08-12-2002, 11:19 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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Microsoft out in the cold?
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1134289
This article ("Microsoft's mobile quandary by Robin Bloor) was sent in and I just have to voice my opinion. It must have been given the wrong published date. It says "[12-08-2002]" but I would have guessed [12-08-1999]. In 1999 I would have given the article some credit, but today...!?
The article begins: "It is pretty clear to everyone now that the world of mobile computing will eventually eat the PC world and spit out the pips. But what nobody is really sure of is when or exactly how it will happen. "
Is that clear to "everyone"? Since when? Mobile computing is about accessing information, ie the Internet, using small devices. The table is the Internet, and everyone is welcome to join! Laptops, desktops, PDAs, cell phones! Come on in and connect! Tomorrow is not this or that, it is this and that!
Robin Bloor then moves on and says a couple of truths on Pocket PCs taking market share, albeit mentioning Palm as "Palm Pilot", but then he's at it again... He takes his analysis from the appearance of "the mobile phone/camera, the mobile phone/music player and the mobile phone/web surfer" and says that since these are selling more than Pocket PCs, then Microsoft is doomed. Again, in 1999 I even said the same thing (on the record, actually). But today I know that Microsoft is not about Pocket PCs. Microsoft is about Internet and "on any device", including Pocket PCs. We'll soon see new types of devices based Microsoft software surpassing the products referred to in the article. Remember where those products come from: dumb, character based terminal software! Now, the ol' phone makers try to beef it up. Microsoft already has the rich multimedia platform. I am not saying that scaling down is easy, but it is easier than getting a terminal window look jazzy.
Finally, I just have to jump at the last conclusions. Robin writes: "Nokia and Ericsson are the companies with the large numbers of users. They determine where the market goes. If Microsoft wants a piece of this market then it will have to make deals with them. Well, the new giants Nokia and Ericsson (with Ericsson now in league with the old consumer giant Sony)."
I guess the last six months just past without notice. No, Microsoft does not have to make deals with Nokia or Ericsson (even though I wouldn't mind). There's another piece of this puzzle that sits on numbers of users (apart from Microsoft itself): the mobile network operators. Expect more Microsoft - carrier partnerships to come! "Robin Bloor, founder and leading light at Bloor Research...", says the article. Need a battery charge?
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