The New York Times: Microsoft is stuck in a mobile mess

The New York Times wrote that Google and Apple have both implemented hardware and software integration strategies that were a major reason for Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's mobile phone business. As a result, Microsoft's decision was awkward after the Google sale of Motorola Mobile. However, the overall analysis is not hard to find, although the decision is compromised, but for Microsoft's long-term goals, it is the most sensible decision today. The following is the full text of the article: pressing issues when Microsoft last September announced the acquisition of the ailing Nokia handset business and planned to integrate Windows operating system into the device business, it gave two reasons for the 7.2 billion-dollar deal: Apple and Google have merged software and hardware. The deal will ensure that Microsoft's Windows operating system continues to survive in the mobile industry. But this moment, WTF. Google last month admitted its plans to move into the handset hardware industry failed to sell Motorola Mobile to Lenovo for 2.91 billion dollars. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Nokia would use the Android system in one of the company's smartphones to target emerging markets. As a result, Microsoft's new CEO, Satia Nadra, is satyanadella to face some pressing questions: is Nokia's deal still meaningful? How can Microsoft survive, or even prosper, in the hardware market that Google has abandoned? The fundamental problem for Microsoft is that most users have chosen an operating system. Google has won. Nicolas Ecnomides Nicholaseconomides, a professor of economics at the University of New York who specializes in cyber economics and E-commerce, said the biggest market share of the day has been taken away by Google, with Apple topping the second. Microsoft is lagging far behind. What is Microsoft's position in this competition? The battlefield shift from Microsoft's perspective, it may be in a different war-the object of contention has gone beyond the operating system installed on the phone or mobile phone, but rather the application and service ecosystem built on it. If that is the case, Microsoft has no choice but to double its bets on Nokia and its mobile phone business because other options will be worse. On his first day as CEO on February 4, Nadra emailed his employees: "Our mission is to ensure that Microsoft continues to thrive in a world where mobile and cloud computing are the first." Without moving, it's hard to imagine how Microsoft can move and cloud computing first. Microsoft's goal is to get Windows to use Microsoft software and apps on PCs and tablets. Professor Ecnomides said that if it could be achieved, it would be a great victory. They can take advantage of all their apps and become a formidable competitor. But they haven't achieved it yet. After all, the goal may not always be a reality. Matney Kirkmaterne, an investment banker Evercore, said Microsoft had no choice. For Microsoft, this is about getting involved in the market and enhancing windows relevanceA very low-risk way, he said, the outlook is not wonderful and they are already at a disadvantage. But investors ' expectations are low and if Microsoft can regain some momentum, it will be good for them. For Microsoft, which holds 83 billion dollars, the money spent on Nokia is not much. But for Microsoft or Lenovo, or other hardware makers trying to capture market share, the current trend is bleak: Nokia and the BlackBerry, once the dominant market, are now in a life-and-death trap. Nokia's 2013-year market share fell 25% to 13.8%, according to IDC, the US market research firm, while BlackBerry's share was only a few 1.9%. The status quo so far, the Lumia brand has yet to take a firm foothold in the global smartphone market as a combination of Microsoft's Windows operating system and Nokia's handsets. Although Lumia in the fourth quarter of last year, the year-on-year doubling to 8.2 million, but the chain has slipped. Compared with rivals, Lumia has no advantage: Samsung has sold 86 million units, 10 times times more than Nokia, and Apple has reached 51 million. Even Huawei (16.6 million) and Lenovo (13.6 million) are far beyond Nokia. In its latest earnings, Nokia said the handset division, which was about to sell to Microsoft, lost 201 million euros in the fourth quarter and sales shrank by 29%. Microsoft has said it needs to sell 50 million Lumia handsets a year to make ends meet, but the current level is still far from the target. Google did not take the handset business seriously from the start, and its performance was equally bleak. Under Google's management, Motorola moved 2012 years of operating losses of 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, 2013 years before the 9-month operating loss of 645 million U.S. dollars. But many analysts believe that Microsoft may not be as easy as Google to dump a loss of the mobile phone business. Microsoft is different from Google. Evercore Analyst Ken Seine (Kensena) said. Unlike Microsoft, Google does not need to worry about ecosystem issues, as Android has become the world's largest mobile operating system. Android can deliver traffic to Google's search engine, which is Google's main source of profit. While selling Motorola Mobile to Lenovo could help Google exit from the embarrassment of the present and no longer compete head-on with its biggest customers, it could lead to a further expansion of the size of its main rivals for Samsung. Win time without Nokia's support, Windows could be at risk of outright extinction in the mobile phone market. Microsoft is not worried about competing with mobile phone companies that use Windows, because their contributions are negligible. On the contrary, the deal could at least buy Microsoft some time. Microsoft needs to see how Windows works on the phone. Ecnomides said it would be useful to set up a department to do the job. Otherwise, you will have to ask Samsung or other companies to produce Windows devices. But Samsung has sold a ton of Android.OID phone, it doesn't care about windows. It's worth mentioning that Samsung did use Windows on some handsets and computers. In addition to Apple, the company has succeeded in grabbing huge profits from its mobile phone business. While Google may have given up, such high margins are attractive to any competitor. Creativeglobal Investment, CEO of Apple's independent market research firm, has always questioned Apple's particular vulnerability to price-sensitive emerging markets, Carol Bessen. Microsoft's strategy is better suited to emerging markets, where consumer purchasing power is limited and people buy bare metal. ' We believe that Microsoft's mobile strategy is clearly more successful than Apple because it focuses on low-cost markets, ' he said. Although the initial stage of the user is less, but Microsoft has made some progress. According to IDC, Windows has become the second-largest smartphone operating system in 9 markets worldwide, with shipments exceeding Apple in 10 markets in 2013. Targeting Android Although Nokia has yet to formally announce that it will use Android to develop an entry-level phone for emerging markets, and once the acquisition is complete, Microsoft may be able to cancel the decision, but it may not be as crazy as it sounds. Microsoft may follow Amazon's Kindle model and use an Android version with its own apps. Installing Windows services on low-end Android devices is a very sensitive thing to do. Asymco analyst Hollis Dediu, an American consultancy, said that without Google, Android was just a commodity pipeline. And if Microsoft can attract entry-level users to use the company's apps and services, it will eventually lure them to switch to Windows phones. At least theoretically. Microsoft must learn to survive in a more diverse world of operating systems. Evercore's Martini says, I think the new CEO understands that. What really matters is the application that is running on the device. The profit of the equipment itself cannot dominate Microsoft's overall situation. Regardless of Microsoft's eventual outcome, some analysts predict that today's smartphone wars may one day be no longer important. Wearable devices will turn mobile phones and tablets into obsolete products and dominate the personal communications market. Basin Noose said. One reason Google has given up its mobile phone is perhaps to focus on developing wearable technologies, including Google glasses and other undisclosed products. It is rumored that Apple, Samsung and Microsoft are developing smart watches and other wear equipment. And that part of the business that Nokia retains is also looking at the market.