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SAN JOSE,
Calif.
— The era of the PC's dominance is officially over. We
have crossed over into the age of mobile computing.
This
transition has been building momentum for a while. Some
might argue that the iPhone was the dawn of this era.
Others might say it was really the rise of the
BlackBerry. Or maybe even Android,
Google's
mobile operating system. Good cases could be made that
any one of these marked the start of the mobile era.
But
Microsoft's
announcement of its new mobile-phone platform this week
signals a clear end to the old PC era and an epic shift
in computing.
But why
Microsoft
? The reason has little to do with the details of
Windows Phone Series 7 that the company unveiled at the
Mobile World Congress
in
Barcelona, Spain
, on Monday.
I haven't
touched it, and it won't be available to consumers for
months.
This
isn't about specific features or its design, or whether
it will help
Microsoft
regain lost momentum in the mobile market. Rather, what
struck me is how
Microsoft
did this.
For
years, the company took its Windows operating system and
created a miniature version for smart phones. While
initially good enough for many users, this was the
approach of a titan aimed at protecting its turf, rather
than a nimble tech firm trying to innovate. It was safe,
which is often the enemy of creativity.
Along the
way, Windows Mobile was surpassed by the iPhone, Android
and Palm's webOS in terms of elegance and features.
Rapidly
losing market share in this critical space to those
competitors,
Microsoft
eventually decided it was time to reboot. For the new
version,
Microsoft
scrapped the Windows-based version completely. The need
to think mobile first was so critical that the company
was willing to risk undermining its biggest franchise,
Windows, which brings in billions of dollars a year.
Rather
than let that fear of change paralyze it,
Microsoft
built the new operating system for smart phones from the
ground up. And it did it for the right reason:
"The
phone is not a PC," said
Joe Belfiore
,
Microsoft's
corporate vice president of Windows phone program
management as he demonstrated the new platform.
"Well,
duh," you say. That sounds obvious. It's not.
The
success of the Windows operating system bred
complacency. The temptation is to make sure everything
you do reinforces the cash cow.
To cast
that aside, to start over, is a fearless move.
I chatted
Tuesday with
Karen Wong-Duncan
, a manager in
Microsoft's
mobile communications systems, who said the rapid change
and adoption in the smart-phone market required more
than just incremental changes. This time around,
Microsoft
was trying to think big.
"If
you look at the investment that's been made in this,
it's not a 'toe-in-the-water' investment,"
Wong-Duncan said. "We're going to dive right
in."
This
comes just months after
Microsoft
released Windows 7, a well-received update that has
helped heal some of the bruises from the ill-fated
Windows Vista. Even with all that money and development
effort poured into Windows 7, the company still decided
to build something separate and different for the mobile
market.
Of
course,
Microsoft's
new software is just the latest big announcement in what
is shaping up to be the Year of Mobile.
Google
kicked things off with the debut of its Nexus One smart
phone. And Apple nudged things along during its news
conference for the iPad, where it took great pains to
define itself as a mobile company.
Will
Microsoft's
mobile restart be enough? And how will the features
stack up against the iPhone and Android? While the
initial reaction has been positive for
Microsoft
, I'm not really thinking about that right now. The new
platform won't be available for several months, an
eternity in the smart-phone race.
What
matters to me is that the company whose success is so
closely associated with the personal computer has made a
clean break from the past to take a radical step
forward.
I'm not
saying we won't still have desktop computers. But if
you're looking for the real action, the exciting
innovations, it's going to be in mobile from now on.
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