Microsoft will soon assault the SmartPhone Market

Anyone have experience with Windows 7 smartphones? I expect Microsoft to launch an attack in the Smartphone market hot and heavy within the next year or so.

Microsoft has never intended to sell the “best” of any product. They’ve always made a killing with cheap quantity sales.
Microsoft’s business model is to be just behind the leading edge of technology. After other companies spill their blood on the bleeding edge, Microsoft comes in floods the market with cheap products.

For the past 20+ years, everyone has told me that Apple products outperform Microsoft's products. And I believe them. But I'm not gonna pay $2,000 for an Apple laptop.

Anyone remember when these Microsoft products killed their competition...
- Microsoft killed the PC market with DOS.
- Microsoft killed WordPerfect with Word.
- Microsoft killed the Lotus 1-2-3 with Excel.
- Microsoft killed Symphony with Office.
- Microsoft killed the MacIntosh with Windows.
- Microsoft killed Novell with WindowsNT.
Microsoft will kill the iPhone and Driod phones in the next year or two…. if they have to PAY people to take their Windows 7 phones, that’s what Microsoft will do.

Bill Gates is a lot like Henry Ford. Ford didn’t make the best cars, or the most reliable cars. Ford just made the cheapest cars.

Quote from MrCookieBar : Anyone have experience with Windows 7 smartphones? I expect Microsoft to launch an attack in the Smartphone market hot and heavy within the next year or so. Microsoft has never intended to sell the “best” of any product. They’ve always made a killing with cheap quantity sales. Microsoft’s business model is to be just behind the leading edge of technology. After other companies spill their blood on the bleeding edge, Microsoft comes in floods the market with cheap products. For the past 20+ years, everyone has told me that Apple products outperform Microsoft's products. And I believe them. But I'm not gonna pay $2,000 for an Apple laptop. Anyone remember when these Microsoft killed their competition... - Microsoft killed the PC market with DOS. - Microsoft killed WordPerfect with Word. - Microsoft killed the Lotus 1-2-3 with Excel. - Microsoft killed Symphony with Office. - Microsoft killed the MacIntosh with Windows. - Microsoft killed Novell with WindowsNT. Microsoft will kill the iPhone and Driod phones in the next year or two…. if they have to PAY people to take their Windows 7 phones, that’s what Microsoft will do. Bill Gates is a lot like Henry Ford. Ford didn’t make the best cars, or the most reliable cars. Ford just made the cheapest cars.

Mobile OS is completely different from standard OS or standard software. In the mobile world the software and hardware are one "gadget".

MSFT has never been successful with "gadgets", except for xbox360.

Another thing to consider is the "pricing" argument. Because a mobile phone is tied with a contract, and 99% of mobile phones in the US are sold by the carrier, the price competition just isn't really there. The carrier absorbs most of the cost of the device, so a true pricing contest doesn't exist. Pretty much every new phone that comes out is $200 and drops to $100/$150 after a while and then drops to free. With Android already filling the traditional MSFT gap of "a bunch of fragmented shit all over the place from a ton of manu's at a ton of price points" it's even harder for MSFT to compete.

MSFT does have a true ace in it's sleeve, with the Nokia deal. Nokia has been THE mobile phone powerhouse since we cut wires and added batteries. Combined with MSFTs dominance in the business and consumer software world, they (on paper) have a pretty decent shot.


I can see it playing out either way, but it's not as simple as you make it out to be.

Just to TC shouldn't the title be "Will Microsoft soon assault the SmartPhone Market?"

They are trying and aren't being very well received so I don't think they will. As the guy above said they have pretty much sucked it at all hand held electronics so you'd think they would have learned their lesson by now...

Maybe if we all feel the need to post a video of us parachuting while we're parachuting it'll succeed but then again probably not...

Quote from discoverEdeals : Mobile OS is completely different from standard OS or standard software. In the mobile world the software and hardware are one "gadget". MSFT has never been successful with "gadgets", except for xbox360. Another thing to consider is the "pricing" argument. Because a mobile phone is tied with a contract, and 99% of mobile phones in the US are sold by the carrier, the price competition just isn't really there. The carrier absorbs most of the cost of the device, so a true pricing contest doesn't exist. Pretty much every new phone that comes out is $200 and drops to $100/$150 after a while and then drops to free. With Android already filling the traditional MSFT gap of "a bunch of fragmented shit all over the place from a ton of manu's at a ton of price points" it's even harder for MSFT to compete. MSFT does have a true ace in it's sleeve, with the Nokia deal. Nokia has been THE mobile phone powerhouse since we cut wires and added batteries. Combined with MSFTs dominance in the business and consumer software world, they (on paper) have a pretty decent shot. I can see it playing out either way, but it's not as simple as you make it out to be.

Wait for the Blackberry deal. My bet is RIM will either team with Microsoft or be consumed by Microsoft.

Quote from MrCookieBar : Anyone have experience with Windows 7 smartphones? I expect Microsoft to launch an attack in the Smartphone market hot and heavy within the next year or so. Microsoft has never intended to sell the “best” of any product. They’ve always made a killing with cheap quantity sales. Microsoft’s business model is to be just behind the leading edge of technology. After other companies spill their blood on the bleeding edge, Microsoft comes in floods the market with cheap products. For the past 20+ years, everyone has told me that Apple products outperform Microsoft's products. And I believe them. But I'm not gonna pay $2,000 for an Apple laptop. Anyone remember when these Microsoft products killed their competition... - Microsoft killed the PC market with DOS. - Microsoft killed WordPerfect with Word. - Microsoft killed the Lotus 1-2-3 with Excel. - Microsoft killed Symphony with Office. - Microsoft killed the MacIntosh with Windows. - Microsoft killed Novell with WindowsNT. Microsoft will kill the iPhone and Driod phones in the next year or two…. if they have to PAY people to take their Windows 7 phones, that’s what Microsoft will do. Bill Gates is a lot like Henry Ford. Ford didn’t make the best cars, or the most reliable cars. Ford just made the cheapest cars.

you forgot a few more examples, so i'll add it for you:

Microsoft killed Palm with Windows Mobile
Microsoft killed the iPod with Zune
Microsoft killed the iPod Touch with ZuneHD

oh wait, damn

Quote from MrCookieBar : Microsoft will kill the iPhone and Driod phones in the next year or two….

Microsoft has never had great success outside of the desktop OS market (well, Xbox does well I guess...) There's no reason to believe that Windows Phone 7, while it has some interesting additions to the mobile space, will be able to unseat iOS and Android (Droid is one particular phone line). Even if they sink tons of cash into it, they seem to be having trouble attracting developers. No developers, no apps. No apps, no users. WP7 is too little, too late.

Quote from discoverEdeals : Mobile OS is completely different from standard OS or standard software.

Seemingly only for Microsoft though. iOS is built on OS X and Android is built on the Linux kernel.

Quote from azianai : you forgot a few more examples, so i'll add it for you: Microsoft killed Palm with Windows Mobile Microsoft killed the iPod with Zune Microsoft killed the iPod Touch with ZuneHD oh wait, damn

I was kind of thinking the same thing.

As for the other examples:

- Microsoft created the PC market with DOS; there was no existing market to "kill".
- Microsoft killed WordPerfect with Word because Word was a better product. And this is coming from a WP5.1 junkie
- Microsoft killed the Lotus 1-2-3 with Excel because Excel was a superior product as well.
- Microsoft killed Symphony with Office - Symphony back in those days was just the next version of 1-2-3, so the previous point applies here as well. Nowadays Symphony is an open-source Office-esque suite, so by "killing" it we're really saying "forced it to become cheaper (free)". Now they only have to compete on quality because price isn't even a consideration. Not that IBM has learned its lesson on that one, but their open source efforts as of late (i.e. Eclipse, Symphony) are on the right track.

- Microsoft did not kill the Mac with Windows. Macintosh killed itself with proprietary hardware, exclusivity marketing and luxury pricing models. MS just capitalized by highlighting those marketing strategies as product weaknesses.

- Microsoft killed Novell with WindowsNT. This example is totally true - the MS product was objectively inferior but they used anti-competitive practices to ensure their dominance in this arena (illegally.) But this is the only example in your list where an inferior MS product "killed" a superior one, and they had to resort to using illegal tactics in order to accomplish it.

Quote from riptide_slick : I was kind of thinking the same thing. As for the other examples: - Microsoft created the PC market with DOS; there was no existing market to "kill". - Microsoft killed WordPerfect with Word because Word was a better product. And this is coming from a WP5.1 junkie - Microsoft killed the Lotus 1-2-3 with Excel because Excel was a superior product as well. - Microsoft killed Symphony with Office - Symphony back in those days was just the next version of 1-2-3, so the previous point applies here as well. Nowadays Symphony is an open-source Office-esque suite, so by "killing" it we're really saying "forced it to become cheaper (free)". Now they only have to compete on quality because price isn't even a consideration. Not that IBM has learned its lesson on that one, but their open source efforts as of late (i.e. Eclipse, Symphony) are on the right track. - Microsoft did not kill the Mac with Windows. Macintosh killed itself with proprietary hardware, exclusivity marketing and luxury pricing models. MS just capitalized by highlighting those marketing strategies as product weaknesses. - Microsoft killed Novell with WindowsNT. This example is totally true - the MS product was objectively inferior but they used anti-competitive practices to ensure their dominance in this arena (illegally.) But this is the only example in your list where an inferior MS product "killed" a superior one, and they had to resort to using illegal tactics in order to accomplish it.

They also killed Netscape with illegal tactics, although I'm not sure IE was an inferior product. It is now, but that's after a lot of development by the Mozilla foundation.

They also seem to have stumbled into some success with Windows Embedded Automotive. It's the core part of Ford Sync (pretty cool product).

And Mac isn't dead. It almost died but has settled into a niche part of the PC market. A highly profitable one at that.

Quote from redmaxx : They also killed Netscape with illegal tactics, although I'm not sure IE was an inferior product. It is now, but that's after a lot of development by the Mozilla foundation. They also seem to have stumbled into some success with Windows Embedded Automotive. It's the core part of Ford Sync (pretty cool product). And Mac isn't dead. It almost died but has settled into a niche part of the PC market. A highly profitable one at that.

besides, MS actually bought 150Million in Apple shares back in 1997


http://www.pcworld.com/article/51...board.html

Word wasnt a superior product It benefited from the same anticompetative practices as did a lot of other MS products.

Wordperfect became an more costly option, and most with Word incorporated into the Suite that came with their PC didnt pay out extra for Wordperfect, unless they needed the functionality that it provided the Lawyers that Word didnt have.

Also the switch to Windows GUI interupted the installed user base of Wordperfect.

What anti-competitive practices? Bundling a mouse? I thought that was shot down early on. Word wasn't typically preinstalled on a PC until very recently (and only a light/trial version at that). It was always a paid extra. This is in contrast to IE which Microsoft tied into the OS and delivered for free.

I remember WP and Word. Word was much better, even on a Mac (and I didn't really like using it on a Mac). For as long as I can remember, nothing has ever been able to touch the Office family of products in terms of functionality and ease of use. That includes Open Office and Symphony.

We shall see what Nokia and MS can do together... alone Nokia has managed to squander its one time lead in phone technology and market share... oh, and if the MS business model is to flood the world with cheaper alternatives, then they are at odds with Nokia's model, which (to date) has been to maintain their image as a prestige maker via higher prices.

I think that as the smartphone evolves, especially in business, support of microsoft office products will be a huge plus. Imagine a motorola atrix that turns into a useful computer instead of just a web browser.

Quote from Doctor_Wu : We shall see what Nokia and MS can do together... alone Nokia has managed to squander its one time lead in phone technology and market share... oh, and if the MS business model is to flood the world with cheaper alternatives, then they are at odds with Nokia's model, which (to date) has been to maintain their image as a prestige maker via higher prices.

Those higher prices pay their high wage Scandanavians, just as the high prices of European cars do.

The Koreans got into the phone business and undercut them in price.

That being said, Nokia particularly slipped in the US, where it seems like they have totally disappeared. In other parts of the world that isnt so....though they did slip.

Another Scandy cell phone company disappeared as well, Erricson, although I think they work with Sony now.