Earlier today, Microsoft and Nokia informed the Earth of their latest agreement, one that allows for the development and delivery of Microsoft’s Office Mobile to Nokia’s line of smartphones.
In a vacuum, it would be giddy news.
However, to me, it seems like more of the same, a sort of verbal masturbation if you will, by seasoned executives skating around the very important problem, which is, WIIFC, or What’s in it for consumers?
Why consumers, you may ask?
Well the cellular phone is the most intimate device possessed by most humans.
More than a computer, or even your car keys.
While Nokia sells a gang of phones in general, and leads globally in the smartphone category, it is less than an also-ran in the US. Moreover, while some numbnuts on the Microsoft Windows Mobile team continually delude themselves with the 20 million annual licenses figure, no one really wakes up and says, “Wow, today I’m going to buy a Windows Mobile phone”. Leastways, not in the USA.
Here again, as usual, Microsoft is focused on the enterprise, to its potential detriment.
As I have blogged earlier, Microsoft should focus on top-shelf operating systems targeted at consumers, a kitchen-sink approach. Since enterprises do not want all that is in the OS, it should take just a little effort to remove those items from an enterprise version.
Doing it in reverse is a much bigger problem.
Without a doubt, the C-level executives at Microsoft have to learn the word, ‘Aspirational’.
Familiarity with it, and the positive network effects it would bring to any Microsoft operating system is something those yum-yums need to learn.
Look at it this way: iPhone 1 was a basic consumer device. #2 introduced basic Exchange Server functionality. The new version makes Exchange discovery and messaging a snap.
All of a sudden, the iPhone has morphed from a consumer device to the most desirable corporate phone out there.
All this while the executives up in Redmond were pulling a modern-day Rip Van Winkle!
Moral of the story: the creation of an aspirational consumer device will begat enterprise aspirations for the same device.
For me, a more compelling story would have been an announcement whereby Nokia would use Windows Mobile. Having a design win like that would have saddled Microsoft with the burden of keeping the OS fresh, and kept innovation alive.
To summarize, Microsoft needs to do more in smartphones, stop the relentless pursuit of the enterprise, which I think may lead to its downfall.
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Mary Jo Foley
Joe Wilcox
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