Credit where credit is due. He called Microsoft’s chances with Windows Mobile. Only thing missing is any mention of Apple but then who could have thunked it!
It’s widely assumed that Microsoft initially demanded a $20 licensing fee from phone manufacturers when it tried to get Windows CE accepted as a leading operating system for phones. The company got laughed out of major vendor headquarters and is now relying on vendors like Sendo and Mitsubishi to support the Win CE initiative in the phone market.
Windows CE is an awful developing platform. Win CE is derided and loathed by every mobile-software development team I have ever encountered. I know what you’re thinking — Microsoft has a tendency to get things right on the third try. But as I said above, there is no monopoly position in the mobile market to grant the company the luxury of repeated attempts
Nothing has changed with Windows 6.5 or whatever they call it now.
This is still true, too:
Before moving to mobile device and video-game sectors, it’s worth noting that Microsoft’s tactics there are a reflection of a decadelong pattern of increasing aggressiveness. The company has correctly calculated that government regulators probably won’t dare to interfere in its business in any meaningful way. So it can simply stall any government lawsuits and bet that nobody will have the guts to do something about its monopolistic practices. That’s pretty shrewd.
Tero returns with a slap against Nokia:
“Ovi Store is where Nokia tries to re-group and muster its forces for a counter-offensive,” Kuittinen said. Ovi Store is in some ways the last castle for Nokia – both N-Gage and ‘Comes with Music’ are industry laughing stocks,” said Global Crown analyst Tero Kuittinen.
On the other hand, he doesn’t know what makes Apple tick. Nobody really does.
The U.S. business media appear to be so mesmerized by Apple’s success with iPods and computers that it has not even noticed the key fact about iPhone: Only one operator in the world has had success with it. It has been a poison bonbon for every other Apple carrier partner. This does not mean that the 3G iPhone won’t be a huge global hit; it does mean that it’s hard to see it as a surefire winner.
Wouldn’t the European and Asian operators be extremely cautious in placing orders for the 3G iPhone after this debacle? Especially since there are no historic examples of a phone flopping in the viciously competitive European phone market and then turning into a blockbuster with a feature upgrade?Much depends on whether Jobs can admit that his global distribution plan has failed and that Apple needs a radically new approach for selling the iPhone outside AT&T (T – commentary – Cramer’s Take).
Psst. Apple doesn’t give a shit – its really their way or the highway. And they are better of for it. You know, its sort of like when Stihl told Walmart* to fuck off. Make the vendors play your game – never play their game or you will rapidly lose credibility and the upper hand.
So why would Stihl shut the door on distribution channels that reach a significant portion of end-consumers?
“The big boxes are also intimidating,” he told students. They dictate guarantees and shift costly operational activities off their own backs and onto suppliers. And they expect their suppliers not just to hold down their prices but to consistently drop them annually. In short, the supplier is left helpless and increasingly profitless. “If you sleep beside the 800-pound gorilla, you don’t want to be caught underneath when it rolls over,” said Burton.
