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What Microsoft Must Do To Save Its Mobile Business

Posted by kdawson on from the take-two-cyanide-pills-and-call-me-in-the-morning dept.

GMGruman writes "Microsoft has tossed out its mobile management team (without admitting to doing so), but is that enough to make Microsoft matter in mobile? InfoWorld's Galen Gruman argues that a lot more is needed than a management change if Microsoft hopes to have a future in the emerging mobile world. In his blog, he lays out a tough five-point prescription for Microsoft to get back in the game. For starters, Microsoft has to get out of its well-established cultural mindset that it's OK to ship crap that it might fix later on."

6 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Just give up. by symbolset · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think maybe the best answer here is to just surrender. "Mobile? It's not our thing. We wanted it to be our thing - we tried. But we're not good at it." While they're at it maybe they should get out of search and online ads too.

    I'm symbolset and the lack of Windows Phone 7 was my idea.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
    1. Re:Just give up. by ErroneousBee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nokia can do that for themselves, they don't need Microsoft. They've probably also seen what happens to companies that try to partner with Redmond.

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      **TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
    2. Re:Just give up. by areusche · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm trying not to sound condescending here, but are you kidding me? Have you ever used a Windows Mobile phone before?

      I've been using Windows Mobile since the 2003se days and it has been light years ahead of whatever competitor was pumping out. Things like multitasking, a somewhat open platform for development, and an interface that makes sense.

      The only downside has been the long time insistance from manufactures to only use 64mb of ram. Nowadays that number is up to 256mb.

      HTC has a number of drool worthy phones that spec wise pound the iphone to dust and anything that Palm can come up with.

      And finally Microsoft leaves its homebrew ROM kitchen development alone. Sites like PPCGeeks.com and xda-developers are two that come to mind.

      It's sad that people disregard Windows Mobile. It is nothing like the desktop crap. And seriously what major software or hardware manufacture doesn't pump out crap and fix it later? At least Windows Mobile works out of the box.

      Disclaimer: My first PDA was a Sony Clie. I loved Palm and used it for many years, but it's time to use a real device and software.

    3. Re:Just give up. by Jawnn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nope.

      The answer is to find a Phone giant (Nokia) and take the best of both worlds and make an OS that utterly kicks arse.

      Nokia hardware rocks.

      No argument. That would be a sound approach, but for one thing. Microsoft has no experience in making an OS that utterly kicks ass (as we Yanks spell it), especially from scratch, and certainly not on a schedule that would be required to stay competitive in the mobile business, where "innovation" is real and ongoing. I know this sounds like stock /. MS bashing, but it's not meant to be. Microsoft's culture and business model is a poor fit for the wireless industry.

    4. Re:Just give up. by randomaxe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's funny, because every Windows Mobile phone I've ever used has had me on the verge of throwing it against a wall more times than is acceptable for any gadget that isn't still in beta testing. I've had them mysteriously lose settings, crash repeatedly, and lock up -- sometimes right in the middle of a phone call.

      There may be WinMo phones that "spec wise pound the iphone to dust", but impressive hardware is nothing if the software on top of it drives users into fits of rage. There may be a lot of things that a WinMo phone can do that my iPhone can't, but one of them happens to be "piss me off on a daily basis." And I'm just fine with that.

  2. They need to find a marketplace for themselves. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can't help but feel Microsoft has been wedged out of the mobile market by competitors that are specialized at doing everything better then they do.

    Wanna be a cool kid with a pretty phone?
    Apple has you covered.

    Need something uber business savvy but easy enough for a monkey in a suit to use?
    Get a blackberry

    Want a phone that doesn't hold you down?
    Get an Android phone

    Want a phone that runs on POS hardware and can barely handle anything?
    Oh crap, umm...no.

    What they do have, however, is excellent proprietary stuff like ActiveSync that's integrated into all these other cell phones. If I was them, I would focus on developing technology like that. Let the mobile market work for you, not the other way around.

    The Kin is an interesting attempt to wrangle the teenybopper market but I think they've already fallen to the iphone.