If Microsoft has “won” the Operating System battle and the Office Suite battle, why is it having so much trouble competing in the Smart Phone wars? According to reliable information leaked from the company’s recent closed-door Venture Capital Summit, CEO Steve Ballmer answers that question by admitting, “We screwed up!”
The September 24 meeting was closed to the press but word leaked out through someone in attendance that Ballmer uttered those exact words. He reportedly suggested that the company had “made mistakes” in the execution of its Windows Mobile operating system. Online magazine eWeek quoted attendees at the closed-door meeting.
Some of the news began to appear before the meeting
ended and the doors were unlocked. Apparently, according to eWeek, some venture capitalists in attendance sent Twitter messages about Ballmer’s admission as he spoke. One German VC tweeted, “Ballmer says they screwed up with Windows Mobile. Wishes they had already launched WM7. They completely revamped the team.”
Did he send the tweets on a Windows Mobile smart phone? No one is saying. Another anonymous tweeter quoted Ballmer as saying that new talent had been pumped into the Windows Mobile team.
Microsoft did not respond to reporter requests for comment on the leaks or their accuracy.
Many home care and hospice agencies deploy smart phones today, either in addition to laptop PCs or in place of them. Though Windows Mobile is the OS of choice, in order to maintain compatibility with back office systems, inroads have been made into the once-secure marketplace by Blackberry’s RIM system and by Palm and Apple. At least one home care software vendor is already quietly working on an iPhone-based home telehealth project.
Microsoft watched over the summer while its mobile OS market share decline to around 9% in the second quarter of 2009. The Redmond, Washington behemoth
will release Mobile 6.5 on October 6 but not be able to replace it with Mobile 7 — and thereby finally pose serious competition to the Apple iPhone and Palm Pre — until the end of next year.
Apparently, marketing strategy is to lure developers to work on applications for Windows Mobile 6.5 by telling them they can charge high prices for their products. Microsoft is also expanding the smart phone brands that will roll out Mobile 6.5 on or near its October 6 release date, so far including LG Electronics, HTC and Sony Ericsson. By the time Mobile 7 appears at the end of 2010, the total is expected to exceed a dozen Windows phones.
