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Microsoft shifts emphasis from its bid to gain supremacy in the mobile enterprise to the lucrative back end

By mobile | September 12, 2007

* An important aspect of Microsoft’s strategy for growth in the past few years has been to extend the dominance of Windows on the PC platform on to other devices that are emerging as possible usurpers of the PC’s role in the enterprise and home. The main focus has been on mobile PDAs and smartphones, and on digital media equipment, such as set-top boxes, for the multimedia home environment. In both areas, the giant has scored some notable successes, but is up against powerful players keen to defend their turf and not cede control to the software house as the PC industry did. Therefore, it is unlikely–especially in the mobile enterprise space–to gain ubiquity for Windows on the client devices.

Instead, it is shifting more and more to gaining control of the more lucrative back end–integration, middleware and web services technologies–and considering the unthinkable, support for third party client operating systems such as Symbian smartphones, and even for Java.

A critical moment came in April when Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 5, the latest iteration of its operating system for cellphones and PDAs. In line with recent actions by Microsoft, which suggest a shift of its focus away from ubiquitous Windows clients and towards control of the back end software, the OS, codenamed Magneto, was less aggressive than some had predicted in attacking rivals such as SymbianOS and RIM BlackBerry head-on.

Instead, there was a strong focus on integration of Wi-Fi and cellular networks as Microsoft eyes its traditional enterprise market, where dual-mode WLan/mobile devices are expected to proliferate rapidly from next year. Also, Microsoft played to its traditional strengths–the huge installed base of its Exchange software, which supports multiple mobile client operating systems through ActiveSync, and its influence over its developer community.

Admitting to being “way the underdog”, Windows chief Jim Allchin believes this will be the breakthrough release of Windows Mobile, which is primarily installed on PDAs, although it has found favor with some cellphone makers such as Motorola. One tactic will be supporting a far greater diversity of device designs, an area where Nokia has made great strides with Symbian-powered mobile radios and games consoles that incorporate telephony.

The ability easily to mix and match cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will be important in this quest to enable handset makers to create diverse models.

“The important thing is to make sure that there is seamless roaming and handover and a consistent experience,” said Ya-Qin Zhang, former head of Microsoft, Chinese research lab and now US-based as head of the mobile devices unit. “That is a critical technology that we need to enable,” he told an interview with CNET.

The new release will at last deliver on Microsoft’s promise to combine its three mobile operating systems–Smartphone, PocketPC, and PocketPC Phone Edition–in one. Other major changes will be an interface redesign that allows for single-handed control of the device, the ability to add photos and personalized melodies to contacts in Pocket Outlook, a revamped Office Mobile with new PowerPoint Mobile Viewer, support for hard drives, and built-in drivers for GPS and camera functionality.

There is also stronger support for ActiveSync, the Microsoft technology for synchronizing mobile clients with Exchange, over Bluetooth, plus support for Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. However, there is no upgrade to ActiveSync itself, a move that had been widely predicted as a ‘BlackBerry killer’. This further reflects Microsoft’s new openness to work with other client OSs provided it can rule in the back end with key platforms like Exchange and .Net CF.

Although Microsoft has pulled back somewhat from its original aim to make Windows as dominant on the smartphone as on the PC, it has learned various lessons from the other contenders for that crown, particularly Symbian. In particular, Magneto makes it easier for handset makers to customize their designs to appeal to a wide variety of carriers. This shows Microsoft, belatedly, realizing that the cellphone world is very different from that of the PC. Having every device looking virtually the same in terms of interface is definitely not a plus in the cellular market, which relies on a wide variety of look and feel for different user groups.

Of course, there are areas where Nokia and the others have learned lessons from Microsoft, notably in its ability to cultivate developers–many PC-style techniques have been emulated by Nokia in the past year and its intensive focus on building the developer base for SymbianOS and the Series 60 software platform. Microsoft is highly skilled at building ecosystems around its main technologies and the developer support and marketing programs surrounding Magneto look strong–not to mention a marketing budget for mobility for the coming year estimated at $100m, more than the giant currently makes in mobile revenues.

Topics: Mobile Cellphone |

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