Microsoft’s Phone Needs to Take a Page from Apple

Things aren’t going well for Microsoft. Its stock is moribund, Bill Gates is bailing, Ballmer can’t seem to rise above the level of a running joke and the Vista ship date has been pushed back more frequently than the defensive line of last years San Francisco 49ers. For those who despise Microsoft with a passion, usually reserved for religion and politics, this is the most delicious moment in time since Microsoft Bob was foisted on the computing world.

This glee must be tempered with the knowledge that Microsoft has long surpassed its original goal. That goal, the Wall Street Journal tells us, was a PC on every desk running Microsoft software. Not only did the Redmond giant hit that goal, they surpassed it. Today every desk has a PC, and seemingly so does every lap, ATM, checkout scanner, car, (feel free to continue this list for as long as you desire) and the vast majority run some form of Microsoft software.

The model Microsoft used to achieve such massive success was fairly straightforward, the company produced software and let hardware manufacturers take care of the rest. It worked great, in the early days of personal computing most PCs came with an operating system designed by the company that made the computer. HP, for example, was sued along with Microsoft for infringing on the Mac’s look and feel because, irony of irony, HP licensed Microsoft’s license to use Mac technology. Thing is, it is a hassle to create your own OS and, even if your OS is spectacular, the other companies making hardware aren’t going to want to license a competitors operating system. Microsoft just sold software so when the hardware was seen as the profit center the hardware manufacturers were more than happy to license the OS from a non-competing company.

In the world of software, a world of natural monopolies, compatibility is king. As Microsoft grew it went from an easy way to get an operating system to the only place to get the OS that 98% of the consumers demanded. The battle for the desktop is long since over and Microsoft is looking for ways to expand past the original mandate and gadgets seem to be the way to grow. This is where the company is beginning to flail like a drunken log roller; there is nothing in Microsoft’s corporate experience that shows them the way to gadget dominance.

Microsoft’s past attempts at gadget dominance generally proceed as follows: Microsoft writes some software for a piece of delicious new technology. Hardware partners come on board and the masses of geeks wait for the new technology to take over. Thing is they wait a long time. Microsoft iPod killer? The thing has been released by several Microsoft partners multiple times and the iPod isn’t taking notice. Tablet computers? You can get one if it would sate your desire for pen based computing but the concept, despite predictions by Bill Gates, hasn’t taken the world by storm. We would be remiss not to note the recent introduction of the Origami, that super small fully powered PC. Despite the viral marketing campaign and the palpable anticipation for the product, the Origami just folded up and went home.

Now it is time for Microsoft’s next big flop: The Microsoft phone. Likely, you’re visualizing some super slick cell phone upon hearing that phrase, think bulkier. If you’re now thinking of an Origami-sized cell, while giggling softly, you need to think more stationary. If you’re imagining a tethered phone with some questionable bells and whistles congratulations, you’ve hit the nail on the head.

Microsoft’s phone amounts to a business oriented VoIP system. Routers made by Cisco and other giants, phones made by Logitech, Motorola and the other usual suspects. Basically, an entire office phone makeover. The plan seems reasonable, businesses could use their existing computer equipment to also manage the phone system thus eliminating the largely (with today’s technology) superfluous PBX switches and phone system infrastructure.

The trouble is going to be that today’s systems work fairly well. Users are used to hitting “9” to dial out and pounding “1234” to access their voicemail. The new phones promise more features, video conference calling, screens telling you if the party you’re calling is at their desk and, well a bunch of other stuff no one is really sure they need. The uncertainty about what features any particular business will need coupled with a system that is low maintenance means the Microsoft business phone plan is going to be a tough sell.

If Microsoft is serious about dominating the business phone market, serious about being just as large a part of spoken communication as they are about written communication, they need to tell the phone makers to forget it and design a Microsoft phone. By designing the phone to work with Microsoft software the phone of tomorrow can highlight what the software is best at and the software can focus on the enhancements users want the most. If Microsoft stays the current course Logitech will offer one phone (using a made up example) with the ability to transmogrify voice mail into text. Motorola will let you put your kids pictures on the screen and the morass and yet another maker will offer a phone that doubles as a TiVO. Inevitably, offerings from the phone makers will feature wildly disparate capabilities and turn the entire project into a morass of confusing phones that only seem more complicated than the phones of today instead substantially better.

The best way to get a new gadget over is to make it work almost exactly like the gadget it is meant to replace. A TiVO is powered by a chip and a hard drive but it works a lot like a VCR. People can relate to it. Surely, the little box is capable of much more than it is being asked to do, the thing could probably check your e-mail, but it is important not to put too many features on new technology lest the users become overwhelmed. It is left as an exercise for the reader to compare the functionality of the original iPod to the original Walkman. This is something Microsoft needs to realize, don’t make a phone with more freaking gadgets that starts to suck at being a phone, make a better phone that happens to other, related, things.

Taking that tactic would be taking a page out of the Apple playbook. Apple controls the experience from sweatshop to consumer and people are very happy with the end result. Someone is bound to object that there is no way Microsoft can match Apple’s deft touch when it comes to industrial design, and they’ll be right. However, in the business world clever design takes a back seat to durability and price, mostly price. Microsoft doesn’t need to produce a great looking phone, just one that works very, very well and saves businesses a little money and a lot of headaches. Microsoft should know this from their experience with the Xbox or Apple’s experience with the iPod. The question is why, for a company full of very bright people, they aren’t catching on?