4 ms·

Isn't the current CEO against that strategy? I listened to an interview with him not long ago in which he said the biggest mistake they made was thinking that t

Isn't the current CEO against that strategy? I listened to an interview with him not long ago in which he said the biggest mistake they made was thinking that the market is winner take all. He instead proposed that they should be working with other companies because many times they share customers and that by working together they increase the total market size.

partycoder 9y ago
Only time will tell. I would rather focus on what they do, not what they say. e.g: - Microsoft <3 Linux (what they say) https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2015/05/06/microsoft-loves-linux/ https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2015/05/06... - Microsoft makes 2 billion USD collecting patent money from Android manufacturers (what they do) Then... CEOs cannot do whatever they want. They respond to the board.
beavis2 9y ago
Then why did they drop Mobile?
- mathw 9y ago
  Because it was no longer worth throwing money after. Instead they're working to make sure Microsoft technologies - their accounts, their email, their Office products etc. - work well on iOS and Android devices. They're also working to enable cross-platform mobile development using Microsoft technologies (i.e. they bought Xamarin), which helps with getting app developers using (and paying for) Azure backend services because of course Microsoft provide solid .NET SDKs for Azure services. I suspect they'll make another effort to break into the mobile device space in the future, but it probably won't be for a while. Where's the marketplace opportunity at the moment? At least until they can distance themselves from the current perception of their mobile experience.
  - was_boring 9y ago
    Exactly. It was Ballmer who started the mobile strategy and it was up to Nadella to salvage it. Making sure Office, etc., work well on Android and iOS is perfectly in line with his idea that you can work with competitors to increase revenue for everyone involved. Contrast this with Amazon, who believes that it is a winner takes all market, and they do not have support for their competitor's products and even refuse to list them in their store.

partycoder 9y ago

Only time will tell. I would rather focus on what they do, not what they say. e.g: - Microsoft <3 Linux (what they say) https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2015/05/06/microsoft-loves-linux/ https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2015/05/06... - Microsoft makes 2 billion USD collecting patent money from Android manufacturers (what they do) Then... CEOs cannot do whatever they want. They respond to the board.

beavis2 9y ago

Then why did they drop Mobile?

mathw 9y ago
Because it was no longer worth throwing money after. Instead they're working to make sure Microsoft technologies - their accounts, their email, their Office products etc. - work well on iOS and Android devices. They're also working to enable cross-platform mobile development using Microsoft technologies (i.e. they bought Xamarin), which helps with getting app developers using (and paying for) Azure backend services because of course Microsoft provide solid .NET SDKs for Azure services. I suspect they'll make another effort to break into the mobile device space in the future, but it probably won't be for a while. Where's the marketplace opportunity at the moment? At least until they can distance themselves from the current perception of their mobile experience.
- was_boring 9y ago
  Exactly. It was Ballmer who started the mobile strategy and it was up to Nadella to salvage it. Making sure Office, etc., work well on Android and iOS is perfectly in line with his idea that you can work with competitors to increase revenue for everyone involved. Contrast this with Amazon, who believes that it is a winner takes all market, and they do not have support for their competitor's products and even refuse to list them in their store.