The Big Picture: Gates says the Direction Microsoft took in Smartphones "Clearly a Mistake"

In an interview on CBS This Morning, Mircosoft Co-Founder and Chairman Bill Gates commented briefly on the state of his company since he stepped down as CEO nearly five years ago. Gates was not overly critical of current CEO, Steve Ballmer, but rather suggested that neither of them were happy with Microsoft's current 2.4 percent stake in the mobile market. Mr. Gates lauded Ballmer for getting "a lot of amazing things done" in his time at the software giant, including Bing, the Surface tablet, Xbox, and Windows 8, which Gates said "is the key to the future".

Gates went on to say that he and Ballmer are "two of the most self critical people (that) you can imagine" and that "We didn't miss cell phones, but the way we went about it didn't allow us to get the leadership. So it's clearly a mistake." Hopefully this indicates that Microsoft is working to reform it's somewhat lack-luster image in the mobile market and will strive to be more innovative in the year ahead.

Also in the news today, China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world's leader consumer of Smart Devices by months end. New date suggest that the Chinese people will be using an estimated 246 million active Android and iOS devices by the end of February to the U.S.'s 230 million. With the vast differances in population (China has approx. 1.3 Billion citizens to the U.S.'s approx 310 million) it is unlikely that the U.S. will overtake China again in mobile use. India (approx. 1.2 Billion citizens) is the only country that may every overtake China in the mobile market.


Sources: CBS News, CNET

Surface Pro for gamers?

Four days ago, the Surface Pro from Microsoft hits stores. So far the reaction has been mostly positive. Microsoft's online store ran out of the 128 Gigabyte version on day one. That's great news for Microsoft, but are they missing something?

According to a post from Jason Evangelho from Forbes.com and a related post on CNET by Brooke Crothers, the Surface Pro can run Valve's Portal 2 as well as Diablo III at near top graphics setting! This is quite a performance acheivement when most laptop and budget desktop PC's are too anemic to manage such a feat. So what's the problem? Microsoft isn't bragging about it!

After months of brazzen advertisements featuring young professionals (and school children with way to much attitude) break dancing in praise of the Surface RT and Surface Pro, not to mention most peoples disappointment with the Surface RT's operating system, Microsoft should be shouting the Pro's powerhouse capabilities from the roof tops! But, instead the Surface Pro is being advertised as a business tool, ignoring a prime set of technological early adopters... Gamers and Tech geeks who would be far more likely to take notice of the Surface Pro if they knew it could be a kick-ass gaming rig.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has been involved in a series of products made for business and ignored the obvious entertainment potential of that product. About a decade ago now (Oh God, I still can't believe I'm over thirty! I wrote and complain about this on my first blog!) Microsoft all but won the war for supremacy in the Person Digital Assistant market with it's Pocket PC OS running in champion level devices from HP, Dell, Casio, Sony and many, many others. The trouble with PDA's including Pocket PC devices was that they where only ever marketed to business professionals.

The general public was scarcely aware that such devices even existed. The Smartphone trend inproved awareness a bit with devices like the Tilt, but the main marketing focus remained on the business person. The irony of all this is that sites like Handango (the Appstore of it's day) consistantly reported the No 1 category of sales was always either Games or Entertainment! Eidos Int. even made a version of Tomb Raider just for Pocket PC, thats how popular gaming was with PDA owners and how capable the devices where!

But Microsoft never capitalized on this hidden talent by marketing these multifunction marvels to the masses. All this just became a missed opportunity of epic scale because when the iPhone and iPod touch hit the market, they essentially killed Pocket PC's (which by then had been rebranded as Windows Mobile) market share. Windows 8 Phone edition is slowly gaining a following but this may be proof that Microsoft has still not learned it's lesson (either that or there is a massive 2nd phase to the ad campain that we haven't seen yet).

With so many gaming products due out this year that center around the Android OS, let's hope Microsoft has trick up it's sleave or starts paying attention soon, before the Surface Pro becomes another example of missed opportunity for the aging software giant.

Microsoft Surface Pro hits stores today

The full Windows 8 version of the Surface hits retail outlets today. If you've been intregued by the commercials and media attention, this is the version of the surface to get. Early adopters who shelled out for the already released Surface RT have been disappointed by the RT's inability to run full Windows applications and the somewhat limited selection of software titles on Microsoft's RT site, but the Pro shouldn't have these issues.

Reviewers have pointed out that some buyers may be dissappointed, however, by the Pro's short battery life compared to other tablet style devices and the fact that the snap on Touch or Type covers made famous by the commercials are not included with either version of the Surface (in fact, it's a $120 to $130 option on top of the Pro's $899 to $999 price tag).

While many casual observers may fear that Microsoft has priced themselves right out of the competition, it is important to remember one thing. That the Surface Pro isn't really a tablet, it's a touch screen ultra book in a 10 inch tablet format. That fact alone ups the price tag and puts the Surface in a category all it's own...for now.

The general option from most reviewers so far is that, while the Surface Pro is a fine device (and better, in many ways, then it's little brother, the Surface RT) it still needs work to be the big deal Microsoft wants it to be.

Sources: CNET, Wired