Microsoft Reportedly Launching Its Own Windows Phone Smartphone 190
zacharye writes "When Microsoft announced earlier this year that it will launch an own-brand tablet to compete directly with its various vendor partners working on Windows 8-based tablet PCs of their own, there was some backlash. Privately — and sometimes even publicly — long-time Microsoft partners took it as an attack on their businesses and questioned why Microsoft would be so brazen. But with nowhere else to turn thanks to Windows' overwhelming PC dominance, these vendors had no choice but to continue developing Windows 8 devices and compete directly with their software supplier. Though events may play out a bit differently in the smartphone market, where Microsoft has yet to stage the comeback it promised two years ago, BGR has learned that the Redmond, Washington-based company plans to release its own Windows Phone 8 smartphone in the coming months."
Nokia Stabbed In The Back (Score:5, Insightful)
I never saw that coming...
Not so fast.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft has had their share of unsuccessful hardware (Zune comes to mind) but they are capable of getting it right sometimes too. They make a really good mouse and keyboard for example. XBox is successful, albeit after years of losing money on it. I think they are able to build technically successful products but what kills them time and again is poor marketing and an inability to make anything perceived as "cool" by the hip generation.
The Zune was a really good MP3 player (better than the iPod in many ways) but it had that horrible brown color and MS put no marketing behind it. This is a lesson that gets lost on hard core techs sometimes - it doesn't matter that your product is technically superior if you can't sell it. This is what Apple excels at - superior marketing.
If MS hopes to be successful with their branded phone they are going to have to hire some people that know how to sell stuff. First thing I would do? I'd get rid of all of those idiots behind that series of ridiculous Seinfeld ads. Remember those? Yeah, nobody does and that's the point. Complete waste of time and money. Next thing they have to do is design something that looks cool and is easy to use and is well built. Number three - develop some features that set them apart from IOS and Android. Give people a reason to buy an MS phone instead of the default choice of Apple or Android. Otherwise why bother? Just get one of those two and call it a day.
This is Microsoft's last, best chance to get back in the mobile game. If they blow this one then they might as well throw in the towel and accept their fate as the leader in an increasing dying industry (desktop pc's).
Re:Nokia Stabbed In The Back (Score:5, Insightful)
>I never saw that coming...
Every Microsoft "Partner" thinks they are special. "It will never happen to us" they say. "Look at all this money we get from Microsoft!" They think they can beat the Devil with their own fiddle playing. Except this isn't a Charlie Daniels Band song.
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BMO
Re:Hey, works for Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
If something works for Apple, there is no reason for Microsoft to ignore it.
I can understand Microsoft may be frustrated with partners not following through on a long term strategy. They had success establishing their own gaming console, maybe they can do the same with tablets and phones. It's not like there is a huge base of third party manufacturers in these categories already using Microsoft products to piss off.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
Saying that "microsoft" killed the phone is true in a sense, but you also have to understand the company culture at MS. It is built on a lot of teams. Not one single united company where everyone shares ideas and works together nicely. You should read the history of what happened to Danger and you will see a major factor to its demise was the infighting that took place, nothing technical really. Apple/Google I think have a lot less of this kind of stuff so it was easier to let it bloom.
Re:Not so fast.... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a lesson that gets lost on hard core techs sometimes - it doesn't matter that your product is technically superior if you can't sell it. This is what Apple excels at - superior marketing.
I see this bandied about all the time, Apple's marketing is so awesome it defies the laws of physics, while Microsoft's marketing sucks rocks. Yet if asked why Linux never took over the desktop and Microsoft's dominance there, the answer is typically that Microsoft's marketing is unbeatable. Apparently Microsoft is both awesome and sucks at marketing... WTF?
Claiming the iPod won out due to superior marketing displays massive and willful ignorance, extreme forgetfulness, or both. The iPod won out due to ease of use, plus the incredible integration with the iTunes music store (which came out after another 2 years I think?) - this made it easy and simple for REGULAR consumers to buy music and load it on their device. That plus some confidence their investment wouldn't disappear. Zune launched right into a fairly well established iPod ecosystem and delivered... "squirting" music to your friends, which let them listen to a song you purchased what, 3 times? That's worthless.
The Zune blew chunks in this respect. Microsoft didn't get the music industry on board at the same level, and there was a clusterf*ck of DRM crap which kept getting renamed, rebranded, retired, rehashed - remember PlaysForSure? The announcement that "PlaysForSure" would be killed off and all music inaccessible unless burned to CD? The different but parallel Zune store? The reversal? The new "Certified for Vista?" The new-new XBox Music store? The consumer base threw up their hands and lost confidence any money spent on any media would continue to be usable in the next 6 months.
Sorry but Microsoft totally mishandled this all on their own.
For a company with deep pockets, they are pretty quick to throw a device getting a lukewarm reception under the bus. XBox seems to be the only thing they stuck with long enough. What they haven't figured out is that if you are going up against entrenched successful competitors, and can't leverage Windows on the desktop, you have to deliver a BETTER consumer experience and be price competitive. Google figured this out with a different strategy (open source, free tools), competitive pricing, etc. Microsoft is still trying to leverage their desktop. I don't get it - it seems to me mobile apps are basically written from scratch.
Re:Zune was not point of failure (Score:2, Insightful)
I doubt Apple could have predicted that the consumer market would wag the business dog.
I think you could see that a really long time ago. Really it was home users with Apple II's and the like wanting to be able to use spreadsheets that really made computers even get into business. Later on the Palm line came in from the personal space to enter into the corporate world. On a lesser scale, the same was true of Mac laptops and OS X, that came in to business very much against the will of IT departments far and wide.