Windows mobile phones gaining ground in India

PUNE: Windows Mobile & Mobility Solutions India, the mobile arm of Microsoft India, expects to double its sale every year for the next four years. The company, which was started in July 2006, has sold 80,000 units of Windows mobile in the first year of its operation and expects to sell around 2 lakh units this fiscal.

Windows mobile software is embedded in the handset, making it a mobile computer. There is no learning required since users are already familiar with the Windows applications on their desk or laptop computers.

“Our growth in India has been phenomenal in the past one year of our operations here and we expect to grow in a similar fashion. We have five partners who are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of mobile handsets. These are iMate, HP, HTC/Dopod and Motorola.

We will continue to look for more partners. We have launched 30 different models with our partners where Windows mobile is inbuilt in the cellphone. With Windows mobile now available for Rs 14,000, it has become a smart choice for even a junior-level executive on the move.

The fall in prices of handsets has had a favourable effect on our volumes. We are now selling close to 15,000 units per month,” said Sumeet Gugnani, India business head, Windows Mobile & Mobility Solutions, Microsoft India. According to the IDC India quarterly tracker report, Windows mobile has attained 30.5% market within a-year-and-a-half of its launch. IDC, in an earlier report, has said it expects Windows mobile to experience the largest growth among mobile operating system worldwide, at 75.6% through 2010.

Windows mobile provides services such as e-mail on the move. It uses existing exchange servers to transfer mail and data to the phone and does not need any additional servers. It also provides round tripping, which means the formatting or other changes made to documents on a mobile are reflected once transferred to a laptop or a desktop. Also, Windows Mobile 6, the latest Windows mobile application, allows HTML (hyper text markup language) display format. It allows display of charts, diagrams, pictures and formatted data on the mobile screen.

Source: Economic Times