The era of the PC’s dominance is officially over. We have crossed over into the age of mobile computing.
This transition has been building momentum for a while. Some might argue that the iPhone was the dawn of this era. Others might say it was really the rise of the BlackBerry. Or maybe even Android, Google’s mobile operating system. Good cases could be made that any one of these marked the start of the mobile era.
But Microsoft’s announcement of its new mobile-phone platform [signals] a clear end to the old PC era and an epic shift in computing. But why Microsoft? The reason has little to do with the details of Windows Phone Series 7 that the company unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, [last week].
I haven’t touched it, and it won’t be available to consumers for months.
This isn’t about specific features or its design, or whether it will help Microsoft regain lost momentum in the mobile market. Rather, what struck me is how Microsoft did this.
For years, the company took its Windows operating system and created a miniature version for smart phones. While initially good enough for many users, this was the approach of a titan aimed at protecting its turf, rather than a nimble tech firm trying to innovate. It was safe, which is often the enemy of creativity.
Along the way, Windows Mobile was surpassed by the iPhone, Android and Palm’s webOS in terms of elegance and features.
Rapidly losing market share in this critical space to those competitors, Microsoft eventually decided it was time to reboot. For the new version, Microsoft scrapped the Windows-based version completely. The need to think mobile first was so critical that the company was willing to risk undermining its biggest franchise, Windows, which brings in…