I don't think MS has much of a chance to get to #1 or 2 in that time period. They were not able to do it in the past with less competition. And the competition today if fierce, commanded by giants, the likes of which have never been seen in this market - I mean Google and Apple of course.

In the console game Sony didn't make any money for a long time. Is MS making any real money yet with XBOX? Not really. Profits are minuscule in the grand scheme of things. It's also a very different game than mobile, with far less innovation and over a very long development cycle. This coupled with very slow unit sales compared to Mobile.

Google and Apple are not suddenly going to stop trying to increase market share and profitability. Handset makers that get their OS for free aren't really going to want to jump into bed more often with MS, especially now that Nokia has entered the picture.




Every other manufacturer and software producer agree with you. It's why you are seeing more companies copying Apple more closely every day. It's why Google and Palm/HP are copying Apple's software designs. It's not difficult to make some improvements on individual Apple apps, they've left a lot of room for that. But it's amazing why you don't see it more often. Remember that I have always been very critical of Apple's iOS applications. I think they all have some very serious weaknesses, while I still think the platform is far and away the best out there.

Just look at the newest Samsung leaked today. If it's not an iPhone 4 knock-off, what is? Now it looks like they are also infusing some of Microsoft's UI innovation into their designs. I swear, Samsung has never, ever produced anything even remotely original.



I don't think they have enough consumer brand caché to pull this off. It didn't work terribly well with the Zune and you can bet that's one of the reasons they didn't try it with phones. Also, having two models as you suggest would only serve to devalue the high end product. Apple's strategy has been working very well, where the "low end" product isn't really a phone at all. They're king in profitability, and at the end of the day, as long as they maintain decent unit numbers to keep the platform widespread, that's what counts.



But everyone (with some exaggeration) would buy an iPhone over a Nokia given the chance. I do agree that Nokia has had a decent brand reputation, and it's why I even proposed the idea of an exclusive MS-Nokia relationship. The other brands can cause confusion and help bring the platform down.