Microsoft would like to be all things to all people when it comes to mobiles, saying it plans to focus on both business and consumer, rather than one or the other, reports TotalTelecom. The Redmond-based software giant is gearing up to release in the next few weeks the latest version of its Windows Mobile software, which has traditionally played to the business side. But now Microsoft believes people increasingly want one device for all their mobile phone needs, as people's work and personal lives blur, and noted that even the most "hardcore business customers want some consumer [features]."
But the consumer market may be a tricky play for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Of the top five handset vendors, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the number one cellphone maker with a 40 percent market share, has yet to reach a deal with Microsoft to use their Windows Mobile operating system. Scott Horn, general manager of the Mobile Communications Business' marketing group told Total Telecom "It would be nice to have Nokia..." but that if the Finnish handset maker wanted to give them a call, that would be fine, though they weren't sitting around by the phone.
It also faces increased competition from RIM (NSDQ: RIMM), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG). Microsoft bosses deflected most of the questions about how they view their rivals, saying that none of the competition worried them. They noted they outsell both RIM and Apple, and with Google's Android, it's not "a foregone conclusion that everyone will love a Google phone." Plus, Microsoft says it has its own mobile web browser in the form of Internet Explorer, which it plans to take from the PC and put on mobile devices—something that none of these three can do. Its acquisition of Danger, makers of the Sidekick, they added, will be "instrumental" in its consumer push—though the company was bought for its software and services know-how, rather than its customer base.
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