Microsoft gave an answer to the corporate users and it goes something like this: Windows Phone 7 isn’t for you. It’s for consumers. We may come around to you later. Talk about forgetting the base. Microsoft in its envy of Apple’s iPhone may be about to exclude it’s most important group of customers—the enterprise.
Charlie Kindel, who’s spearheading the Windows Phone 7 development charge said: “We don’t expect enterprises to go out there and buy these (Windows Phone 7 devices) en masse for their employees.”
Microsoft’s target is the consumer who wants to do a limited amount of enterprise tasks (pretty much exclusively through the Office hub). Microsoft has no plans to offer any kind of migration tools for enterprise developers to help them move existing Windows Mobile apps to the new platform.
Steve Balmer on the Windows Phone 7 Mobile Strategy
Corporate vs. Consumer of the Phone 7:
At the core of Microsoft's launch of Windows Phone 7 is capturing the interest of shoppers in search of mobile devices that will complement their busy multimedia lifestyles. Although company officials made a passing mention of the product's business-focused features, such as Office, they emphasized the system's capabilities for social networking, games and music. Executives at the software giant have acknowledged that Windows 7 will initially be geared toward general consumers, rather than corporate customers.
Microsoft—the king of reverse compatibility (sometimes to its detriment)—is making a clean break on mobile. However, it’s unclear whether that move is such a bright idea. As players like Apple and Palm become more corporate friendly, Microsoft runs the opposite way. Research in Motion has to be smiling—it’ll own the enterprise market.
"Microsoft appears to be following the Apple formula," says Andrea Matwyshyn (Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor). "If Windows Phone 7 is designed to be a challenger to Android and the iPhone, that makes sense, but it strikes me that the enterprise route and the BlackBerry will be an easier target to work with." She adds that the level of passion for BlackBerry devices doesn't compare to the enthusiasm for Android phones and the iPhone.
But the corporate world may ultimately be Microsoft's chance to set itself apart from the competition, notes David Hsu (Wharton management professor), who expects the company will ultimately innovate by accessing institutional documents, connecting to business applications such as Office and SharePoint, and giving companies better controls for security. Indeed, Microsoft will need every advantage it can get if the company wants to keep pace with Apple, Google and Research in Motion. "Microsoft needs to be in this business and it will need to differentiate itself," says Hsu.
Still, it is too early to predict whether Microsoft will emerge as the leader of the smart phone race. "At the end of the day, Windows Phone 7 may be like Bing," says Kartik Hosanagar (operations and information management professor at Wharton). "Bing helped Microsoft, but wasn't a game changer. I doubt Windows Phone 7 is a game changer ... just something that puts it back into the mix. Ten years ago, Microsoft had monopoly power and no one wanted to compete with it. Now, we're asking whether Microsoft can compete with the others. Things have changed."
References:
Engadget, "Windows Phone 7: the complete guide", Mar 18, 2010, http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/windows-phone-7-series-the-complete-guide/
MSDN - Social, "Some thoughts about Windows 'Phone' 7 / Windows Mobile 7", Mar 20, 2010, http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-CA/windowsphone7series/thread/707a56d9-c1e1-4c0b-971a-6fc2b47ac2fa
SeekingAlpha, "Will Microsoft's iPhone Envy Punt Away The Enterprise?", Mar 16, 2010, http://seekingalpha.com/article/194004-will-microsoft-s-iphone-envy-punt-away-the-enterprise
Knowledge Wharton, "Will Windows Phone 7 Reboot Microsoft's Mobile Strategy?", Mar 31, 2010, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2463
