Microsoft Admits It's Behind Mobile 8-Ball

In case anyone hadn't yet guessed it, Microsoft is having a bad day in the mobile OS. Better make that a bad few years. Bloggers attending the company's Venture Capital Summit reported Steve Ballmer saying that the company had "screwed up with Windows Mobile", with Ballmer wishing that Microsoft could release Windows Mobile 7, even though 6.5 is still yet to be launched. Apparently it has reconstituted the Windows Mobile team, hoping to change things.

But that is going to be unbelievably difficult at this point. Let's take a look at the lineup: Apple, Google, Palm ... even Intel has hinted at releasing a smartphone OS. There is zero chance of the company gaining a dominant foothold in this market because there is no accident of timing like being "the" OS for the IBM PC and becoming the standard as a result.

Microsoft has been focusing on trying to extricate itself from the disaster known as Vista. But the very act of trying to protect its mainstay may have sunk the future of the company more thoroughly. Not only has it now lost the lock on what will largely replace the laptop for many, but it also no longer controls the development platform. There are a number that get the attention of developers, and for the developers I've spoken with, at least, Windows Mobile is not one of the immediate choices for initial development. Screwed up may not even come close to what Microsoft has done.

Illustration via stock.xchng user ilco, site standard license.