InfoWorld has a recent article up with some views from the head of Microsoft’s Mobile and Embedded Devices division, including a stated aim of doubling the number of phones running Windows Mobile this year and maintaining that sort of rate of growth in coming years.

The growth of the number of devices operating on Windows Mobile doubled last year to around 6 million, and MS is aspiring to and sees this sort of growth continuing. The article mentions that Blackberry also has a little over 6 million users.

If I was crystal-ball gazing, trying to predict / guess how Windows Mobile growth will go over the next few years, here’s what I think:

• Seems likely they probably will achieve those ambitious numbers. The market for ‘smartphone’ / converged devices is growing rapidly, Palm’s highest profile Treo units are Windows Mobile based, MS seems to be gearing up its marketing machine in this area. The next version of WM looks to be just a minor update, with no major new advances – but what’s the competition got that’s more impressive?
• RIM / Blackberry just feels like their best days are behind them. They’re no longer the only real-time push email game in town, and email is no longer the huge, ‘killer’ app for mobile devices that it once was.
• I think, just as in the server room and the desktop, the biggest threat to MS in the medium-long term is Linux. When some high profile Linux-based smartphones and converged devices start appearing that may make things very interesting.

So, what do you think about Windows Mobile continuing to grow at a rapid rate, and the overall momentum of Windows Mobile vs. other mobile operating systems right now?  How will RIM / Palm / Symbian / and Linux-based devices do in coming years?

[tags]Windows Mobile[/tags]