Via NokiaSymbian OS Twitter feed and CNET this New York Times blog post quotes strategic newsletter writer Mark Anderson on Microsoft:
“Except for gaming, it is ‘game over’ for Microsoft in the consumer market…. It’s time to declare Microsoft a loser in phones. Just get out of Dodge.”
Interesting follow-up from Anderson though. NYT BITS blogger Steve Lohr introduces it:
“The smartphone is becoming the innovative hub of software development and applications, far more so than the personal computer,” declares the NYT blog “If Microsoft loses in smartphones, Mr. Anderson noted, “It is pretty grim. Those applications are going to move upstream.””
That quote got parlayed on CNET as: Is it game over for Microsoft on consumer front?
Personally I don’t buy this Windows Mobile OS is dead kind of line. Familiar story, familiar tone – in fact the kind of speculation that adds up to irresponsible journalism. More to the point there is a set of products out there that are disruptors but are also unprofitable: YouTube, Apps Store, and Facebook. Big, Big projects that lose a ton of money – so Facebook says it had a revenue positive quarter but at what cost?
We should be asking questions about their role as subsidised players in the marketplace and what it tells us about future business models - the 2001 dotcom boom was supposed to outlaw revenue averse business.
So, are there areas of the web 2.0 landscape that are destined to be social services just like YouTube? Linking people, letting people enjoy creative exposure but essentially having no profit role? Presumably one of the not-talked about features of the web-to-mobile business is precisely this reinvention of necessary social goods.
Of course an interesting question remains what might “going upstream” mean for Symbian?
Was it ever Game On for M$ when it came to phones? It’s been painfully obvious since there first dabblings back in the days of Boom 1.0 that they just don’t ‘get it’. I’m not even sure the ‘get it’ when it comes to games, it just so happens that it’s something they’ve been able to throw enough $$$ at to make it look like they do. Here’s a clue for them; PC != Phone
Was it ever game on for Windows with their browser (hopeless for years – Opera was always a ton better and taught Google a lot ) or their search engine (still struggling) or their collaboration tools. MSFT brings a different set of values to the markets it works in – one that let enterprise users (or enterprise decision makers) feel confident and assured. Apple is getting a lot of push back in enterprise environments. Windows systems don’t. I don’t think you can write them off anyway; but nor do I think this x is dead journalism and blogging is at all informative.