Seeking Alpha article -
Microsoft's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
June 22, 2012
I followed Microsoft's (MSFT) week fairly closely for TheStreet. And I've been hopeful about their strategy.
But it was, as they say, a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week. How was it? Let's count, shall we?
The big Monday reveal, the Microsoft Surface tablet, turned out to be an over-priced, over-engineered, under supplied knock-off the company isn't really serious about.
Once this was understood, it was also understood that Microsoft's Asian OEMs have yet to imagine anything Microsoft likes built with Windows 8. Those relationships are dicey.
So Microsoft decided to compete with the OEMs. Some understood, knowing Microsoft is not going to be able to sell a WiFi-only tablet with a foam keyboard for $100 more than Apple gets for the latest iPad.
The big Wednesday reveal, Windows Phone 8, turns out to be impossible to get unless you buy a new phone. Did you buy Microsoft's hype about the Lumia 900. Ha-ha.
Nokia is the company that's really on the hook for this. I don't think OEMs like having one of their number stabbed in the back, do you? Nokia's (NOK) headed for the garbage bin, and I wonder who's going to get all their patents?
About the only company that could smile at the end of Microsoft's busy week was in Cupertino (AAPL). Microsoft might get a hunk of the market's low-end from Android, but it's not a serious threat in its key niches.
The irony is this could have been so much more. Microsoft has won the game console wars. It has launched a technology that interfaces those consoles with home entertainment and computing, called SmartGlass.
Microsoft could have sold the combination of big desk share and big gaming share to gain bigger home share, but instead of pushing a vision it pushed a few products on a stage, much like Apple has been doing for a decade.
It's sad. I still have my Microsoft shares, but I wonder for how long I can hold on before I bag this turkey.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL, MSFT.
