On the heels of a visit with the Windows Mobile team this week, Paul Thurrott passes along some comments on how he thinks the Windows Mobile team can improve.
His parting words say it all, “They’re [Windows Mobile team] good people, smart people, and they seem to understand the issues. They also seem to value the business market more than the consumer market, but that might only be because that’s what they pretty much offer at this point. I will be writing more formally about Windows Mobile by the end of the year, but I wanted to at least mention one thing I found vaguely alarming. When asked about the success of the iPhone and how that impacts Windows Mobile, I was told that the iPhone “validated” Microsoft’s approach. That’s some weird combination of revisionism, wishful thinking and, perhaps, delusion.”
And details aside, he suggests, “I think Microsoft needs to be much more aggressive in this market. And that’s pretty much the only advice I can really give.”
Let’s face it, Windows Mobile has been in a race to out-Blackberry their competition and for the last generation products that was passable. However, it was always a temporary strategy and that’s becoming more and more evident as the days pass.
Also, this whole business market vs consumer market thing is getting old as an excuse. Structurally the teams, the products, the ecosystem need to adjust. I’d say they should have adjusted long ago.
Anyway, my concern here is quite similar to the one I have for Tablet PCs or Vista/Windows 7 for that matter. There’s a single, big issue going on here: People’s connectivity, mobility, expectations, economies of scale, etc have changed–starting in earnest maybe four or five years ago. Microsoft has not caught up–even when they are leading in various aspects of this transition.
On the plus side? It sure does make it interesting to decide where we should place our bets. So far it looks like the early adopters got the whole iPhone thing right and Microsoft didn’t. Next up, Netbooks? Hmmm. If the early adopters get this one right too….wow is that going to be a shock.