In the past, Microsoft's business goals, and the needs and wants of their customers have aligned fairly well. This is no longer true. Microsoft's current business goals are to lock customers in to their app store environment and their cloud computing infrastructure.<p>The main goal of Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 was nothing to do with improving the experience for customers, it was about establishing and locking in customers to the Windows app store.<p>Likewise, the main goal of Office 2013 was about migrating and locking in customers to Office 365.<p>Microsoft included all the features they needed to fulfill their business needs. Once these programs were released though, customers saw that they didn't meet their needs and wants. Microsoft was left with no choice but to respond by (slowly and halfheartedly) giving them what they wanted.<p>This stands in stark contrast to Apple (at least under Steve Jobs) not only putting the needs and wants of their customers first, but anticipating the needs and wants of their customers before they themselves even knew they had them.
The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste.
-- Steve Jobs<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOgOP_aqqtg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOgOP_aqqtg</a>
Missing features weren't Microsoft's problem with Windows Phone. You can't ship from day one with all the features whether you lead or follow.<p>Waiting until everything is there is a recipe for burning out your team and shipping 4 years later, with zero apps in your app store.<p>No, the problem is there's simply no compelling reason to own a Windows Phone.<p>iPhone integrates with Windows just fine. It's popular and feels "safe" because there's safety in numbers, and it has all the apps.<p>Android is doing well, too.<p>Microsoft had the chance to ship a phone that integrates better with Windows than any third party phone OS could, but they didn't figure out anything interesting to do with, and just shipped a normal smartphone with a trendy UI on it.<p>Look at Apple and "Coherence" now. This is the kind of shit Windows Phone should've provided for Windows computers. Instead their roadmap speaks about unifying kernels and what not. Nobody cares about your unified kernels, Microsoft. Ship features that bring visible value to users.