Microsoft are having yet another try at getting a foothold in the mobile phone market, this time with Windows Phone 7. cnet ask if the launch of Windows Phone 7 will be the ‘defining moment’ for Ballmer. After a string of half-hearted mobile products, including different versions of Windows Mobile that attempted and failed to bring the Windows desktop metaphor to the smaller form factor of the mobile phone, the Microsoft Kin which came and went without hardly anyone noticing, Windows Phone 7 has a lot to live up to.
I’ve said many times before, I think Microsoft under Ballmer’s direction has lost it’s way – they’ve been milking the Windows and Office cash cows for too long and the rest of the tech world is leaving them by. For Microsoft to have a success with a new mobile phone platform they’ve got to come out with something earthshattering to catch up and compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform. Those trains have long left the station and have gathered immense momentum, it’s going to be pretty hard for anything new from Microsoft to catch up at this point. We’ll wait and see what Microsoft pulls out of the bag on Monday.