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Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system lost 28% of its smartphone market share between last year's third quarter and this year's third quarter, according to Gartner.

Figures released last week by Gartner show that the mobile OS had 11% of the global smartphone market in Q3 2008. A year later, it had 7.9%. But, the iPhone's share rose from 12.9% to 17.1%, while Research In Motion's share jumped from 16% to 20.8%.

Nokia’s Symbian's share fell from 49.7% to 44.6% over the same period - a 10% decline. Recently-launched Android OS from Google had no market share last year, but in Q3 2009 it had a 3.9% share.

"From one side, the market is going open source," Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza said.

"We expect that, by 2012, around 62% of the whole smartphone market will be open source with Symbian, Android and other Linux flavours. On the other side, they have more closed environments like Apple and RIM. Microsoft is caught in the middle. They have to think hard what they can do."

According to ZDNet UK, Cozza suggested that, given the strong emergence of free, open-source operating systems, Microsoft may find it difficult to demand licence fees from smartphone manufacturers. She described the recently introduced Windows Mobile 6.5 as "not a major improvement" on its predecessors, and said the OS's user interface was limited by its reliance on small icons that need stylus, rather than finger, interaction.

"[Windows Mobile] remains well positioned within the enterprise," Cozza noted, but she pointed out that 80% of smartphone sales are to consumers.

"All their licensees — HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson — are developing on Android," Cozza said, adding that previous licensees Palm and Motorola have both abandoned Windows Mobile.

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