Apple's success forces Microsoft to 'shake up' phone, media teams

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
In the face of success from Apple and Google in the portable device market, Microsoft is expected to announce "major organizational changes" in the company's Entertainment and Devices Division, responsible for Windows Phone, Zune and Xbox.



The first signs of major changes at Microsoft came last week, when Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet reported that J Allard, chief experience officer and chief technology officer of the Entertainment and Devices Division, was leaving the company. Allard's alleged dissatisfaction is believed to stem from Microsoft's canning of the dual-screen Courier tablet -- a secret project that he was head of.



This week, The Wall Street Journal also reported that Allard is expected to leave his position at Microsoft following the canceling of the Courier. But the changes go well beyond Allard, as reporter Nick Wingfield said that the entertainment and devices group -- which brought in $1.67 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2010 -- is expected to undergo a "shake up" from the Redmond, Wash., software giant. The changes, the report said, come "in the wake of increasingly bruising competition from Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the market for consumer devices."



The forthcoming "major organization changes" will have an effect on the Windows Phone team, responsible for the new multitouch Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system set to launch this fall. Microsoft's presence in the smartphone business has become increasingly smaller as sales of Apple's iPhone and devices running the Google Android mobile operating system have grown.



"Microsoft's woes in mobile phones are particularly troubling for the company," Wingfield wrote. "Although it was an early player in the market for sophisticated wireless phones known as smartphones, Microsoft has stumbled badly in recent years with its Windows Mobile operating system for handsets."



Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division is also responsible for the Zune line of portable media players, most recently updated with the touchscreen Zune HD last September. Though the latest Zune received mostly positive reviews, it failed to counter Apple's iPod touch, which has seen tremendous sales growth even as the market for dedicated media players becomes cannibalized by multifunction devices like the iPhone.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 79
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    The new division is ordering many more photocopiers. ;P
  • Reply 2 of 79
    Microsoft is as usual forgetting the factor that really matters for a company being sucessful: They have to market DECENT WELL DESIGNED products.
  • Reply 3 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by johnwhite1000 View Post


    Microsoft is as usual forgetting the factor that really matters for a company being sucessful: They have to market DECENT WELL DESIGNED products.



    The XBox is well designed....it doubles as an Easy Bake Oven
  • Reply 4 of 79
    steviestevie Posts: 956member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    In the face of success from Apple and Google in the portable device market, Microsoft is expected to announce "major organizational changes" in the company's Entertainment and Devices Division, responsible for Windows Phone, Zune and Xbox.








    Great news! Let's hope that this results in compelling new stuff!



    I like how Apple shakes things up. The cellphoone market was boring before Apple.
  • Reply 5 of 79
    ozexigeozexige Posts: 215member
    O M G !



    I hope the Zune doesn't go the way of the courier?



    It would be the worse possible outcome for the dozens of people that own a Zune HD. What is that BTW? I've never seen a Zune (or HD)
  • Reply 6 of 79
    I would have loved to see what the Courier could do. Could be that they couldn't deliver on the concept...but it did look like a cool device and seems a poor decision by Microsoft to cancel it.
  • Reply 7 of 79
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Microsoft has an advantage that Apple and Google do not, in that business is smitten with them.



    I'm sure if they released a half decent smartphone that integrated well with all their enterprise servers, business would prefer their employees to use these.



    The trouble they have through, it that phones are very personal to people, and people would rather choose their own. Of course, faced with a choice of free Microsoft phone from the boss, or your own phone that you pay for, a lot of people might choose the former.
  • Reply 8 of 79
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OzExige View Post


    It would be the worse possible outcome for the dozens of people that own a Zune HD (what is that BTW?)



    It's sort of like a prune but exiting.
  • Reply 9 of 79
    jamesmanjamesman Posts: 9member
    Remember what Steve Balmer said immediately after the unveiling of the iPhone: ?So I kinda look at that, and I say I like our strategy, I like it a lot? \
  • Reply 10 of 79
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    Microsoft has an advantage that Apple and Google do not, in that business is smitten with them.



    I'm sure if they released a half decent smartphone that integrated well with all their enterprise servers, business would prefer their employees to use these.



    The trouble they have through, it that phones are very personal to people, and people would rather choose their own. Of course, faced with a choice of free Microsoft phone from the boss, or your own phone that you pay for, a lot of people might choose the former.



    Also, most businesses don't pay for your media collection or equipment.
  • Reply 11 of 79
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JamesMan View Post


    Remember what Steve Balmer said immediately after the unveiling of the iPhone: ?So I kinda look at that, and I say I like our strategy, I like it a lot? \



    Balmer should have been the first one to go! As an Apple share holder I'd like to see him hired away to run Google.
  • Reply 12 of 79
    womble2k2womble2k2 Posts: 118member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Allard's alleged dissatisfaction is believed to stem from Microsoft's canning of the dual-screen Courier tablet -- a secret project that he was head of.



    Not a very good secret!?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nkD4...eature=related
  • Reply 13 of 79
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by senseimike2 View Post


    I would have loved to see what the Courier could do. Could be that they couldn't deliver on the concept...but it did look like a cool device and seems a poor decision by Microsoft to cancel it.



    I suspect it was only ever Microsoft's equivalent of the Apple video from the 1980's called the 'Knowledge Navigator' and not even as far seeing given it was thee decades later. Simply a concept video. If Microsoft had any OS capabilities remotely close to that video I think we would have seen signs in current products at least, instead of what they have on the market, 20 year old junk.
  • Reply 14 of 79
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,462member
    I'd hate to see Microsoft monopolize another technology. They managed to seriously damage browser competition and progress with IE for many years. Till today, the browser market is unable to adhere to the many standards thanx to IE.
  • Reply 15 of 79
    ilogicilogic Posts: 298member
    I would like to take a guess at the number one factor that caused this:



    The iPad. The latest sales figures is spooking the he77 out of them, and they know that they can't waste another moment trying to figure out how they're going to compete for the long haul. The tossing out of Windows 7 out of the HP Slate, the Courier scrapped no doubt because it lacked a serious component inside Apple's devices. We're not even talking about iPhone 4 and so MS now has to go back to the drawing board. For real this time.
  • Reply 16 of 79
    ozexigeozexige Posts: 215member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    Balmer ... As an Apple share holder I'd like to see him hired away to run Google.



    Quit your bellyaching, so far YOUR 12 month return on APPL is 98%!



    and GOOG? after 12 months you could have almost made 20% hehe
  • Reply 17 of 79
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by senseimike2 View Post


    I would have loved to see what the Courier could do. Could be that they couldn't deliver on the concept...but it did look like a cool device and seems a poor decision by Microsoft to cancel it.



    Wonder if J. Allard put in a resume with Apple?



    At MS, the Courier was only a concept, but at Apple...
  • Reply 18 of 79
    steviestevie Posts: 956member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OzExige View Post


    O M G !



    I hope the Zune doesn't go the way of the courier?



    It would be the worse possible outcome for the dozens of people that own a Zune HD. What is that BTW? I've never seen a Zune (or HD)





    My kid's friend has a Zune. It is pretty slick.
  • Reply 19 of 79
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OzExige View Post


    Quit your bellyaching, so far YOUR 12 month return on APPL is 98%!



    and GOOG? after 12 months you could have almost made 20% hehe



    True but can you imagine what Balmer could do to Google in the next 12 months?
  • Reply 20 of 79
    bigdaddypbigdaddyp Posts: 811member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    It's sort of like a prune but exiting.



    It's brown....like Poo!!!!



    Sorry I just couldn't resist trotting out that moldy oldy.
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