Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Why Microsoft wins: the Internet and Windows
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "THOUGHT" @ 10:42 AM
Ask your friend what the Internet is, and you will get an answer that is either about the Web or e-mail. Perhaps both. Microsoft will win in this market because they focus on making the Internet mobile, and not on creating some new "Mobile Internet" beast.
The Mobile Internet. I saw a huge poster with those words at a telecom exhibition three years ago. The logotype beneath was Ericsson's. What they really were talking about were Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Short Messaging Services (SMS), two standards completely unrelated to the Internet.
My opinion regarding information vs the Internet is in essence: If it is not available on the Internet, it does not exist. I believe in the Internet. I do not believe in the proprietary sphere labeled, dishonestly by mobile phone makers and mobile network operators, as the "Mobile Internet".
Ericsson is not alone. Nokia and the rest of the gang continues to play the old proprietary game. Take a look at infoSync's review of Nokia 7650. The Nokia 7650 is supposed to be Nokia's super phone for the Mobile Internet. Did you notice the absence of a Web browser? Jörgen writes: "...the 7650 isn't capable of browsing standard HTML pages but only WAP pages..."
I haven't used a Nokia 7650 myself, so I can't confirm. But if this is true, and Jörgen usually is well informed, I both extremely surprised (how else achieve a mobile Internet) and not surprised at all (Nokia...).
Enter Microsoft: the company that turned itself around in 1995 and embraced the Internet, and since then has ensured that each and every product it makes is tied to the Internet in one way or the other. The strategy is crystal clear: Embrace and Extend. (Quite an interesting aspect of the 1995 turnaround is that before the turnaround, there were plans to try to replace the Internet with the proprietary MSN Network. Deja Vu, Nokia?)
Embrace the old and proprietary: SMS, WAP and so on. Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 Phone Editions and Smartphones all embrace these standards. Microsoft even acknowledges the role of the players. Today, the mobile network operator (carrier) is seen as "owning" the user. In my opinion, the mobile network operator is nothing more than an ISP, a bit pipe. But Microsoft does not care about my opinion. Microsoft cares about the real state of things. Thus make carrier priority One. Embrace.
Extend. What does Microsoft to this world? Well, two major building blocks: real Internet connectivity and the Windows platform.
Microsoft continues to bet on the standards that runs the Internet today: TCP-IP, HTTP, HTML, XML, GIF, JPG, MP3 etc., etc. The bets are integrated into Microsoft's efforts to make the Internet mobile. When the average user starts to realize that Microsoft brings the Internet as she understands it to mobile devices, then we'll see some very interesting market dynamics happening. The Windows platform is familiar to the user, developer, and corporates alike. Making Windows mobile is a key factor in their success.
Two cups of embracing telecom standards and products. Seven spoonfuls of successful partnerships with carriers and Asian mobile device makers. Extend it all with Windows and the (real) Internet. Bake for yet another two years, and we have a winner. What do you think?
The Mobile Internet. I saw a huge poster with those words at a telecom exhibition three years ago. The logotype beneath was Ericsson's. What they really were talking about were Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Short Messaging Services (SMS), two standards completely unrelated to the Internet.
My opinion regarding information vs the Internet is in essence: If it is not available on the Internet, it does not exist. I believe in the Internet. I do not believe in the proprietary sphere labeled, dishonestly by mobile phone makers and mobile network operators, as the "Mobile Internet".
Ericsson is not alone. Nokia and the rest of the gang continues to play the old proprietary game. Take a look at infoSync's review of Nokia 7650. The Nokia 7650 is supposed to be Nokia's super phone for the Mobile Internet. Did you notice the absence of a Web browser? Jörgen writes: "...the 7650 isn't capable of browsing standard HTML pages but only WAP pages..."
I haven't used a Nokia 7650 myself, so I can't confirm. But if this is true, and Jörgen usually is well informed, I both extremely surprised (how else achieve a mobile Internet) and not surprised at all (Nokia...).
Enter Microsoft: the company that turned itself around in 1995 and embraced the Internet, and since then has ensured that each and every product it makes is tied to the Internet in one way or the other. The strategy is crystal clear: Embrace and Extend. (Quite an interesting aspect of the 1995 turnaround is that before the turnaround, there were plans to try to replace the Internet with the proprietary MSN Network. Deja Vu, Nokia?)
Embrace the old and proprietary: SMS, WAP and so on. Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 Phone Editions and Smartphones all embrace these standards. Microsoft even acknowledges the role of the players. Today, the mobile network operator (carrier) is seen as "owning" the user. In my opinion, the mobile network operator is nothing more than an ISP, a bit pipe. But Microsoft does not care about my opinion. Microsoft cares about the real state of things. Thus make carrier priority One. Embrace.
Extend. What does Microsoft to this world? Well, two major building blocks: real Internet connectivity and the Windows platform.
Microsoft continues to bet on the standards that runs the Internet today: TCP-IP, HTTP, HTML, XML, GIF, JPG, MP3 etc., etc. The bets are integrated into Microsoft's efforts to make the Internet mobile. When the average user starts to realize that Microsoft brings the Internet as she understands it to mobile devices, then we'll see some very interesting market dynamics happening. The Windows platform is familiar to the user, developer, and corporates alike. Making Windows mobile is a key factor in their success.
Two cups of embracing telecom standards and products. Seven spoonfuls of successful partnerships with carriers and Asian mobile device makers. Extend it all with Windows and the (real) Internet. Bake for yet another two years, and we have a winner. What do you think?
