Gartner Claims Windows Phone 7 Will Overtake Apple’s iPhone

It’s the analyst lottery today on Touch Reviews, with today’s little stroke of genius (read, guessing) coming courtesy of Gartner. A recent report by Gartner says the firm expects Microsoft’s fledgling mobile operating system to overtake Apple’s iOS as soon as 2015 thanks to the Redmond outfit aligning itself with Finish mobile phone giant Nokia.

Gartner has revised its forecast of Windows Phone’s market share upward, solely by virtue of Microsoft’s alliance with Nokia.

Gartner believes iOS and WP7 will achieve parity in 2014 with the Microsoft solution taking control a year later, with Google’s Android being the clear winner overall. Thanks to Android’s availability on a raft of hardware it’s hard to see beyond the open source OS.

Whether Gartner turns out to be correct remains to be seen. Will Nokia’s ability to build strong hardware be enough to make buyers move to WP7? We think potential sales will depend on the availability of key apps rather than which camera is included. Gartner is also using existing Nokia Symbian sales as a benchmark (though they do admit it is less than current Symbian sales) for how well WP7 Nokia handsets will sell, which may or may not be the best way to predict market share 4 years out.

But hey, who are we to argue with analysts?

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6 Comments on “Gartner Claims Windows Phone 7 Will Overtake Apple’s iPhone”

  1. Ihatemywp7

    1. Custom Ringtones- Winner Android OS . Currently on wp7 you cannot have mp3 ringtones ordownload any ringtones period from anywhere from your phone. You have to go with standard ringtones that come with your phone like the AT&T ringtone.
    2. Adobe Browser Flash Support- Winner Android OS. Currently wp7 does not support flash in its browser. Why is this big deal? Over 70% of video on the internet requires flash to play. That means that currently with windows phone 7 you are paying a hefty fee for a data plan that costs more money that it would cost for me to get internet for my entire house and that several devices can use and YOU ARE ONLY EXPERIENCING 30% OF THE INTERNET. Many Images, text, video,games, animation, movies, and music cannot be played andmany sites will fail to function . In addition your browser without flash will not supportweb conferencing, browser p2p, website development, and other functions.
    3. Blue Tooth File Transfer- Winner Android OS. Currently on the new closed down system of windows phone 7 you cannot share or transfer files via bluetooth like you can with Android devices.
    4. Ability to upload files- Winner Android OS. Currently on the closed down windows phone 7 you do not have free access to upload file types to websites except for pictures files.You cannot select PDF, audio files such as mp3, wmv, etc., video files, office documents, on any other type of file that is not a picture file to upload. This means that you cannot upload videos to YouTube from your phone, you cannot upload a PDF or office document from your phone to a website for work or to submit a project. You can’t even upload a txt document if you need to upload a contract for work or an agreement.Basically nothing can be uploaded except for picture files. With Android you havefreedom and free access to all of your files and the authority to upload any file that you would like.
    5. Ability to share files- Winner Android OS. Currently on the closed down windows phone 7 system the same thing holds true for sharing the files as with uploading the files. You do not have the freedom or authority to send videos, audio files, pdf documents, and most file types. The only types of files that you can share are office documents and picture files. You cannot attach a video to an email or a song to send or email a pdf menu to a friend so that they can see the prices at a restaurant. Of course with Android you can do all of these simple things
    6. Tethering- Winner Android OS. Currently you cannot share your internet with your computer on the windows phone. No announcement on if Tethering will ever be available. Android of course you can
    7. Multitasking- Winner Android OS. Currently on the rushed windows phone 7 you cannot multitask 3rd party applications. So for instance if you are listening to music on the Last FM application or any music application that you would like to use and you need to respond to a text message the application completely shuts down and you have to restart the application from the very beginning which can take quite a long time and will stop again when you respond to the next text. You cannot use your navigation while another app is running or that one will be shut down as well. Android of course has a task manager and allows you the freedom to manage which apps can and cannot run in the background. So that you can respond to a text message buying tickets to a movie on the Fandango app.
    8. Navigation GPS – Winner Android OS. Currently the windows phone 7 lacks native turn by turn voice navigation. You must pay $10/a month for the AT&T Navigator to get this feature. On Android youFREE turn by turn voice navigation with the Google Maps app for Android. There are also many other GPS apps for Android in their huge marketplace.
    9. Ability to download files via the web browser-Winner Android OS Currently on the locked down windows phone 7 you cannot download files via the web browser such as audio files, video, zip or other file types. This means that you can’t download a song from beemp3.com while out and about on your phone or download a ringtone from a website (but of course the locked down windows phone does not allow ringtones anyways so you can’t assign it). You cannot download a movie. You cannot download other file extensions and send them for work or pleasure. With Android of course you can save various file types to your phone via the web browser.
    10. Transferring File and General File Storage- Winner Android OS- Currently on the locked down windows phone 7 the only way to get new files on your computer is Zune File Transfer. You can only sync pictures and video to your phone using this Zune File Transfer. Because of the poorly created file handling system of windows phone 7 it isimpossible to download audio or video files that arrive as email attachments. The audio or video file is played through zune on your phone but is streamed since you have no access to the temporary file storage on the device on where the file was temporarily saved. So you get audio or video files on your phone via email. You can save office files (Thank God) and PDF files however via email. With Android you can drag and drop whatever file your heart desires to be placed onto your windows phone 7. And of course because your browser can download files you can get files onto your device without having to use a computer.
    11. Camera Timer: Winner Android OS- On the rushed windows phone 7 there is no camera timer for your phone. Of course on Android there is and there are many android phones with stands.
    12. Official Instant Messaging applications from Skype, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN:Winner Android OS. Currently there is no application for Skype and there are no official applications for aim, msn or yahoo messenger. Of course Android has these
    13. Visual Voicemail- Winner Android OS- rushed wp7 does not have offer visual voicemail. Of course Android does.
    14. VOIP- Winner Android OS- Currently there is no VOIP support at all for windows phone 7. Of course Android does
    15. Marketplace- Winner Android OS- This one isn’t Microsofts fault after all it is a new OS. But facts are facts. Marketplace for the windows phone 7 has around 7,000 apps while Android as well over 140,000 apps and there are many different locations that you can download the apps.
    16. Front Facing Camera and Video Calling- Windows phone 7 phones do not have front facing cameras do not have any video applications even for the camera on the backs of the phones. Android of course has many video calling applications such as Yahoo Messenger, Quik, and new update for skype coming to the phone that will equip video calling and many others.
    17. Socket Support-Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 does not have socket support which means no ftp and dumbs down communication between devices and potential app development and enterprise. Android of course supports it.
    18. hmtl5- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 not only does not support Flash but also html5. Which means more videos and animations that your phone will not properly support even though your paying a hefty fee for a data plan.
    19. Custom Roms- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 is completely locked down like the iphone now. With the android you can load custom ROMS and add a whole new layer of customization to your phone.
    20. 4g- Winner Android OS- At&T has announced a new Inspire 4G running android that will run on their new 4g network. Windows phone 7 only handles 3g.
    21. Hardware- HTC Inspire 4g vs. Samsung Focus- you decide this one as its up to you. But the inspire 4g has a larger screen which may be good or bad for your needs an 8.0 megapixel in comparison to the 5.0 megapixel camera on the Focus. Also it has a front facing camera and a kickstand. The Inspire 4G is being released February 13, 2011. The Inspire 4g is basically the EVO for AT&T.
    22 . Call blocker- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 cannot block unwanted calls or texts. Android has the apps to do it.
    23. Voice to Text- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 does allow voice commands for bing search, bing maps, making calls, and opening applications. However, for some reason they left out the feature of voice to text. The LG Windows phone 7 does have voice to text capablities but the HTC Surround and the Samsung Focus do not. Android of course supports full voice command capabilities and supports voice to text input on its keyboard for sending text messages and everything imagineable.
    24. Keyboard- Winner Android OS- The Samsung Focus comes with an amazaing Super Amoled screen with an amazingly responsive touchscreen keyboard. Wile the keyboard is very nice on windows phone 7. Windows phone 7 does not give the option at this time to support multiple keyboards. With Android, you can use swype, HTC keyboard, android keyboard with text input, or any keyboards that you download.
    25. User Interface & Responsiveness- Winner WP7- Samsung Focus has a really slick alluring design with an interface where you can move around the tiles and even add contacts as tiles to your homescreen. The Samsung focus is sexy fast and fluid in handling.
    26. Syncing with Outlook- Winner Android OS- Surprisingly Android does a better job syncing with outlook than your windows phone 7 device. You cannot sync to outlook unless you use exchange. Ask a few angry people around here about that one.
    27. Freedom & Customization- Winner Android OS- Not only can you customize registries, the ROM, and many other things but you can change the background picture, lockscreen wallpaper you can access all of your files and create folders and move them around unlike with windows phone 7 which does not allow access to certain files. You are given free reign as a user.
    28. Calendar – Winner WP7- I would probably go with windows phone 7 with this one it displays your appointments on the lockscreen for the next day and the appointments for the day on the live tile as well.
    29. SD Card- Winner Android OS- Microsoft has yet to communicate the SD cards that are compatible with windows phone 7. Android of course you don’t have this issue.
    30. Copy & Paste- Winner Android OS- Even though copy and paste has been announced for windows phone 7 it still has not been released and there is no word on when the date will be finally that we will see the first update for windows phone 7. Some even expect it to be as late as March. The First update btw promises to address very little only fixing some bug fixes (hopefully like having to power off the phone every few hours so that you can access the marketplace) and faster app loading.
    31. Landscape Mode- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 does not allow you to have landscape in many applications and many modes of the phone such as with bing maps and in browser mode the address bar disappears in landscape as well as the ability access settings, favorites, forward button, etc. With Android of course this does not happen
    32. Ability to export text message conversation- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 does not have the ability to copy text message conversations to another source and email or export them. Android of course does.
    33. Deleting Text messages- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 can only delete an entire text message or one at a time. You cannot select more than one text message to delete at a time. Of course Android can.
    34. Length of Call- Winner Android- Windows phone 7 does not show the length of the phone call that occurred. Of course most basic phones and Android do.
    35. Connect to Hidden Wifi Netowrks- Winner Android OS- Windows phone 7 cannot connect to a hidden wifi network. Android of course can.
    36. Divx Support and other Media Codecs- Windows phone 7 does not support divx and many other codecs thanks to reliance on Zune much like the iphones reliance on itunes. Android of course supports divx codec and other media players and codecs may be installed.
    37. Ability to sync locally- Windows phone 7 cannot sync locally. Android of course can.
    38. Ability to connect phone to TV or projector- Windows phone 7 does not allow you to connect your phone to a TV or a projector so that you can run a Powerpoint presentation, watch a video from your phone on the tv, etc. Android of course can.
    39. VPN Support- Windows phone 7 does not support VPN. Android of course does
    40. Dual core Processors- Several of the new android phones that are actually making present day phones and not phones from 3 years ago are unload dual core processor phones with 1GB Ram.
    41. Customize UI- Android you can upload different UI or disable the UI that comes with the device and choose from several. Windows phone 7 UI is always wp7 UI.

    1. Anonymous

      About Half of your 40 list is flat wrong. But hey, nice of you to cut and paste.
      The reason that most of those things are there are because of the open nature of Android but this also leads to its bugginess. Now I understand the paradigm of freedom and responsibility but this was also why IOS took the lead and eventually lost it again.

      Most of the issues listed here are windows not having ability. Well guess who works with more vendors than even Android …

      PS- not all android phones have the functions you list – thats going to be up to the hardware makers.

  2. Ronald G. Cosseboom

    Gartner is smoking the weed if you ask me. I can see the NEXUS S giving the iPhone a run but there isn’t anything else out there that comes close to the quality of the iPhone. Puhleez… just look at any PC that is running Windows! The ONLY thing Microsoft did half way right was Windows 95! Vista is a joke and Win 7 is a disaster. Applications don’t run well, drivers are squirrelly and then you think that a CELLPHONE from them will work? HA! Talk about Antenna Gate…wait until they start pushing the Windows Cellphone; um, reboot your cellphone please, we’ve encountered a BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!

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