Nielsen reported today that the Google Android operating system is now controlling 29% of the US Market, with Apple and Research in Motion (RIM) sharing second place with 27% apiece. For many analysts, this news comes as no surprise given that unlike the iPhone, the Droid is available on myriad devices and networks, and consumers have been moving away from RIM’s Blackberry for several quarters running.
The piece of news that does qualify as somewhat unexpected is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 falling to 10% of the US Market. This result comes on the heels of their $400m investment in the launch of their new mobile efforts. Their market share in the previous three quarters stood at 18%, 15%, and 14% respectively, and this figure raises some serious questions about their ability to compete in the smartphone space. The folks in Redmond also recently announced a partnership with Nokia, as well as the launch of Bing mobile, now with the ability to aggregate location-specific deals for users. The question is will these recent efforts from Microsoft deliver any meaningful results in the way of smartphone market traction? Or is this quickly becoming a classic case of throwing good money after bad?
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