Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires today, Microsoft's Senior Vice President for Mobile Communications Pieter Knook said that the company expects to double the amount of phone devices using Microsoft's Windows Mobile software to 20 million worldwide in the fiscal year 2008, starting July 1. Microsoft said it is gaining market share in the mobile phone software market and expects that, as the handset market advances, computer applications and Internet services will become more important for both business users and consumers.

"This will be the fourth year that we have doubled our size and we are significantly outgrowing the market and also our competition. RIM and Symbian aren't doing this and we're gaining share and growing our portfolio," said Knook.

Beside HTC, which makes most of today's Windows Mobile devices, Microsoft also expects to expand on the 40 other handset manufacturers that currently use Windows Mobile and said that it hopes Motorola and Samsung will become more significant users of the technology.

Cheers ~ Arne