What does Microsoft hope to do with a Zune Phone?

If a recent rumor coming out of Redmond is to be believed, Microsoft will attempt to prop up their floundering Windows Mobile and Zune products by marrying them together.  According to an entry on a blog on allthingsd.com Within two months from now ether at the mobile world conference in February or the Cellular Telephone Industry Association conference in March, Microsoft will announce a new smart phone running Windows Mobile 7 using a Zune style user interface.  The phones will be made by Microsoft and sold through a carrier (Verizon most likely)  While other handset makers will be able to make phones with Windows Mobile 7 the Zune style media player functionality will be exclusive to Microsoft's phone.

If Microsoft is hoping to compete with the iPhone, that ship sailed two and half years ago.  At best Microsoft can only expect to hold ground against Google's Android.  While Android has a better overall UI it hasn't been exactly been the strongest portable media player in a phone not made by Apple.  Microsoft needs the handset makers for Windows Mobile to survive, and given that Microsoft is has become a handset maker when they acquired Danger (maker of the well known and now infamous sidekick), and going further into making actual smartphones, that doesn't exactly give handset makers a reason not to defect to Android. 

2009 Prognostications Redux

The close of 2009 just a few weeks away, it's time once again to check up on predictions I made last year at this time and see how accurate my digital clairvoyance really was, so here's what I thought was going to happen in 2009 and what actually did happen:

1. Handset makers start dumping Windows Mobile and go to Google Android

On this one I get half a mark, while handset manufacturers and cell carriers have started to adopt Android, nobody has dropped Windows Mobile yet, that could still come in 2010.  Windows Mobile 6.5 was released to tepid reviews and Microsoft promises that Windows Mobile 7 will be better, Microsoft had better deliver.  Android will be seen by handset manufacturers as what they need to compete against Apple's iPhone.

2. Canadian cell phone carriers start marketing blitz in advance of arrival of competition

I wouldn't exactly call what the cell carriers have done to get ready for new competition as a marketing blitz, Canada's incumbent cellular carriers have dropped the system access fee on new cell phone accounts which is a good thing, Bell and Telus have started their change over from CDMA to GSM/HSPA which is another good thing because it moves Canada to a single standard system for Cellular communications, which is another good thing because it allows an unlocked phone to be used on any network. The cell carriers have gone and cried foul to the CRTC about the ownership structure of one of the new competitive carriers Wind Mobile, their decicion delays their launch well into 2010.  The incumbents have also gone after each other about their advertising claims this is another bad thing for subscribers, because the costs of all lawsuit damage rewards are ultimately will get passed down to you know who: cell phone subscribers.

3. Yahoo Fire Sale

This one is one I'm glad I got wrong, Yahoo getting bought up and sold off would have been a tragic end of one of the Internet's pioneering brands. A search deal with Microsoft is already threating to kill Yahoo's core product, web search.  The future of Yahoo as just an online media company will be uncertain at best.  This is a story that will conclude in 2010.

4. Apathy towards Windows 7 gains momentum

This is the prediction that I was the most wrong about.  Those who had to endure Windows Vista jumped over to Windows 7 in large numbers.  The Windows XP hold outs are making the switch as well.  2010 will be finally be the year the corporate IT community finally makes a switch to another operating system.  Windows 7, Mac OS X or something else. 


Half marks on a couple of predictions and complete wrong on a couple more shows that 2009 was an eventful year in tech, just as 2010 promises to be.  Stay tuned for the predictions for 2010.

Digital Prognostications for 2009

With 2009 just a few days away, the year ahead in technology promises to be tumultuous as the troubled economy that has already knocked around smaller tech companies looks like it will get much worse. This blogger gazes into the proverbial crystal ball and sees...

1. Handset makers start dumping Windows Mobile and go to Google Android

With the astounding growth of smartphones, the iPhone will remain on top, however Microsoft's Windows Mobile will fall further behind as the much Google's Android will appear on handsets made by those other than HTC on carriers other than TMobile. Rumors have already surfaced that Motorola is developing an Android based handset. It would be most probable to see the next Android based smartphone on Sprint in an attempt to regain subscribers lost to AT&T and Verizon.
For handset makers looking for something that can help them to compete with Apple's iPhone, Motorola, Samsung, and LG will probably put out Google Android and Windows Mobile will fall to wayside.

2. Canadian cell phone carriers start marketing blitz in advance of arrival of competition

Bell, Rogers and Telus will be getting new competion in the end of 2009 or 2010 and to saturate radio, television, print and online media with advertising to try to tell cell subscribers of all the reasons that they should stay with their current cell carriers. Everything from better coverage, more relabile established networks, and bundles with television and Internet service will be reasons that the big three of Canadian cell carriers will give to prevent subscribers from jumping to the startup cell carriers.

3. Yahoo! Fire Sale

In the aftermath of the Microsoft's failed bid for the dot-com pioneer, the share price has plumeted and hasn't recovered. Investors in the troubled Yahoo will look to get out. While Microsoft may pick it up at a bargain basement price it is more likely that one of the traditional media companies will buy up Yahoo looking to expand it's online presence. That may be a 1999 business model but for a print media company that's a big step forward.

4. Apathy towards Windows 7 gains momentum

In preparation for the release of Windows 7 scheduled for 2010, Microsoft's marketing machine goes into overdrive to attempt to get over the hostility that some people feel towards Windows Vista. Microsoft hoping to make a new version a hit with PC users after a previous version bombed (Windows XP after Windows ME). Even if there is nothing wrong with Windows 7, Microsoft hasn't given a compelling reason for people to move from their current operating systems to Windows Vista let alone Windows 7.

Steve Ballmer Wrong Again

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has once again made another prediction that makes me start to think that it is possible to have one foot on their mouth while having their head stuck up another orifice. Ballmer predicts that Apple and RIM will Nokia will lose and Microsoft will win the battle of the Smart Phone operating systems according to a CNET News.com article.

Ballmer claims that because the competitors to Microsoft's Windows Mobile because they design proprietary hardware and tie it to proprietary software. In Ballmer's distorted view smart phones are just going to be like little PC's with most hardware manufacturers buying Windows Moble.

What goes to show that Steve Ballmer really has the blinders on is that he makes absolutely no mention about Google's Android which like Windows Mobile is designed to operate on just about any smart phone regardless of manufacturer.

Hardware manufacturers such as Motorola have have relied upon Microsoft's Windows Mobile to power their smart phones are now taking a serious look at releasing new phones that use Google's Android. While any Android phone may only join a line up smartphones that are powered by Windows Mobile, it's only a matter of time before smartphone manufacturers drop Windows Mobile and go Android only. Let's see what Steve has to say happens when Windows Mobile loses.