terms of usage, this new report from the NDP group shows a slight shuffle in the top smartphone sellers.

Android seems to be taking over – although their growth is slowing a bit – thanks to heavy marketing on Droid and some hot HTC Android devices. Android officially passed the iPhone and is on its way to catching RIM’s still-sliding BlackBerry. Meanwhile, Windows Mobile continued it’s slow death and is now approaching Symbian territory.

Palm’s line just looks funny.

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A recent report published by comScore shows the top five mobile manufacturers for mobile subscribers and not only is there no sign of Windows Mobile devices or Windows Phones, but Apple, HTC and other Android device makers are nowhere to be found. Moreover, feature phones have 4 of the top 5 spots, with BlackBerry being the only smartphone maker to crack that list.

Samsung, Motorola, LG, RIM and Nokia round out the top 5 OEMs for the first quarter of 2010.

The report found that SMS still reigns supreme in mobile content, with 63.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers using text messaging on their mobile device, up a hair from last quarter. Mobile web browsing was used by 30.1% of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.6 percent), while subscribers who used downloaded applications made up 28.6% of the mobile audience (also up 2.6 percentage points).

Access of social networking sites or blogs continued to increase, posting gains of 2.8 percentage points to 18.7 percent of mobile subscribers, showing the most improvement over any other type of mobile content.

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BlackBerry makers Research In Motion released a demo of their new BlackBerry OS v6 last week at WES2010. It has a familiar BlackBerry feel to it, with nothing revolutionary as far as I can see. RIM is clearly embracing the new era of touch, as this video shows lots of touchy-feely interaction. Recent rumors have also surface of a RIM tablet to compete with the iPad and others, possibly out in the fall.

Man – lots of crazy gadgets and launches to look forward to in the 2nd half of the year!

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After the massive T-Mobile Sidekick outage last week Roz Ho from Microsoft has put out a full apology to T-Mobile users. What is of note here is that Roz is the Roz Ho Corporate VP of “Premium Mobile Experiences” at Microsoft and is working on Pink, the chassis framework for Windows Mobile 7 Windows Phones. Edward over at MSmobiles suspects this means that the big “microsoft phone” that is always rumored is in fact just the next Sidekick.

I’ve always found Microsoft’s purchase of Danger ages ago curious, considering the lack of any significant movement on their mobile platform in years now. I’ve just been giving them credit for seeing the big picture: Danger’s Sidekick had some really neat features when it first came out with server-based management of every single Sidekick out there – all your data was stored on the Danger servers and could be accessed through the web, long before Microsoft MyPhone was even conceived of. This ultimately led to the big blackout last week.

This system is similar to the BES (BlackBerry server) style solution from RIM, which is one of their main competitive advantages over both all of their competition. Could Microsoft be looking to deploy a BIS/BES-type network in the future? Offering enterprise the same ultra-secure and manageable environment as the BlackBerry, built on Danger’s original device management systems and integrated with Microsoft’s server solutions (i.e. OS and Exchange)?

This would give Microsoft some of the benefits of Apple and RIM’s vertical market strategy. While RIM tries to tackle the consumer market and Apple tries to prove itself to the Enterprise market, maybe Microsoft – with its patience and experience – has been quietly planning to trump them all?

Time will tell…

Thoughts?

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like – an HTC Touch Pro running a virtual BlackBerry OS. According to RIM, this OS virtualization application is called the BlackBerry Application Suite which boasts BlackBerry OS 4.2 functionality with OS 4.6 style.

Personally, I’d like to try it out — mostly just for the wow factor of being able to load up another OS on my device. But unless you’re new to Windows Mobile, you must already know that loading up new ROMs (cooked or otherwise) or even a new OS (Linux) on your WinMo phone is easy as pie. No offense, BlackBerry enthusiasts (I do love the sex appeal and work functionality of many BlackBerrys) but this is really nothing new for us. I am, however, glad to hear that BlackBerry is finally getting a long-awaited update to BlackBerry Connect.

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Surprise, surprise! CNET’s Bonnia Cha has recommended the Samsung Omnia (on Verizon Wireless) over the new and much anticipated BlackBerry Storm. Cha says she prefers the Omnia because its operating system is a bit quicker to respond:

Though slightly more expensive, Verizon customers looking for a touch-screen smartphone will get a better user experience and faster performance from the Samsung Omnia than the RIM BlackBerry Storm.

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Bell today announced new Smartphone Combo Plans that provide Bell Mobility clients across Canada with 25% more minutes than competitor smartphone plans!

More on the official Bell press release including information about their Smartphone Combo Plans