Microsoft, Adobe Start Dating
The long wait is nearly over. Next week will bring the launch of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s best hope for competing against Apple in the increasingly lucrative mobile handheld market. Microsoft has gotten its clock cleaned by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, so a lot is riding on this successor to Windows Mobile 6.5.
But Microsoft isn’t putting all of its hopes of containing Apple in Phone 7. In fact, it’s reached out to rival Adobe as a potential ally in the war against Steve Job’s juggernaut. Some are even speculating that Microsoft is interested in buying (or merging) with Adobe.
As the old proverb goes, “thy enemy’s enemy is my friend,” and that couldn’t be truer than the potential alliance between Microsoft and Adobe. Apple has imposed a virtual blockade on Adobe software on its iOS operating system. A merger or alliance between Microsoft and Adobe would create quite a competitor against Apple, despite the obvious conflicts between Microsoft’s Sliverlight and Adobe’s Flash.\
Microsoft needs friends as it rolls out Windows Phone 7, especially since the U.S.’s largest wireless carrier is basically pouring cold water on the launch. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Windows Phone 7 “is not in the forefront of our thinking” and the network won’t adopt it until well into 2011.
Verizon gets the iPhone
Finally, Verizon is getting what it wants: the iPhone. Apple confirmed that it is readying a CMDA-enabled phone for the Verizon network. The move will give users a choice in carriers for their iPhone experience, or so the theory goes.
Insiders tell Channel-Lands that this move could backfire. The Verizon network is due for an upgrade, and Verizon reportedly is looking to abandon its CDMA infrastructure. When that happens, it will render most of the new iPhone’s useless.
iPhone users on the AT&T network will likely not benefit from the new Verizon offering. The AT&T version only works on its GSM network, so they can’t be ported to the Verizon service and users will have to buy new handsets if they want to defect. Even if the handsets did work, they would have to break their AT&T service contracts and pay steep severance fees.
Negatives aside, the move comes on the eve of the aforementioned Windows Phone 7 launch. Distributing iPhones through both AT&T and Verizon could put a chill on the potential adoption and sale of Windows-enabled devices.
Patent Wars Rage On
Break out your pencils, you’ll need a scorecard to follow this.
- Microsoft is suing Motorola over Android.
- Motorola is suing Apple over touch-screen technology.
- Nokia has multiple lawsuits against Apple for patent infringement.
- Apple and HTC are suing each other over handset designs.
- Microsoft and Salesforce.com are engaged in mutual lawsuits over software infringements.
- Skyhook is suing Google over geolocation technology.
- Oracle is suing Google over Java violations.
- And Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is suing everyone up to and including the Almighty.
Lawsuits are a reality of doing business, and vendors routinely head to court to protect their intellectual property. They also will file lawsuits as a negotiation tactic and competitive disruption strategy.
But many observers are tiring of these never-ending court battles. They fear that these cases will slow the pace of innovation and product development. For the channel, these lawsuits have a potentially more serious problem: disruption of the supply chain. That’s what happened last year when Microsoft lost a patent infringement lawsuit levied by Canada’s i4i. A judge ordered Microsoft to stop selling Office 2007 because it violated i4i patent for parsing XML documents. Microsoft ended up paying nearly $300 million to settle the case.
The outlook is these lawsuits will continue, and may even accelerate as vendors look to use every weapon at their disposal for an edge in the market.
MSP Mentor 100 Survey Now Open
Our friends over at MSP Mentor have launched the fourth annual MSP Mentor 100 survey to rank the top managed service providers in the world. This is a great list for high-flying managed service providers to showcase their success. Ranking on the list is based on revenue (gross and managed services), business growth, productivity per employee and number of devices under management. For managed services, getting on this list is great exposure. The survey is open through Dec. 17. Take it today.
The Events
This past week was big for events across the Channel-Lands. Congratulations to PSA vendor TigerPaw for pulling off its first event in Dallas. From all accounts, it looks like the boys from Omaha put on a great conference for partners. MSP Alliance had a great event this week in Los Angeles; for the first time MSP World was nested in a larger event – TMC’s IT Expo – giving the 40 vendors exposure to more than 7,000 end-users. And Rackspace held its big partner conference in San Antonio, demonstrating the importance of the channel to the development and growth of hosted services.
Well, that’s all the week’s news from Channel-Lands where all the technology works, all the deals are profitable and all of the companies are above average. If you want to follow me on Facebook or Twitter, feel free to connect. Share your suggestions and news with me at lmwalsh@the2112group.com.
