Mobilisation
The realistic expectations for Microsoft's latest effort at a smartphone operating system - Windows Phone 7 - must be for it to grab third place behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android. This is working on the fairly solid assumption that Symbian continues to decline.
In order to do this Microsoft is going to chuck the same kind of marketing resource that we've seen behind Windows 7, but that's not all. Late last week Microsoft made a couple of announcements. Firstly it has cemented the positions of Andy Lees and Don Mattrick in the Mobile and Entertainment divisions, respectively, by making them presidents.
The two became the de facto heads of their divisions when the overall boss of the two - Robbie Bach - retired earlier this year. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also filled the void left by Stephen Elop moving to Nokia by an internal appointment - promoting 18 year Microsoft veteran Kurt DelBene to president of the Office division.
"Today's promotions underscore the strength of Microsoft's collective leadership team and set us up well to execute against a powerful lineup of products this fall," said Ballmer. "Not only is the team ready to capitalize on major momentum with our existing products like Office, SharePoint and Halo: Reach, but they are simultaneously bringing entirely new experiences to market with Windows Phone 7 and Kinect for Xbox 360."
We think Android is a more significant competitor to WP7 as its openness promises the kind of ubiquity that Microsoft has on the PC with Windows. It seems Microsoft agrees, and is gearing up for its war with Android by suing Motorola over nine Microsoft patents it claims are infringed on by its Android phones.
"The patents at issue relate to a range of functionality embodied in Motorola's Android smartphone devices that are essential to the smartphone user experience, including synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power," said Microsoft VP and IP lawyer Horacio Gutierrez, before offering the usual stuff about owing it to shareholders to defend their rights, etc.
Motorola was conspicuously absent from the list of WP7 launch partners announced back in February. It seems an amazing coincidence that done of the OEMs that are on that list, but which also produce Android phones - which includes Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, HTC and Dell - have avoided infringing on these patents Microsoft is so keen to defend.
