[protomyth]

> What is he talking about? Microsoft was in the handset and tablet business since the 90s.

I think he means to directly make the handset as the earlier offerings were on the PC model (Microsoft does OS, Manufacturer does phone).

> That's also part of the problem. Ballmer was obsessed with Apple and while he focused on Apple, Android took over the market.

In a lot of ways, I think the crux is they wanted the same profit Apple was getting and forgot that's not how they won the PC industry. Android succeeds in numbers because it is now the default free phone or the phone offered for non-contract folks. Android basically because the dumb phone replacement. Microsoft probably would have better off going for that market and making their money off apps and services. Other than Samsung and Google, the phones I see are the cheapies. I know LG makes a good phone, but the Android LG phones Walmart has are not them.

I still think RIM (and Verizon if the book Losing the Signal is to be believed) made a huge error in the Storm and should have hit the low-end phone market with the messaging (ok, they did need the big software improvement but the Passport looked good from a keyboard UI point of view). Apple really didn't execute its iPod strategy in the phone market and left a lot of room at the bottom.

[reacweb]

IMHO the failure of RIM was to copy Apple instead of focusing on their identity: an enterprise friendly phone with a good keyboard.

[protomyth]

I think they had to move into the consumer market, but they should have used their ability with messaging to get them their. Developing something like the Passport instead of the Storm would have been a much better deal.