As mentioned in earlier segments of this series, the success of Windows Mobile is predicated on the overall health of an ecosystem of seemingly disparate partners—OEMs, mobile operators, silicon chip makers, system integrators, independent software vendors (or ISVs), and others—all working towards similar objectives.

Microsoft has long advocated a "partner-centric" approach whereby Microsoft provides common technological tool sets by which others build differentiated products and services. At the core of Microsoft's value proposition are approximately 12 million developers who are proficient in the Visual Studio Independent Development Environment (IDE). Those who can program using the Visual Studio IDE can—with nominal incremental time investment—design applications for Windows Mobile and other small form factor computing devices utilizing the .NET Compact Framework (which is a subset of Visual Studio 2006 & 2008).

The role of independent software vendors

ISVs build on both the technological base of the Windows Mobile operating environment and the channel distribution mechanism of the overall ecosystem. Rather than build black-box, turnkey, proprietary software/hardware solutions, the ISV community can readily leverage the large pool of developers to inexpensively develop, publish, and sell applications that run on a wide range of off-the-shelf hardware. This independence of software from hardware is a key differentiator compared to other players in the market who seek a vertically integrated solution that couples the hardware and software. By abstracting the software layer, developers can write once and run anywhere.

As of this writing, there are approximately 50 mobile device partners (ODM/OEMs), including the biggest names in the consumer electronics industry such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Palm, Motorola, Toshiba, Dell, HTC, and others who make their devices available through about 160 mobile operators in approximately 55 countries around the world. Presently, there are about 150 different phone designs shipping via the mobile operators, which represent over one billion subscribers alone. In addition, there are many Windows Mobile "Classic" devices (PDAs without a cellular radio) being sold today via channels other than the mobile operators. (For instance, Symbol, Intermec, Tripod Data Systems, Handheld Computing, and a host of others have hundreds of thousands of purpose-built devices for large enterprises worldwide.)

Collaborating with the ISVs

There are many formal programs that Microsoft maintains with the ISV community and many relationships which are not as codified. Large ISVs such as Siebel, SAP, Computer Associates, and others work very closely with Microsoft to ensure interoperability of their enterprise applications on a handheld device. Very often, mobile clients of popular desktop and server software will be developed by the larger ISVs with lots of collaboration and testing with Microsoft. In this manner, both companies win. However, the ultimate winner is the enterprise customer—the end-user who can have faith that his/her mobile implementation of a popular program will work in a manner consistent with what he or she is accustomed to in a desktop environment.

There's a whole other group of smaller ISVs that don't collaborate as closely with Microsoft but who depend on the rich ecosystem and availability of proportionally inexpensive development expertise.

Categories of software

Like the desktop world, there are many broad categories of mobile ISV software for un-tethered workers. Some of these include Field Force Automation, Sales Force Automation, Enterprise Resource Management, Inventory Management, Customer Relationship Management, Inspections Systems, Real Time Streaming Data, Video Data, Forms and Business Process software, Data at rest software, security software, IT management software, simulation software, games, etc.

In addition, there are a host of ISV applications designed to leverage popular Microsoft commercial software such as SharePoint, Office Communications Server, Rights Management Server, Internet Acceleration Server, Exchange Server, and more.