Just because that’s a made up quote, doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Microsoft are going to bring forward the next phase of the Eco System War (Formally known on this site as the Tablet Eco System War) with the release of the Surface tablet. With pre-orders starting soon in the US, ready for the Windows 8 Launch next week.
The Microsoft hardware list is expanding in the war to be consumers access point of preference. No longer will it just be well made mice and a games console (that gets used for so much more), there will be own-brand computers. Pure devices, like the iPad is to Apple and the Nexus 7 is to Google. Heck, add to that list Amazon and it’s Kindle Fire should they decide to buy RIM and get their own OS.
Microsoft will move back in to manufacturing phones next year. I am correct to say ‘back in to’, as lest we forget the lessons from the Kin. I have championed for some time that Microsoft will most likely buy Nokia. If not out of wanting integrate them directly, but to keep their strongest Windows Mobile partner going. Regardless of how this will play out, it would be a very savvy move on Microsoft’s behalf, as Nokia are one of the most innovative hardware companies in mobile communication with experience and skill that the far eastern companies would die for. For instance, if I was buying a handset to last me two years (standard contract these days), that wasn’t an iPhone, it would be the new Lumia 920 and not a Samsung G S III or a HTC. The Nokia could take more of a beating in the real world.
Microsoft using this experience to build their mobiles would immediately place them above other manufactures who keep WM going as an option, and not a focus.
This all works as a lovely screen for Google who bought Motorola. Yes, the 17,000 strong patent chest will have been a factor, but it cannot be far from the minds of the people close to that deal to think that the company that made communication icons of both the 90’s with the Startac and 00’s with the Razr could do the same again with Android and create a device to define the 20’s (lets face it, the 10’s belong to Apple).
There was a point recently where I was discussing why I would be buying an iPhone 5. As we talked it became evident that the device was one part of the motive. I’ve used an iPhone since it was available in the UK and I’ve uses Macs longer still. As a consumer, I’m in Apple’s eco system and to leave it is not just about learning something new (I love doing that) but about losing all the money I’ve invested in apps and content (that I would hate to do). In the medium future, we will be in the middle of a clearly defined eco system based digital world. Where the aim for the top players should not be, ‘How do we get the most new customers?‘ but, ‘How do we get people to move?‘.
