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Posted in DRM, Hardware, Microsoft at 11:03 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Windows Mobile, Sidekick, Xbox 360, and Zune still lagging, proving that Microsoft is unable to advance beyond the cash cows
Microsoft gadgets like Zune and Windows Mobile phones are simply unable to turn a profit [1, 2], but Microsoft has not given up. New products were recently launched, for example Windows Mobile 6.5 which received terrible reviews and now receives an apparent ‘fix release’. According to a couple of separate, independent analysts who spoke about this market over the past month, Android is poised to dominate this space and Android uses Linux.
According to the following article from IDG, Vista 7 is likely to break even further the compatibility between Windows and Windows Mobile.
> Windows 7 might as well be Vista when it comes to interacting with mobile devices. Microsoft’s total mangling of this mobile opportunity reveals a number of major flaws that the company must address if it’s going to continue to dominate the OS world.[...]One of Microsoft’s fatal flaws is that it thinks in products, not in ecosystems. It builds a lot of attractive pieces, but it doesn’t snap together the puzzle. For instance: what’s up with the Danger/Sidekick thing, anyway? They bought Danger way back in February, 2008.
It all sounds very unpleasant and ghosts of Sidekick return in light of the Danger/Microsoft fiasco. IDG has this new article which bears the headline: “Ballmer: Sidekick outage ‘not good’”
You don’t say, eh?
We wrote about Sidekick incidents in:
Microsoft Pink is Already Declared Dead and Danger Dies with Permanent Data LossMicrosoft Sued for Data LossLawsuits Against Microsoft Turn to Class Action Lawsuit While Microsoft Mobiles Become Dying BreedMicrosoft Recovers Sidekick Data? Not So Fast!
Speaking of Windows Mobile, Microsoft is proudly displaying mobile applications that it rejected. Not only applications are being rejected by Microsoft but hardware too. We wrote about this last week and now we can find Microsoft’s excuse, which substitutes “revenue” with “cheating in games”. Yes, Microsoft claims that if some memory chip is not “approved”/”authorised” by Microsoft, then it can actually alter the function of games. It is a rather dubious claim. In their own words:
> Chances are you’ve already heard how the forthcoming Xbox 360 update isn’t going to play nicely with “unauthorized storage devices” aka all memory units that aren’t licensed by Microsoft. It’s a bummer considering how expensive the company’s storage devices are, no doubt about it.Patrick Klepek at G4TV got a spokesperson from Microsoft to explain why the decision was made, in addition to what would happen to those who didn’t obey the new rules. According to the rep, Microsoft is looking to “protect the Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE service from cheating, which is the primary purpose and use of these unauthorized MUs.”
Evidence is not provided and Microsoft is annoying those who have joined the Xbox swindle. At the moment, Microsoft is not even leading in sales across the United States, its ‘home ground’ (the Japanese retain/regain the lead and Microsoft is trailing behind).
Lastly, regarding the Zune HD, more bad reviews arrive.
> MS needs to pull their collective heads out and get to work here or they will surely lose the PMP fight and very quickly.
From another new review:
> If you need your media player to function as a PDA too, the Zune is not there yet, and you’d still be better off with an iPod Touch despite the new benefits of the Zune HD.
Why does Microsoft even keep this product alive? It’s losing money, not making any. Microsoft may be driving itself into more unnecessary layoffs that it could avoid by not trying to overstretch in vain. It’s the sin of Hubris. The next post will look at the high cost of Microsoft’s battles on the Web, mostly against Google. █
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