“Verizon head Lowell McAdam’s turn at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference saw him make the unusual claim that Windows Phone would pass the BlackBerry,” Electronista reports.
“Echoing AT&T’s call for a third major smartphone platform, he didn’t see RIM as being the one to fill that role. The larger struggle would shake itself out in about a year, and RIM’s current position wouldn’t guarantee that it would be third after the battle,” Electronista reports. ‘In my opinion, it’ll be between RIM and Microsoft, and I expect Microsoft to come out victorious,’ McAdam said at the New York City event.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Worse bets have been made. Yes, folks, even Microsoft can beat a walking corpse.
Ballmer wins by default.
If the status quo remains, then McAdams is right. This all hinges on whether RIM can do anything with a new OS that people actually like. Microsoft is set with Windows Phone 7, but developers don’t seem too eager to write apps for it.
If RIM can get a decent OS with a good set of APIs out there, it might just recover to remain #3. BIG if.
MS gave away a phone to all employees ( http://www.pcworld.com/article/201660/microsoft_giving_away_windows_phone_7_to_employees.html )
Thats more phones than Blackberry will sell in 2011!
A cautionary tale for those who would compete with Microsoft in their passionate pursuit of mediocrity…
My stepson got a HTC Windows 7 phone for $0.00 on a one year $30 per month contract in Canada.
In Canada that is virtually giving the hardware away.
Of course, Microsoft an HTC will make it up in volume.
So, McAdams is betting that Microsoft will be third in the smart phone race. As I recall, RIchard Petty would have termed that the “Second Loser”.
Since Verizon had a big part in the demise of Blackberry in N America, when they stopped promoting it and started promoting Droid, I’d say he’s probably 100% right, seeing as he controls almost half the US market.