Some Good Signs for Microsoft

Microsoft will most likely remain a giant bureaucracy until a leadership shakeup.  However, Microsoft does have many good products many of which are the best in their categories.

There have been some good signs for Microsoft recently. Windows Phone seems to be getting tractions.  Windows Phone may be the best smartphone OS on the market combining the strengths of the open system (Android) and the closed system (iOS).  Competition and selection are good for bringing out the best products and services for consumers, and this is the strength of open systems.  All major mobile phone manufacturers support Windows Phone by providing multiple models based on it.  The specs and quality of Windows Phone OS and its apps are controlled by Microsoft as iOS and its apps by Apple.  This helps filter out junks.  The app development environment for Windows Phone app - Visual Studio, Silverlight. .Net Framework, WP Toolkit - is unrivaled.

It is not surprising that Windows Phone holds the highest rated spots on Amazon Wireless as of this writing.  Amazon is fairly neutral and objective when it comes to merchandise rating. The user of Windows Phone smartphones genuinely love them.  Complaints, if there are any, are usually about hardware (e.g. battery life), not the OS.  Users always have many choices if they do not like a particular phone, and they do not have to switch to another OS.

When Apple shut down updates for their app store for 8 days during Christmas-New Year holidays, Microsoft Marketplace was still open without any break, and certifying apps.

The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft is a brilliant move. Just two years ago, Nokia still had the largest smartphone market share with their Symbian phones.  Their replacing Symbian with Windows Phone has the chance to help them regain the top seat though it is a tough uphill battle.