Less than two months ago, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) said it would crush Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) in China.
"Our goal is No. 1," said Mr. Softy's Greater China CEO, Simon Leung. "Having a goal to be No. 2 is not really a goal."
That ambitious statement may have drawn laughs back then, when the company was only just launching its first Windows Phone 7.5 model in the Middle Kingdom. But maybe it wasn't so ridiculous, after all.
According to Michel van der Bel -- Leung's COO -- Microsoft carved out a 7% Chinese smartphone market share in just two months. The iPhone's foothold? A modest 6%.
Microsoft still has some work to do before catching Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android platform, which leads the world's largest smartphone market with a 40% share. "We've only just begun," van der Bel told Dutch online industry watcher Emerce. In particular, Microsoft hopes to penetrate Chinese business computing by leveraging the Windows platform.
Can Apple turn it around in China? Will Microsoft build on this early success with Windows 8 tablets and next-generation phones? Did Nokia (NYSE: NOK) do enough of these Chinese sales to rescue the stock from its recent tailspin? Should Google check Andy the Android's back for stab wounds more often?
We'll have answers to these questions and many more as the smartphone wars continue to play out, although judging by today's massive gain, Apple still has plenty of room to run. Our senior technology analyst certainly thinks Apple is still a buy. He spills out exactly why in our brand-new premium report on Apple. If you want a broader picture of the smartphone revolution, click below to find out why investors are so excited about this exploding trillion-dollar revolution.
