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Jason L Ward is a columnist at Windows Central. He provides unique big picture analysis of the complex world of Microsoft. Jason takes the small clues and gives you an insightful big picture perspective through storytelling that you won't find anywhere else. Seriously, this dude thinks outside the box. Follow him on Twitter at @JLTechWord. He's doing the "write" thing!
This week Microsoft's Windows chief shared information about Microsoft's phone position that many readers viewed out of context. In this fast paced world where information is propelled at us at a dizzying rate maintaining a grasp of the broader context of a narrative can be challenging.
Microsoft's ecosystem has a considerable app gap compared to iOS & Android, despite efforts to resolve it. Thus, many fans have joined critics in their negative commentary of the platform. This big problem requires a big solution. Will Microsoft position itself as a mobile development platform?
OEMs are taking a dominant position as representatives of Microsoft's Mobile platform as Redmond focuses on nurturing its entire ecosystem. Alcatel's Jon Maron shares how the firm has embraced Windows. We also see the company's mission to reach a demographic important to Microsoft: Millennials.
As OEM partners bring more Windows phones to market we must change or perspective from the "Lumia dominant" view that Microsoft first-party hardware equals Windows phone.
Ever since Microsoft withdrew Lumia from the consumer space many have speculated that Redmond has abandoned consumers in lieu of the enterprise. Window's phone's success, however, requires a consumer presence, and through first-party hardware and partnerships Microsoft will deliver.
Microsoft's mobile strategy has led the platform through a series of births and rebirths. During this retrenched time of "gestation", it's critical that Microsoft nurture the ecosystem that will support the mobile platform.
If not careful we can be drawn into a reactive discourse that fails to consider the scope of Microsoft's long-term strategy. Keeping our eyes on the big picture, however, helps us to view events with the context of the long-term vision.
In this second installment of "Microsoft's aggressive push to rule personal computing" we look at the company's use of Microsoft Cloud, cross-platform apps, partnerships with automakers and more in their push to assimilate the masses into Microsoft's ecosystem.
In this first part of a two-part series we'll view how Microsoft has aggressively pushed Windows 10 to leverage its PC install base with the goal of positioning the company for relevance in this new age of personal computing.
In light of yesterday's earning report and the less-than-ideal revenue numbers for Windows Phone, we are re-running this earlier editorial and analysis from November. Microsoft's retreat from the smartphone mainstream space calls for different measures of success and a new way to tell the Windows Phone story. Here is how we see it.
From the outside looking in, we've watched Microsoft undergo a cultural shift. But what do employees with an inside perspective have to say about the "new Microsoft?" Microsoft's Chris Pratley, Mike Tholfsen and Chris Yu give us the inside scoop!
Microsoft's HoloLens is designed to guide the industry toward the Windows Holographic personal computing platform. It's a bold move requiring a patient and calculated execution. Microsoft's move to be the platform for holographic computing just may work.
Microsoft's CMO reveals a company that has exchanged fear for ambition. Microsoft's imaginative "no-holds-barred" jaunt into the future makes the company a transformative agent of change for the coming years.
The growing success and acceptance of context-conforming Windows 2-in-1's, which are part of Microsoft's UWP, may be preparing the consumer market for the rumored Surface Phone.
The path to this "final" version of Windows has been wrought with change and loss. As we embrace the new age of Windows phone, let's not forget the lost elements of the platform that lured many of us here.
Many people may see Microsoft's retrenching from the mainstream mobile space and focus on select markets as a passive approach to mobile. A closer look however will reveal the firms very aggressive strategy to reshape the industry around its strengths.
Microsoft's low-end strategy was successful with growing and maintaining Microsoft's presence in mobile. But what long-term consequences might a large base of budget consumers have on the Windows ecosystem?
During the Spring of 2014 the highly anticipated Surface Mini was canceled at the eleventh hour. After the event where Mini was to be introduced, Panos Panay, the current Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Devices, committed to continue to work on a smaller Surface. Will the highly anticipated "Surface Phone" be the realization of that promise?
Satya Nadella has assured Windows fans that Microsoft is committed to phone. But certain decisions such as limited distribution of its latest premium phones cause fans to question Microsoft's commitment. Can 100% commitment to phone and what "looks like" half-hearted support coexist? I believe they can and here's why.
Will the Surface's success cause fans to pass on the Lumias 950 and 950 XL during the critical launch of a new OS? Time and how these devices sell will tell.