microsoft and the pda market 20 of november, 1996 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

If you ever needed proof that Microsoft has far too much free time and money on their hands, Windows CE is all the evidence you will need. Although Microsoft did have a Windows for Pen that was released a few years back (essentially Windows 3.1 with a pen extension in the control panel), this is really Microsoft’s first entry into the PDA market. Windows CE is a made for PDA operating system that looks and functions a lot like Windows 95 (you can decide for yourself whether that is good or bad.) But knowing the PDA market is a dud, why would Microsoft create CE?

In the world of PDA’s there are only a hand full left. US Robotic’s Pilot, and Apple’s Newton are the two that come to mind first. If you have followed the history you know that there has been far more hype than profit in these little toys. Almost every player in this market has lost major amounts of money trying to create a market out of nothing. The market was first created by Apple with the release of the Newton MessagePad 100, meant to be a do-anything pocket device. Problem is, it was not an invention in response to any particular market demand. So, not surprisingly, the thousand dollar toy did not sell. Even with countless revisions and changes, the device still gets a ho-hum reception from the public.

The Pilot was a more focused product by US Robotics, developed to address a particular market need. Essentially it is a computerized day-timer with the ability to link with your computer. The Newton could do this as well, but the Pilot does it for about a quarter the cost. As you could guess, it’s sales have been better than the Newton, yet it certainly has not set the world on fire.

So, knowing that the PDA market has been a bomb, why would Microsoft enter the market? It is a question that I can not really answer with a straight face. In the past Bill makes very profitable choices. Microsoft has attempted to move in directions that are proven money makers, or at the very least, will not lose any money. Lately, this has not been the case. The company has been throwing money at anything that moves. Still gun-shy after their slow start on the Internet, they are trying not to make that mistake again. Therefore, if there is even the most remote possibility that something could make money, Microsoft is going to put their money in the door.

What does that mean to you? Well, if you are not a big Microsoft fan, this very well could be a sign that things are not going as smoothly in Redmond as people think. Usually companies that branch too much lose focus, and eventually lose money (IBM, Apple, Digital, and AT&T to name a few.) And with Microsoft throwing money at cable boxes, movie dream teams, PDAs, Internet, Intranet, MSN, and God only knows what else, one has to question when the sky will finally fall. Perhaps never. Perhaps, much sooner.

If you happen to use a lot of Microsoft products, Windows CE means one more thing batting for R&D dollars over the products you use on a daily basis. Microsoft and "quality" are rarely terms you see in the same sentence, and it is a good bet that the continual diversification of the company will put those two words even further apart.

For Microsoft the company, this is a bad move. There is nothing wrong with playing "catch up" after a market has already shown to be profitable. Microsoft did that with Windows, multimedia, games, and the Internet. Gobbling up the market long after it started has been one of the strongest talents Microsoft has. Despite the bad press Microsoft gets for acting slow, the cautious approach has been the single biggest profit maker for the company. Let the little guy go out of business testing the market, and if there is something there, then Microsoft will act. However, this entry into the PDA market is far too early, and could prove to further confuse their corporate focus.

Put bluntly, Microsoft needs to stop screwing around and make the products they already have better. Just because you have 90% of the market does not mean that you will not lose the market due to complacency (ask WordPerfect about that.) Microsoft has been fairly negligent in their R&D duties to every product except Internet Explorer.

"Where do I want to go today?"
"To the computer store to find some better software."
Right now, there isn’t any. Eventually, there will be.