Microsoft to adopt Apple strategy – OEMs unhappy

Could Ballmer appear like a bigger suck-up goofball when combining that photo AND this announcement?

How long have we heard about Windows Phone? Six years? 8? And it's success has been, well, "tidal" would be the kindest phrase. MS's keyboards and mice are good enough - when put into that $10-price-range. That's a good value for them.

I can't comment about XBox's success - all I know is that MS adopts behaviors that seem incredibly needy - desperate - to push that product. "Buy a back-to-school PC and get a free XBox!!"

Needy. Desperate.

And goofball Ballmer. He really needs to blacken his head and paint a big white 8 on it.

(I gotta say, when I hear 'back to school special' and a game-box being dangled in front of student-wannabe's - NEED-to-be's! - I cringe. Absolutely cringe.)

Sorry Christine, but MS did not need to use the PC for free xbox promotion to move Xboxes. MS has sold over 38M units in the US alone and 69M worldwide. The Xbox division is profittable which is amazing considering where they were only a few years ago. The Zune may have not been a high seller but it was a better player than the iPod. Windows hardware is not worse than anybody elses. They just have to market them better. Apple's success is not attributed to their hardware but to their marketing.

The high profitability is, of course, linked to software and licensing sales, and the giveaway of small-dollar hardware is like the $50 printers and $60 ink cartridges. Desperate. Needy. But then again, farmers have always seen the need to put seeds into soil. There's no better way to ensure future growth.

Bill's Carl-Sagan impression about the gaming industry meaning "billions and billions in sales to Microsoft" still stands.

Soundwise the Zune wasn't any better or worse than the iPod. Which isn't saying much because I thought the iPod did not sound that great. The Zune also wasn't that easy to navigate in my trial of it. And it never outsold the iPod. The iPod may have had cheapo hardware and a crappy sound, but it was easier to use than 99% of the mp3/DAP players out there. Especially after the Touch came out.

I ended up going with what was recommended to me by audiophiles, the Cowon line of DAP's. I tried to use Cowon DAP's for 4 years and eventually grew frustrated with their unintuitive GUI's and lack of 3rd party programs available, on top of the proprietary chargers and data transfer cables.. I loved/still love the sound and battery life from the Cowon's(as well as the ability to expand the unit's memory with micro SD cards) but they married great hardware with horrible software. I can do everything I need to do on my Samsung Droid Charge Phone now. It's easy to load songs and play songs. No dorking around with unintuitive interfaces.

As far as hearing about windows phone/mobile for years. Yeah, we have heard a lot. There was a time when Microsoft was dominating the market. It seems most people don't know that.

Apple's ipod then itouch blew up, and then of course the iphone. Then came Google with their free Android. Microsoft fell behind.

I think the biggest point missed is that Ballmer in no way said he was having Microsoft adopt Apple's strategy. Not even close. And even if he had. Apple's strategy wasn't invented by Apple.

The interesting part of the letter:

"While Ballmer spoke of “firmly establishing one platform, Windows, across the PC, tablet, phone, server and cloud,” he didn’t clarify whether those phones would be OEM devices or another Microsoft-made device. While rumors persist that Microsoft is planning to introduce its own smartphone running Windows Phone 8, the company continues to reject that speculation."

The pushing forth of Windows 8 as an all purpose operating system.
I really don't care for that type of mentality.

IMO, MS might have the right idea. As smart phones become smarter and more powerful they will become more dominant. They already have quad core CPUs and docking stations that allow them to be surrogate laptops. Let's face it, most people can get by perfectly fine with the power of a current quad core smart phone or a reasonably powered tablet PC. It won't be long before the phone we carry will meet all the computing needs of the average person. It will plug into a dock and become a replacement for how we currently use tablets, laptops and/or desktop computers. If MS doesn't get wise to this now it will start losing a huge amount of its OS market share to Apple and Google. There will be a whole new generation that will not be familiar with a Windows OS of any type.

I have a Windows smart phone (Version 7.5) and have mixed feelings about it. There are many things I love about it and some things I don't like. I do think MS can make their Phone OS very competitive. IMO, a lot is riding on MS grabbing a big share of the smart phone OS market. If they don't make it happen now then they might not get another chance. The future is moving toward small handheld devices. If MS doesn't carve out its piece of this market it will see its dominance decline as each year passes.

You are right, but making hardware and software looks like it!