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Smoke and Mirrors

This announcement is typical MSFT vapor marketing. They won't/can't do this in this time frame and they know it now but by announcing this they are trying to delay decisions by consumers. This is the worst type of non-productive marketing.
 
If you can't innovate, you just imitate. But it will never be as good as the original.

LOL... Yesterday I found another product that MS copied... It's called Ms Virtual Earth, being the copy of Google Earth
 
This is just standard operating procedure for Microsoft. They announce an initiative just for the FUD effect. This is pure FUD, nothing but. They do the same with every product in their offering, promising a pie-in-the-sky product that's just "around the corner" but in reality is 3-5 years from release.

We're to believe that a company that took 5 years to produce the Zune based on an existing hardware design it licensed from Toshiba can produce a brand-new smartphone from scratch in less than a year. Give me a break.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. The notion that, from a standing start on Feb 1, Microsoft could have a product of the complexity of a smart phone ready this year strains the imagination. I think Microsoft would have to get through FCC approval for U.S. sales just like Apple is doing. Apple worked on iPhone for a long while. There's simply no way Microsoft could do all the things that need to be done in that short a time.

Apple releases iPod updates or new models on the average of every 6 - 8 weeks. Microsoft already said that it would be a year before there would be a new Zune model. And that's just the player - add a phone and do it months faster? No way.
 
Exactly, how is this going to line up with Microsoft's push for Windows-based PDA phones, including their partnership with Palm for the Treo 700. Considering the relative success of the Windows Mobile market, why would they sully that with the weak Zune brand.

Hey, Microsoft you don't have to be the big winner in every single market. Focus.

Oh yes they do. Microsoft has proven many times that their biggest fear is seeing any of their competitors succeed at anything. They will spend billions on losing ventures just to prevent it.

Years ago, the CEO of AT&T remarked that Microsoft can be your closest partner and your worst enemy all at the same time.
 
I'm thinking this insider got the date wrong. Maybe a target date of Christmas 2008 with a ship date of Christmas 2009, but not this year.

Apple announced that the iPhone -- a product they had in development for 2.5 years -- will not be out for another 6 months... there's no way Microsoft is going to design, develop, approve, manufacture, distibute, and market a phone before this christmas.

If this report is serious the only option MS has is to rebrand an existing device like they did with the Zune, but to an even greater degree.
 
I'm trying to understand the decision process a consumer goes through these days ;

1: Buy something amazing and innovative - rewarding with my purchasing decision the company that is genuinely trying to push the boundaries of technology and still make it elegant and easy to use ie Apple

or

2: Buy something second rate, clunky and derivative - rewarding with my purchasing decision the company that clones, mimics and stifles the boundaries of technology offered by others and in doing so makes it awkward, complicated and unsatisfying ie M$

Are 95% of people wearing 'micro-goggles' - do they genuinely believe M$ products are the 'best' their money can buy anymore ?
 
I coulda swore...

That Bill Gates or some other MS monkey said they were not going to enter the cell phone market and had no interest in it just a few months ago.

I don't know if announcing this is a diversion but even if it is true (and they were either lying then or are lying now), and even if they could get it out in time, it will be the same defunct type of MS product. If they really are sitting down and talking about it - I honestly believe they will come out w/ it by the holidays.
I say that w/ confidence b/c MS puts no effort into and develops products that don't work and they accomplish it in a short amount of time (that is of course except for Vista - which took over five years to release and was still not ready).
 
This may be news to some. MS already has a 4.5% share of the smart phone market. Adding their music player line to it only makes sense. Will ever be as popular as the iPhone or the iPod? Most likely not.
http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS5566717572.html

I don't believe they have ANY % of the hardware market, which is what this would be, presumably.

This sure shows how realiable and believable Ballmers comments to be.
 
A phone by MS... great -- it will be a race to see which happens first: the call gets dropped or the OS crashes....

Maybe they can call it the "Roulette"


lol, you spin a roulette wheel to see what you get when you try to use it,

Red: Drops call

Black: OS Crash

00:works like windows ME...:D
 
Jeebus... just what the world needs. I bet it's gonna look great. :rolleyes:

368241530_d4ecdba5aa_o.jpg

love it. Exactly what I had in mind. Even the video running there is appropriate.
 
Are 95% of people wearing 'micro-goggles' - do they genuinely believe M$ products are the 'best' their money can buy anymore ?

I think a lot of people don't care. I don't know if its the crap food we're fed these days, but so many people could care less about whether or not something they use or buy is actually "better" - as long as it's cheap and remotely convenient they buy it. How else can you explain Walmart's success.
 
Apple pre-announce:

1. FREE advertising on all news services for 2 weeks on a wall-to-wall basis.

2. 6 month so consumer mindshare and accustomization to the idea of a high pricepoint with huigh value-added features.

3. 6 month lower level FREE advertising on all news services on a not wall-to-wall basis, but as the background to anything Microsoft does, and they are releasing Vista, or Cisco does, and they are releasing VOIP consumer handsets in some micro-markets.

The value of #1 is hard to measure, but we can safely say several tens of millions of dollars.

The value of #2 is also hard to measure but it is succeeding because there has not been massive consumer blow-back to (Balmer notwithstanding) high prices. Quite the opposite there seems to be general acceptance of the idea. This indicates the 10 million unit estimate is at minimum, not impossible to imagine anymore.

The value of #3 is hard to measure, but we can safely say in the range of tens of millions of dollars.

This post shows one thing. Apple wins. It wins big.

The only chance to tarnish this thing is if Apple TV is some kind of bust.

Rocketman
 
What they will do is to re-badge the iPhone (1st generation by that time), attach a brown, 1'' thick "goodie" to its backside to make it look "More substantial" (C), and preload Vista Mobile. Welcome to the "More substantial" (C). :D
 
Hell, if it's sub $600 and has more than 8 gigs of memory, it's fair competition. Heck, I like the zune GUI better than the iPod, I just wish it had a scroll wheel and better PC side software and I'd get one.
 
I'm trying to understand the decision process a consumer goes through these days ;

1: Buy something amazing and innovative - rewarding with my purchasing decision the company that is genuinely trying to push the boundaries of technology and still make it elegant and easy to use ie Apple

or

2: Buy something second rate, clunky and derivative - rewarding with my purchasing decision the company that clones, mimics and stifles the boundaries of technology offered by others and in doing so makes it awkward, complicated and unsatisfying ie M$

Are 95% of people wearing 'micro-goggles' - do they genuinely believe M$ products are the 'best' their money can buy anymore ?

Some products simply have lower price points and openly facilitate pirating (thus lowering usage costs). Those appeal to a wider cross-section of amoral folks.

Rocketman
 
The problem with a Zune phone is that after you squirt on all your friends, your calls drop after 3 minutes unless you convert $40 a month into Microsoft Points and constantly validate your genuine Zune. I hope it has a "DEVELOPERS" ringtone!

That, and it'll only support Hotmail and MSN Messenger. And it'll require Vista.

And according to MonkeyMan it'll have a keyboard, since any self-respecting phone has to have a myriad of buttons and a keyboard.

Other than that, yeah, it'll be great.
 
O boy, only yesterday i posted that I am so looking for the brown zPhone and M$ santa is promising to deliver (or more accurately innovate by coping). :D

Hell I will have a fun time making fun of zune zombies. :)
 
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