Microsoft News Tracker

Rhonda Ascierto at Computer Business Review - Symbian looks past Microsoft to mid-market:

When Microsoft Corp catapulted deeper into the smartphone OS market earlier this week, by replacing PalmSource OS in Palm Inc’s first 3G-enabled Treo, it did not crimp the game plan for market leader Symbian Ltd.

Symbian, which has its sights firmly set on the emerging mid-market, sees Microsoft’s move as a high-end play and quite distinct from its own strategy.

“Microsoft is more of a distraction factor,” David Wood, Symbian executive VP of research told ComputerWire yesterday. “The big story [for Symbian] is not another high-end rival.”

Instead, Symbian, whose OS is shipped in 54 smartphones by more than 200 carriers, is competing against incumbent OS in mid-market phones, Wood said. Sony Ericsson, for instance, uses the OSE operating system. And the Nokia series 30 and series 40 smartphones run on the proprietary Nokia OS (higher-end Nokia smartphones do run Symbian).
…
Wood said he hopes Microsoft’s increasing presence in smartphones will help accelerate the growth of the market. “The bigger the overall market is, the larger the mid-market slice will be,” he said.

I’d say be careful of what you wish for - today’s high end is very shortly the mid-market.