Microsoft may have blown opportunities, but all hope is not lost
Summary: Two articles were posted today talking about Windows Mobile, one with no analysis and the other making some valid points about Microsoft's past mobile actions. The smartphone market is still quite small and there are many opportunities available for Microsoft and others to compete and succeed in the space.
I saw this post come across my feeds today and with the title of Why Windows Mobile and Palm will continue to fail immediately grabbed my attention because I actually am a person who likes both operating systems, even if that is not the popular opinion of many. I wouldn't worry about clicking the link above and actually getting any explanation of the title since the article just states that the author saw a Palm Pixi ad on the My Phone service page and the two didn't match up as he expected. I previously stated that I have a feeling Palm's future is questionable and maybe they won't end up being around long term. I am attending the Microsoft Mobius event here in Seattle and was pleased to hear that Microsoft is in the race for the long term, even if their market share may be going down for the short term.
I also came across the Wired.com article titled How Microsoft Blew It With Windows Mobile. This article actually has some analysis that looks a bit more at how Apple shook up the mobile space and how Microsoft blew an opportunity to be that leader instead of Apple. I agree with the quote below from Raven Zachary, a technology analyst and owner of iPhone app development house Small Society.
It was theirs to lose and they lost it. They had everything they needed to execute, to do the right kinds of carrier deals to create an app store, create visual voice mail, touchscreens and so on. They’ve been in this space since the beginning.
Microsoft was quite successful with the PDA market and then everything started shifting into phones so they added phone capability to the PDA and focused on the enterprise market. While I do think Microsoft should have moved faster into the consumer market, it isn't that difficult to see that they stuck with the enterprise market due to the high price of data and devices a few years ago. Mobile data is expanding rapidly in the US, but is still a very expensive option and millions of consumers are still out there without data and prime customers for smartphones in the future. Microsoft sees the success of the iPhone and while they may not be moving as fast as we all want to see, I wouldn't count them out just yet and am excited about their future.
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Talkback
Time to let it go
Game over.
Android wins.
:)
Blown Opportunities
This time they missed the importance of intelligent mobile communications devices, both netbooks, but more importantly smart phones. The Windows monopoly has been weakened however and the competition is VERY different. Beating the iPhone as well as the Android phones is a VERY tall order for MS, not because it is impossible given sufficient resources, but because MS has shown time and again that it lacks vision and we are no longer looking at just a piece of SW that they can use Windows to push.
And finally, my guess is that MS's long history of screwing partners is catching up with them. I would rather work with Android/Google than MS.
not so much
There's no questions that they Screwed-up with WM. WM7 coming in Fall 2010 would be too little too late. The main concern here is that I dont see any differentiation in Windows Phones that iPhones/Android phones will have by that time. May be there is something else that i dont know MS is cooking up for WM7 other than Zune and FloTV.
The reason I said weakened....
I guess that is what you were referring to when you said "practices".
More Diversified Strategy = Losing Focus
Now business guru says that you should never look in the past but now they have to learn from the past and focus on the smartphone sales in the emerging market.
3G is yet to come in india and many countries. They should make a proper research on the market and can revive windows Mobile magic.
iPhone = Evil Americans
Two comments on this piece...
This shows reasonable caution.
> [...] and am excited about their future.
But this shows unwarranted optimism.
No hope left for Microsoft Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile market share is in free-fall. The rise of Android is going to make it worse for Windows Mobile. It doesn't do well in any market segment. The vast majority of business users have gone to Blackberry.
Windows Phone market share is on 7.9%, according to Gartner. It lost 30% of its market share this year alone. The next upadate is about a year away. It will finally add multi-touch, but that won't solve WinMo's problem of not having very many apps in its software Market.
Windows Mobile is in a death spiral from which it cannot recover.
Windows is still a powerful brand name
Android is fun and exciting, but I doubt businesses will adopt it anytime soon. Windows Mobile is secure, easily managed by IT departments, and a known name. The iPhone is making more inroads within enterprise than Android and Microsoft can't give up on the enterprise to just focus on the consumer. Then again, the consumer is bringing their phones to companies so addressing the consumer needs appears to address many business needs as we see with the iPhone.
I may be overly optimistic about Microsoft and Windows Mobile, but their devices meet my needs and requirements so I guess I may just go down sinking with the ship.
It was an interesting read, because..
Unless you have significant capital tied up in the platform, you don't need to go down with a sinking ship, you just jump to a better one passing by. That is something MS cannot do.
And if you can, stay with open source, because those ships don't seem to sink as much, and if they do, the jump to another one is much simpler.