Less is more with Microsoft Windows Phone 7

Will it work? ‘Mobile take-over’ is certainly is a situation that resonates with many people, but is it a real problem that will win over new consumers? The answer; may be if your partner was buying the device.

I think this is a relatively sad reflection of the market place. Lately we have seen so many organisations taking pot shots at each other, Apple at other handset manufacturers over its iPhone 4 ‘deathgrip’, Nokia at Apple and HTC during the 2010 NokiaWorld event and now Microsoft.

I have always questioned comparative marketing – it more often than not looks desperate, I feel this occasion is no different.

Microsoft have the opportunity to really showcase what they have done with Windows Phone 7 and re-invent themselves in mobile. They have to focus on the task in hand, have confidence in your products and stop the cheap pot shots mentality.    The advert in question below:

Google dominates search on the Web, but on mobile phones — where distribution matters and where the lessons of Google’s ways are well understood — Microsoft just might have an edge.

 The escalating rivalry between Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) might be the best thing that happens to Bing this year. Microsoft’s  little decision-engine-that-can has yet to make much headway on mobile browsers. Ever since the iPhone launched with Google as its default search engine, Google has dominated the mobile web: its search had 30 million unique visitors in January, according to Nielsen. Thanks in part to a lucrative distribution deal inked with AT&T (T), Yahoo (YHOO)  had 6.5 million visitors. Microsoft’s search products? Just 3.8 million.

 But in such a new and fast-growing market, it’s a mistake to think Google has search locked up. So far, distribution deals have been key to dominating search on mobile handsets. As Google gets into the phone business, with the launch of its Android operating system and even its own handset, many smartphone makers will likely think twice about relying on the company that is cutting into their business. Rumors already abound that Apple is considering working with Microsoft (MSFT) to launch Bing as the default search engine for upcoming Apple products like the iPad and even the iPhone.

 Even if these rumors don’t come to fruition, Bing stands to gain greater distribution. It has been popping up all over the place recently as cellphone manufacturers and wireless carriers look to balance the risks that come with relying too much on Google. On March 10, Motorola (MOT) announced it would add Microsoft’s search product to its Android handsets, beginning with Android phones released in China this quarter. The news comes in the wake of escalating tensions between Google and the Chinese government after Google threatened to stop doing business in the country earlier this year.

 Just before the holidays, the black “Bing” icon popped up on myriad BlackBerrys as a partnership penned with Verizon (VZ) more than a year ago finally kicked in (Verizon: Microsoft Beats Google). Verizon now offers Bing on all of its smartphones except its Android offerings, where it ships the devices with Google. When asked about the Bing application recently, a Verizon representative called it a “first stop,” explaining that users can visit the app store to download any search product they want.

 Indeed, these distribution deals may be less important in the future as consumer loyalty switches from the wireless carriers (AT&T or Sprint (S)?) to the devices (BlackBerry or iPhone?). No matter what the default, consumers may turn to their app stores to download the products they like best.  In this environment, Bing’s most important partners won’t be the tech companies or the phonemakers but consumers. But for now, an Apple partnership would go a long way.

(Source: CNN Money)

I earlier came across an article titled ‘Is 2010 going to be the year of the greatest battle yet, Android v iPhone?’. I have taken the decision not to share as in short, No it is not!

It is amazing to see so many supposed intelligent people being taken in by the iPhone and now the Android fantasy. A fantasy is exactly what it is – an inability to reflect the current market and a complete speculation about the future.  RIM, Nokia and Symbian going to go away and the world is going to be iPhone and Android – based on what evidence?

Sadly these fantasies seem to have been cemented by individuals that have invested time, effort or money into iPhone/Android, or have had a poor experience with their rivals in the past.

Looking at the mMetrics statistics for the US is quite revealing. In October 2009, Android devices have less than 0.5% market share and the iPhone around 3.7%. In other countries the story is similar. Neither have dominant positions. As I have suggested before, Mobile strategy – iPhone should factor but certainly not dominate, considering actual market share the iPhone receives a disproportionate amount of attention from the media, mobile industry and businesses alike. To counter those that will now come out and state that iPhone users dominate the mobile web usage, by volume of pages yes but by numbers of users no. According to AT&T, 4% of their iPhone users account for almost 60% of their total iPhone mobile web usage. In real terms just 350,000 are therefore significant users, out of a US mobile installed base of some 260 million that is not particularly impressive.

What is for certain is that both Apple and Google will make a further in road in to the mobile space in 2010 and onwards. But is the battle going to be focused only on these two. Certainly not! The way Google is reportedly going to be approaching the market, directly selling to consumers, in my view can only play into one organisation’s hands. If a consumer was to start to accept the real cost of a mobile device, without any subsidies or at least not linked to a mobile operator, this will change the playing field. The door could be firmly open to an organisation like Microsoft. Without question they have some serious work to do to get their Windows Mobile platform fit for purpose. But simply loosening the controlling grip of the mobile operators on the type of devices and distribution should play right in to the hands of an organisation such as Microsoft.  

Oh and Nokia, RIM and others are sure not to lie down and sit back and watch from the sidelines. So 2010 is unlikely to be a two horse race.