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Insiders blame Microsoft mobile failure on Windows 'cartel'

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Insiders blame Microsoft mobile failure on Windows 'cartel'
Insiders blame Microsoft mobile failure on Windows 'cartel' | Electronista

I like this little part from the article:
Former Microsoft programmer Rebecca Norlander helped largely confirm suspicions that Ballmer personally axed the Courier. The dual-screen tablet was regarded by its team as a "breakout product," but when the then leader of the Entertainment and Devices group Robbie Bach presented it to Ballmer, the CEO not only denied extra funding but killed the project outright since it threatened to outdo Windows.
iOS (iphone OS back then) threatened to out do OS X. And in a way it has. That does not mean you should cancel a project cause it has the potential to make a bugger stir or generate more revenue then your core business. Just take the cash while you laugh all the way to the bank.

Apple moved from Apple Computes to Apple a while back. And that change in mindset is what really helped in part to bring the company forward. MS on the other hand is really MS windows. And it needs to move to plain ol MS. Remove the invisible windows name. That does not mean as windows. Keep it. It means realising the bigger picture. That if other things come along that can make you big revenues, take them. Don't kill everything that threatens your core business. And even if it does kill your core business, so what? It's called staying with the times and always selling what is new and what the customers want.

As much as we pay out MS, they really have done a lot of good for the IT industry in the past. But this mindset of theirs I think is one of their achilles heels in moving forward in the future. Never kill inspirational ideas simply cause it'll make more money then your core business. Only kill the ideas if they themselves won't turn a profit.

I find it funny that they killed a project on the basis it could generate too much revenue.
 
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The odd part is that while in some ways the iOS has eclipsed OSX, it has also become a catalyst for people buying Macs themselves. The iPod started down that road but iOS has certainly broadened the appeal to many more people and Apples increased Mac sales, at a time where other HW manufactures are struggling, has proved astonishingly resilient. All due, in no small part, to iOS.

Balmer could have used the product to "think outside of the box" for once and if it was actually successful like iOS, he could redraw Windows around it much like Apple is converging iOS and OSX (which were always related anyhow). Apple had their poor management in the 90s, MS has theirs today.
 

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