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. 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.
“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.
The belief is risky given Windows Phone’s currently lackluster performance. Although an increasingly larger portion are considering Windows Phone, that hasn’t yet translated into real sales beyond the most loyal or the handful of those who don’t want either Android or an iPhone. Most of Microsoft’s hope is that its effective purchase of market share through the Nokia deal, along with a second wave of phones using the much improved Mango edition of the OS, will lead to support it hasn’t had in the past.
