Windows Mobile: Its Features And Popularity

By Author: Yancy Marry
Total Articles: 184
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The family of operating system invented by Microsoft for running on smartphones & pocket PCs was known as Windows Mobile. The services of this OS platform were discontinued in the year 2010 when Microsoft launched its new operating system called the Windows Phone. An announcement made by Microsoft stated that the software designed for Windows Mobile & mobile devices using the features of this operating system were incompatible with the new Windows Phone OS. Also, the hardware used for the designing of both the operating systems was distinctly different. As a result, Microsoft decided to put an end to the Windows Mobile services.

Market Share of Windows Mobile
Though smartphones & other mobile devices supporting the Windows Mobile platform are no longer much in use, it was one of the most popular OS platforms immediately and several years after its release. In fact, Windows Mobile was one of the most highly rated operating systems in the year 2007 in terms of developer experience & consistent user satisfaction. However, closure of its services by Microsoft and the fact that the devices using this ...
... platform started becoming obsolete, brought about the declining popularity of Windows Mobile.

In the year 2004, the total market share of Windows Mobile was 23 percent. It was during this time that the operating system was projected to dislodge Symbian to become the best mobile OS in the year 2010. Between the years 2005 and 2006, Windows Mobile experienced the largest growth in its history, owing to the fact that Microsoft had shipped more than 3 million PDAs during this time. As stated earlier, 2007 was the best year for Windows Mobile in terms of the number of users accessing its services for professional or personal use. 42 percent of market share alone was taken by Windows Mobile in this year.

But Windows Mobile started dropping in terms of user acceptance from the year 2008 until its position among other mobile operating systems became negligible in the year 2011. Though Microsoft signed deals with some of the best mobile phone makers like LG Electronics, Palm Inc., and Acer, it could not revive Windows Mobile’s position as one of the best OS platforms to be used for business purposes. This was because of the advent of other operating systems in the market, including Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

Features of Windows Mobile OS
It was the varied set of features of Windows Mobile that made this operating system immensely popular among developers & users. Let us take a look at some:

1. Capability to navigate file systems providing support to same file types
2. Capability to set up third party software
3. The Home Screen, also known as the Today Screen, provided all types of information like current date, upcoming appointments, owner details, email messages, etc. the taskbar on the screen showed audio volume of devices having cellular radio & current time.
4. The set of applications for performing basic tasks:
5. Internet Explorer Mobile or default internet browsing
6. Windows Media Player for music & video playback
7. Internet Connection Sharing for enabling internet connectivity from one mobile phone to another via Bluetooth & USB
8. Radio Interface Layer for providing system interface between a radio protocol stack of wireless modem hardware & CellCore layer embedded in the OS

The latest version of Windows Mobile, known as Windows Mobile 7 was replaced by Windows Phone in the year 2010. However, owing to its features and usage, the importance of the Windows Mobile OS can never be undermined.

Copper Mobile is a windows application development companies having expertise in cross-platform and blackberry app development. The enterprise mobile app development firm has created more than 300 applications for clients from various industry verticals.