Microsoft's next mobile strategy is to make iOS and Android better
Microsoft's next mobile strategy is to make iOS and
Android better
by Tom Warren May
11, 2017, 2:31pm EDT
Microsoft hasn’t had a great time with mobile. While we
can debate whether or not Windows Phone is finally dead, Microsoft is certainly
ready to move on. After missing the mobile boat, Microsoft is now trying to
sneak onto iOS and Android devices like a stealthy submarine. We’ve seen the
company focus on iOS and Android apps before, but at the Build event in Seattle
this week the message is clear: Microsoft is finally being realistic.
Microsoft's new push is to convince Windows users it can
help them resume activities and apps even if they're using an iPhone or Android
device. The idea is simple: it doesn't matter what devices you're using in the
Microsoft world as long as one of them is Windows. Microsoft has a number of
different tricks to try and make this a reality, and it truly believes it can
help make iOS and Android devices better as a result.
I sat down with Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore during an
unusually sunny day in Seattle this week to try and understand the company’s
latest mobile efforts. Belfiore returned to Microsoft after a year out
traveling the world with his family. To many, he is the face of Windows Phone,
an operating system he championed and helped nurture to life. A year of
traveling the world will have a profound effect on anyone, but Belfiore also used
this time to experiment heavily with other platforms. He’s tweeted his quirky
hairdos with an iPhone, visited schools thousands of miles from Microsoft’s
headquarters in Seattle, and generally experienced life away from a town where
you’ll see people walking around in Cortana t-shirts while using Windows
Phones. His journey let him see a world most of Microsoft doesn’t; Seattle
itself is often a weird bubble that’s too influenced by Microsoft to properly
reflect reality.
MICROSOFT GETS IT
Belfiore seems to get it more than ever now, and
Microsoft is reacting. Belfiore set out a scenario of a typical Windows user to
me, and one that uses multiple devices that aren’t always powered by Windows.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicts that at some point everyone is going to
have an average of six devices they use regularly, and Microsoft knows most of
them won’t be running Windows. Microsoft’s response is to make experiences on
iOS and Android devices better. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s a lot
more useful to the average Windows user than trying to sell them a
Windows-powered phone.
Microsoft is unveiling a number of new features in
Windows 10 today that will improve the experience of moving content to devices
like an iPhone or Android handset. You could argue that many of these new
features are inspired by Apple’s macOS, but Microsoft isn’t trying to lock you
into its ecosystem to make use of them. Right now, it’s a little complicated if
you want to use a Windows laptop and an iPhone or Android device. Microsoft has
a variety of apps for these platforms, but they don’t always talk to each other
as well as they should.
“There’s work we can do to help people live in that
complex life in a more orchestrated kind of way,” explains Belfiore. “We’re
going to do a bunch of work that’s focused on the idea of Windows PCs love
devices.” This new love of devices that don’t run Windows is a little odd
coming from Microsoft, but it fits into the message that CEO Satya Nadella has
constantly pushed; Microsoft is interested in the person behind the screen, not
just what software they’re using.
NEW WINDOWS FEATURES LET YOU RESUME ON MOBILE DEVICES
Microsoft is introducing new Timeline and Cortana
features that let you resume apps where you left off on other Windows 10 devices,
and even iPhone and Android phones. The company is also using its Microsoft
Graph cloud service to enable developers to link their apps across phones and
PCs. The Graph will act as the gateway to let these mobile apps talk to their
desktop counterparts and provide rich functionality like resuming exact reading
points in a news app, or simply continuing to edit a Word document at the right
paragraph. “What we hope people will do is, once you have users at least
engaging if not loving your apps, log your activities in the Graph,” says
Belfiore. “When this happens, we work through the Windows shell and Cortana
will help to promote app experiences so people can pick up where you left off.”
This pick up where you left off concept will also include
a clipboard feature that lets you copy content from a Windows 10 PC directly to
an iPhone or Android device. Microsoft is making use of its SwiftKey
acquisition to bring this clipboard functionality directly to the keyboard on
these devices, so any app will support it.
It all feels like very early days, but it’s certainly a
big and bold bet. Microsoft is shifting to make other devices better,
especially ones that don’t run Windows. Microsoft’s bet here is to move Windows
experiences beyond the laptop or PC and into apps that are meaningful on
smartphones that will help keep consumers coming back to Windows. "We're
trying to meet all of our Windows users where they really are in their
day-to-day lives," says Belfiore.
MICROSOFT FACES MAJOR CHALLENGES HERE
This isn't going to be easy for Microsoft. Apple
restricts its ecosystem in a number of different ways, especially when it comes
to accessing things as simple as text messages. That's not stopping Microsoft,
though. "One big difference about what we're doing from what I've seen
Apple doing so far is that we're really embracing devices broadly,"
explains Belfiore. "We're really going to provide a high degree of
flexibility to end users and to our customers to pick whatever device."
When there are iOS or Android roadblocks, Belfiore says
the company will "do the best we can" to work around them."
We're going to try and build the best experience for the customers that have
chosen that platform."
Looking ahead, Microsoft sees itself as the organizer for
this cross-platform experience. "In society people are using tons of
devices and as yet there's not a way to orchestrate what you do across them.
It's unorganized," says Belfiore. "For us what the vision is being
human-centered. You're a person that does different activities and you're going
to choose different devices from different companies so we're going to make
sense of that for you."
Will Microsoft succeed here and provide a digital life
for consumers across iOS, Android, and Windows? Microsoft is going to give it a
serious shot. "We're going to try."
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