Microsoft Is a Dying Consumer Brand

Taxman415a noted a CNN story on the dying Microsoft brand where they talk about "The less than stellar performance of, and problems in, nearly every consumer division. It cites StatCounter's data showing IE's market share falling below 50%, and is even smart enough to note that's just one statistic with various problems, though the trend is clear. It also seems that MS doesn't want to compete with Android, so it plans to charge royalty fees to handset makers to discourage them from using it in their products. The conclusion is that MS will just be a commercial, not consumer company."

Comments

Re:Really???

[hairyfeet]

First let's clear up a few things. Steve and his iDevices are a niche. A well profitable niche, but a niche. Big on the coasts, not so much in the flyover states. Also with Steve's iDevices you are strictly locked down with the walled garden. Some folks like that, many don't. And second I assume you are talking Android with regards to Open Source, because Linux on the desktop is frankly as dead this year as it was last. No big box retailers carry it, not a single model anywhere. And Android right now is a mess. Sorry, but it is. The handset makers have made the platform into a fractured mess, with versions galore and some being updated and some not, sorry but it's a mess.

Finally you are forgetting the history of MSFT: The first versions? ALWAYS suck. But they keep at it and slowly but surely crush the competition. Anybody that compared the early Windows 1 and 2 to Apple would have laughed their asses off if you told them MSFT would dominate. Hell the first version of WinNT took frankly insane hardware for the time. Now all you see is XP and 7 everywhere. The first Xbox? MSFT said their goal was to have a MSFT product at the center of everyone's living room, and now with the X360 that is the case. So I think the other poster's comment about potential is right. We haven't actually seen MSFT try to compete in the mobile space, because frankly they haven't cared about it. But with WinPhone 7 it looks like the repeated poking of the bear has woken it up. Tying WinPhone into X360? A DAMN smart idea. It is the youth market that drives the latest gadgets and being able to up your stats on the go? That sure sounds like a selling point to me, and from what I've read XNA is damned easy to code for, and you can currently write one game and have it run on Windows, X360, and WinPhone. you watch, the next version will be more powerful, probably powerful enough to write AAA titles with.

So calling the fight before the round has even started is foolish IMHO. After all there was a time when everyone laughed at the thought of IE ever unseating Netscape as the number 1 browser, or that you would see an Xbox in nearly every gamer's home, or that anything after Vista would be a hit. MSFT has been using the same strategy for years: Start out slow and clunky, learn, get better, then slaughter. And finally don't forget old Ballmer's "Developers developers developers" which Steve and his arbitrary app rules is working hard to seriously piss off. If MSFT makes it butt simple AND profitable to develop for their device? watch the apps roll in. I'd say we have another 2 or 3 years before we see exactly what MSFT is gonna be going for, and whether they are gonna sink the money and time into mobile to really compete. But if they tie everything together nicely, like they have been doing with Windows 7 and the X360? Sure it could be a hit. There is enough division in the market right now that calling it for ANYBODY at this point is simply too premature. Hell if HP wasn't so stupid they could even slice off a nice chunk with sales of WebOS. It is simply anybody's game at the moment.