Microsoft – A Mobile Strategy Does Not Have To Include Phones
Microsoft and their mobile devices, Microsoft Lumia, were in the news again this week and not in a good way. The company has all-but confirmed that they will be killing off the devices and brand by the end of 2016. As a long time H/PC, PocketPC, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone users (I started this site back in 2004 writing about Handheld PCs and PocketPCs), it is a shame to see a company with the resources of Microsoft so utterly screw up their mobile strategy around devices. There are a lot of reasons for this of course and I could spend a lot of digital ink on it. But the bottom line is, from a device perspective, Microsoft made a long series of major missteps that has led to where we are today: Virtually no Windows powered phones. Sure there is the new HP Elite X3 but at the price point it has ($799), it will see very few and really, it’s aimed at the enterprise anyway.
But to suggest that Microsoft’s mobile strategy is dead because their phones are dead is a bit of a stretch and dare I say, false. Their strategy is very much alive and well across both Android and iOS and proves that you don’t necessarily have to have phones in the mix. Microsoft’s focus has been pretty clear for the last two years. First, they want you using Microsoft services on whatever devices you want to use. Second, they want you to have the apps to make you productive and give you near the same level of functionality as you have on the desktop. These two things not only make up a mobile strategy but it makes a pretty solid one.