Ray7 said:RLO said:*snip*And what are the partners doing now?
Either releasing phones running their own operating system, or releasing tablets/phones using Android.
"And what are the partners doing now?"
Exactly.
The landscape has changed in the past 30 years. Technology companies have gotten further and further away from real invention. Take a look at the modern personal computer. Crack open an HP computer sometime. Motherboard by Asus, Video by Nvidia, Audio by Realtek, Processor by Intel, Hard Drive from Western Digital, CDRW Burner by Toshiba, Operating System by Microsoft. Specs for Assembly by HP, Case Design by HP, Crapware installed by HP. HP doesn't make PC's, they assemble them. When netbooks started taking off, where did the Partners go? Linux.
Where are the partners going now? Linux/Android and WebOS. Not Windows CE.
The plan before was to slash prices on XP. It worked. Is the plan for WinPho7 to slice prices again?
That's not a healthy business plan, because MS would never survive with that type of revenue.
If MS wanted to get into the computing business they could, the money is there. They could pull the same things their partners are doing and assemble pc's and throw an MS logo on it. The difference would be they would reap all the profits. It's no different than what HP and Dell and Lenovo do now.
Although I suggest this, I don't think MS should go this route. The PC as a growth market has been saturated. Although, if they had been more ambitious during the development of the Origami Project, I would have reccommended it then for that form factor. Origami had a lot of potential, and MS had calculated that it could be sold for around $500 profitably. When the actual devices surfaced, they were double that amount. One year later, netbooks were on the market for $300, and Origami was killed. How much is the iPad? Missed opportunites.
It takes a vision, from start until finish. It is about controlling the vision on every level to make it succeed. Microsoft should have gotten the experience from the mistakes made in E&D. The experience not to make the same mistakes, instead of the experience they should not be in the market.
It is absolutely nuts. Year before last, Ballmer was showing of the future of computing on the stage at CES. A thin suface-like slate to be used in the classroom. Two years later, Apple swoops in with the iPad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=regenEAuG8Q&feature=related
About 2:30 in.
Does anyone else feel a little sick right now?
