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Now we understand what Nokia's CEO meant when he said the company had to "jump into the icy seas" in order to save itself. The "icy seas" in question has materialized as Microsoft's OS, It is ironical that it was Nokia that originally led the main handset makers away from Microsoft  and into the Symbian consortium for fear of becoming commoditized hardware makers. Now, years later, the company has been forced to make a dramatic U-turn. Why didn't Nokia choose Android? Probably because both Nokia and telcos - who are its main customers - fear a Google monopoly (or a Google-Apple duopoly) and don't feel threatened by a now weakened Microsoft. Moreover, the two companies are somewhat complementary, with Nokia having scale but lacking a competitive OS, and the opposite for Microsoft. But critics might wonder whether - in this fierce competition between ecosystems - it is wise to pick a weaker ally for fear of intra-ecosystem competition, and risk losing the battle between ecosystems. Moreover, Nokia will have to pay Microsoft for OS licences and not have exclusive rights, so that the risk of becoming commoditized is for real. Finally, the announcement was made today, but new products will not be ready for months (how different from Apple's approach to announcements!). In the meanwhile, Nokia's market share is likely to plunge significantly. A real jump in the icy seas  

Few people have heard of Zune, the audio-video entertainment brand that Microsoft built in order to challenge Apple's iPod. Microsoft is now stepping up the challenge. Will its standard, based on interoperability between devices (Zune player, PCs/smartphones and Xbox consoles), be able to increase its market share from it's current and paltry 2%? Seems like a desperate attempt, but Microsoft has done it already in the past

Some years ago the operating systems challenge for smartphones seemed to be a Microsoft vs. Nokia affair. Then Apple and RIM - and Google later - stole the march and Microsoft somewhat disappeared from the field. But now they are back, and will probably use their usual tactics to gain dominance. But the real issues is: in a world where most applications run "in the cloud", do users really need "one" standard operating systems any more?

The digital generation loves social networking, but still there is no way to ensure that social networks are easy to use together. Especially because there are too many. Microsoft is playing the card "Kin", formerly known as Project Pink. Kin's been developed in collaboration with some important partners like Vodafone, Sharp, in order to be more competitive and to create a new smartphone platform., and also with Verizon, to guarantee a huge distribution for the product, in contrast with Google's strategy. The aim of the first pair of mobile Kin (in the future Microsoft could add other devices to this first generation platform) is not to simplify but to amplify the social users life and has got the difficult task of attracting the young, future consumers, within the Microsoft ecosystem, rather than in those created by Google and Apple.

The smartphone arena is getting hot, and competition is being fought not only in the market but also in courtrooms, over IPR. It is interesting that Microsoft has decided to challenge Google's Android OS indirectly, through the device-maker (and Microsoft partner) HTC, probably a weaker party than Google itself

E' pacifico che alcune scelte di Microsoft non siano risultate brillanti, ma alcuni asseriscono che la società possa stare tranquilla in vista del contrasto Apple v.s Google, i quali ancora non hanno le sue stesse quote di mercato. Tuttavia, come sappiamo, la situazione è destinata a cambiare, perciò nel leggere questo articolo ci si chiede se la scommessa di Bill Gates, vuoi tradizionalista, vuoi vincente finora nell'espandere la propria tela fra i consumatori medi (che poi siamo quasi tutti), possa spuntarla sul lunghissimo periodo. Microsoft è nota per aver trasformato le difficoltà dell'informatica in un pacchetto appetibile e pronto all'uso. Ma se pensiamo alla co-creation, alla specializzazione sempre più acuta delle persone, quanto vale davvero ostinarsi nello standard, nelle piattaforme, quando accanto a te c'è chi, con il cloud computing e l'open source, propone leggerezza di terminali, indipendenza dalla piattaforma, mobilità? Per ora tra i due litiganti Microsoft sta più o meno bene, ma l'innovazione ci insegna ad adeguarci, come lo stesso ingegnere IBM notava al seminario.

Microsoft replies by giving up bundling. It's probably to let PC-makers force the choice on customers.

The official text of the Nokia-Microsoft agreement.

Nokia and Microsoft, who have always been at odds in the battle for smartphone operating systems, have now formed an alliance for mobile applications. The idea is to bring personal productivity (Office) tools on Nokia (Symbian) phones and fight against growing market share by RIM (Blackberry phones).

Microsoft slowly starts building an online business model based on cloud computing, tackling Amazon and Google

The cloud computing paradigm is getting closer. Now Google is launching Chrome as an OS. While there appears to be widespread acceptance of the paradigm, we should not forget that Microsoft is strongly entrenched as a standard. The Chrome browser still has 2% market share!

The EU commission wants to end Microsoft's bundling of a browser with the operating system. But can you really force a split between the two? And can you force Microsoft to carry competing products as well? In the end, it depends on product architecture

The user interface for games consoles has dramatically changed since the Nintendo Wii. Now, in order to be in the game, console makers had to provide motion detection technology. Looking at Microsoft, will this R&D race pay off, maybe in terms of spillovers to other business lines, or only lead to defocusing?

Microsoft is trying to claw up market share in the smartphone industry. Really not an easy task, also because the traditional strategies used by the company are not so applicable in the current "cloud-based" paradigm, and would also bring close scrutiny from public authorities

An article on competition in the smartphone industry. Nokia is the market leader thanks to its brand and grip on the Symbian OS, but competitors like Apple and RIM are growing quickly thanks to superior product concepts. It is interesting that Nokia is teaming up with Microsoft in the area of Office applications, in order to increase the appeal of its products.

An interesting article on the battle being fought by Apple and Google, arguably the companies that are more likely (maybe with Facebook) to shape the future of IT and media. The article shows the two competing visions and philosophies, with Google focused on information management and Apple on user experience. Not by chance, the once dominant Microsoft is not even taking part in this game.

Interesting take on open vs. closed operating systems. Apple's iPhone is a strange mixture that - though technically open - is however subject to close control over which applications are allowed to run on it. This raises some issues over openness of markets, well beyond the issues that people had with the monopolistic temptations often observed with Microsoft

While Microsoft is trying to gain market share in smartphone operating systems, Nokia too is trying to do something about its losing position with Symbian. A new OS is being developed together with Intel, targeting higher-end devices positioned close to netbooks. An interesting idea ... provided that users will really value this kind of device. To be sure, it seems like shying away from the core of the battle.

The battle for smartphones is no longer a Symbian / Nokia vs.Microsoft affair. The two real competitors appear to be Apple and Google. However, it is interesting to notice that their strategy is markedly different, and depends on the underlying business model of the two companies. Apple wants to use cheap Apps to bring users to its devices. Google wants to use Internet access to bring users to its search algorithms. In any case, it is interesting to notice that both firms base their competitive position on a mixture of openness (to achieve reach) and secrecy/closeness (to make money).

Motorola is a bit of a maverick in the field of smartphones. Originally a supporter of Symbian, it then switched sides for Microsoft and is now firmly grounded in the Google Android camp. The problem is that it is not clear whether dominance in the industry will depend on the device, the operating system, or in the wider ecosystem (e.g. apps and services) that rotates around it, or in the integration between the three (provided that integration is an issue at all).