On the smartphone playground, where is Microsoft and Windows Mobile?

You know that dusty smell you experience when you open a book that hasn’t been picked up in decades? That’s the feeling I get lately when I think of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.
Smartphones – and the applications that run on them – are at the center of everything exciting in mobile today. Apple got the party started, coupling a sexy device with a direct-to-consumer strategy through the iPhone and the App Store. Google followed suit with the new G1 and Android Market, Nokia Corp. offers Symbian and Ovi, and Research In Motion Ltd. has announced plans to support the BlackBerry with a branded storefront beginning in March.
And those are already driving sales of high-end devices. Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 32.2 million units in the second quarter, according to figures from Gartner, up 15.7% from the same period last year.
So where is Microsoft Corp.? Left in the dust, it seems.
Windows Mobile ranked third among smartphone platforms during the quarter, Gartner said, with 3.9 million in sales, while devices running Symbian more than quadrupled that figure. And while Windows Mobile grew at a respectable 20% over the year-ago period – far outpacing Symbian’s 0.7% growth – its performance was dwarfed by RIM, which sold 5.6 million units and enjoyed a 126% expansion. Mac OS X came onto the radar in a big way, more than tripling units sold to reach nearly 900,000 units. Linux posted a disappointing performance, sliding 16% and ranking fourth behind Windows Mobile.
But all those competitors are likely to make significant gains in the next few months. Apple has already moved the 200 millionth download through its App Store, and Android Market – which debuted with a small fraction of the applications the App Store offered at launch – may have already delivered its 3 millionth download to phones running the Linux-based platform, according to the ad firm Medialets.
RIM, meanwhile, has covered its bases with the country’s two largest carriers, introducing the BlackBerry Bold through AT&T Mobility and aggressively marketing the Storm, a forthcoming Verizon Wireless handset that boasts a full touchscreen face and other multimedia-friendly features. And Nokia’s Ovi gets more impressive by the day; the company added cloud computing functionality to a brand that already includes a wide range of services.
But Microsoft seems to be fiddling while the smartphone market catches fire. While its competitors make headlines and gain traction, the Seattle-area software giant quietly is prepping Windows Mobile 7 and a new distribution channel called Skymarket, both of which are expected to come to market. wait for it. sometime next year.
It wouldn’t be shocking for Microsoft to pull a rabbit out of its hat next year with an eye-catching version of its OS and a slick new handset or two on which to run it. The company still has a solid – if less than spectacular – platform, buckets of marketing dollars and the resources of Danger Inc. at its disposal.
It appears, though, that Microsoft has bigger fish to fry, putting out Vista’s fires and hiring pitchmen that run the gamut from Jerry Seinfeld to Joe Sixpack. With the clock running, it seems Steve Ballmer’s outfit will have to move quickly to exploit a smartphone market that is quickly expanding beyond high-end business users into the mainstream. And moving quickly – and competently – isn’t exactly what the venerable developer is known for.