I’ve almost never been a fan of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform. I’ve rarely defended it, been quick to judge it, and in recent years have been largely unimpressed. Just like you, most likely. I’ve been a Palm user since the Palm Pilot Personal/Professional of 1998 and up until last night (when my Palm Centro suddenly went kaput), I’ve used Palm PDAs and Smartphones across the board. I’ve owned the Palm Pilot Professional, a couple different m505’s, a Tungsten T|5, and finally the Centro. They’ve all been–for the most part–fantastic devices and I’ve defended Palm as a company even through their years of non-innovation–always touting PalmOS 6 as the game changer we’re all waiting for.

Well, obviously PalmOS 6 never saw the light of day and has since been replaced by webOS, but that’s not what this article is about. There was a period in 2005/2006 where Microsoft really surged ahead with it’s Windows Mobile platform both in the PDA and Smartphone arenas. First with version 5, then 6, and then 6.1. They surpassed Palm in the PDA market by hitting over 50% and it was looking rather likely that Windows Mobile was the OS of the future. It really did look that way only 4-5 years ago and I remember thinking that perhaps it was time to give in and move to the Windows Mobile camp. Looking back, I’m glad I never did.

Back then, there was no iPhone, no Android, and RIM’s Blackberries were only beginning to gain traction in the corporate and enterprise markets. Most Smartphones ran either PalmOS or Windows–those were your choices. Symbian/Nokia were doing a lot of business overseas, but even today don’t hold much of a marketshare in the US. Nobody saw what smartphones would become. Nobody imagined that Microsoft would drop from almost 50% marketshare to a little under 20% in 2010. Nobody knew what direction things were headed or how quickly things would begin to change. Nobody.

At this point, I think we need to look at the iPhone and see it for what it really was–the reset button. I don’t feel like it “changed the game”–instead it really just threw out the current game and started over from scratch. A sort of “market reboot” if you will. Even though the most vocal of Apple’s fanbase had been begging them to create a smartphone for years, Apple just wouldn’t do it. Apparently, they just felt that the time wasn’t right–that is, until they finally launched the first iPhone iteration in 2007. That event really woke companies up to the fact that the Smartphone market had stagnated. It took other companies over a year to develop any sort of response to the iPhone, although the lack of application support really held things back at first. Without apps, the iPhone was really just another phone that also happened to have email and Internet support built-in to a nice touchscreen interface.

I look at this period in Windows Mobile’s history in the same light as most of us now see Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft had captured the marketshare majority and decided that they could just quit. Obviously, that never works. Someone will always be around to come back and take you out if you aren’t careful. Like Firefox did to IE, the iPhone did to the entire Smartphone market (excepting RIM). That’s not to say that it’s the best phone out there–it’s just to say that it helped restart the market and get things moving. Consequently, the market has sent Windows Mobile marketshare plunging because that particular OS still feels like it belongs in the early 2000’s. And for the most part, it probably does.

But the thing to remember is this: Android devices, Blackberries, and iPhones now dominate the US Smartphone market, but that really doesn’t mean a thing. (Well, not much of a thing, anyway.) Microsoft is gearing up to release Windows Mobile 7 and none of us really know what’s coming. We know bits and pieces, but until it’s officially unveiled, we won’t know what’s really happening. In the Microsoft arena, the number “7″ has a lot going for it at the moment. Windows 7 has been a huge success and when people think of Windows Mobile 7, they will associate it, consciously or not, with Windows 7. That could end up being a very powerful marketing technique if Microsoft plays things properly. Of course, the OS will have to stand on it’s own merits, but just as today’s most popular smartphones were once non-players, Microsoft could potentially take back a large percentage of it’s former marketshare.

I’ll be closely watching the announcements and press regarding Windows Mobile 7 over the next several months–if nothing else, just to see what’s coming down the line. I’ve just chosen an Android-powered phone to replace my dead Centro, but who knows what the market may look like 2 years from now when I’m ready to replace my phone once again. Competition is good, and we’ve certainly got plenty of it…