5 ms·

What's the point? Microsoft makes money off of Android phones anyway - not just that, but I believe they make more off of Android phones than off of Windows pho

What's the point? Microsoft makes money off of Android phones anyway - not just that, but I believe they make more off of Android phones than off of Windows phones? Even if that >50% isn't true (though I believe it is), it helps to put things in perspective - what's Microsoft's larger goal, other than just get a bit of market share in another corner of the larger tech market? Google and Apple both have visions behind Android and iOS, respectively, even if they're very different visions/goals. I still don't know what Microsoft's driving vision behind WP7 is - that is, if they have one.

briandear 15y ago
Their "vision" is "me-too." They're getting killed by the app store(s) and they're looking for a way to expand their relevance beyond their desktop revenue streams. Their vision is quite simply to remain relevant. I can't say they don't care about innovation, but innovation seems to be playing second fiddle to catching up. Their entire company history is littered with being late to the party. They're operating on a multi-year velocity rather than shorter cycles. While that worked for Windows (due to Apple's late 1980s incompetence) it won't work now because Apple (and Google) are firing on all cylinders. They're chasing a moving target. Wayne Gretsky said, skate to where the puck is going to be. MS is building products around where the puck used to be.
rbanffy 15y ago
> what's Microsoft's larger goal, other than just get a bit of market share in another corner of the larger tech market? Survive. Microsoft (at least parts of it) realize the PC desktop is not going to last forever and that's the only market they really dominate. Everything else depends on this domination and the moment it ceases to exist, all the other BUs will fail. Except, maybe, Xbox and miscellaneous hardware.
- bpodgursky 15y ago
  > that's the only market they really dominate Office
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    What is Office without Windows?
ajross 15y ago
Microsoft "makes money" off of Android as a patent troll. Even ignoring the moral aspect there: that's a valid business model for a small law firm, not a $250 billion behemoth of a international megacorporation. If MSFT's future revenue looks like the licensing fees they're getting from HTC, they're in very deep poo poo.

briandear 15y ago

Their "vision" is "me-too." They're getting killed by the app store(s) and they're looking for a way to expand their relevance beyond their desktop revenue streams. Their vision is quite simply to remain relevant. I can't say they don't care about innovation, but innovation seems to be playing second fiddle to catching up. Their entire company history is littered with being late to the party. They're operating on a multi-year velocity rather than shorter cycles. While that worked for Windows (due to Apple's late 1980s incompetence) it won't work now because Apple (and Google) are firing on all cylinders. They're chasing a moving target. Wayne Gretsky said, skate to where the puck is going to be. MS is building products around where the puck used to be.

rbanffy 15y ago

> what's Microsoft's larger goal, other than just get a bit of market share in another corner of the larger tech market? Survive. Microsoft (at least parts of it) realize the PC desktop is not going to last forever and that's the only market they really dominate. Everything else depends on this domination and the moment it ceases to exist, all the other BUs will fail. Except, maybe, Xbox and miscellaneous hardware.

bpodgursky 15y ago
> that's the only market they really dominate Office
- rbanffy 15y ago
  What is Office without Windows?

ajross 15y ago

Microsoft "makes money" off of Android as a patent troll. Even ignoring the moral aspect there: that's a valid business model for a small law firm, not a $250 billion behemoth of a international megacorporation. If MSFT's future revenue looks like the licensing fees they're getting from HTC, they're in very deep poo poo.