Smartphone is still Microsoft's biggest challenge

In early 2015, Microsoft was still in a difficult position. In his first year as chief executive officer, Satya Nadella took bold steps, such as releasing Office for Android and iPad, and showing the Linux community well, spending USD 2.5 billion to acquire My World. (Minecraft) developer Mojang has won outside recognition.

Microsoft's signature product, Windows 8.1, was not favored by users. But fortunately for Nadella, Microsoft and PC users, Microsoft reversed the decline of Windows in 2015. Windows 10 announced in January made many users regain confidence in Windows. Windows 10 is a powerful operating system.

Earlier this year, Microsoft officially announced Windows 10, which was promoted as a major upgrade of the Windows operating system. Although it is still the most popular PC operating system after 6 years of release, Windows 7 is not suitable for touch screen devices. Windows 8 is a failed product that tries to strike a balance between the touch-screen-friendly app store economy and traditional Windows technology, and the results have not performed well in any of these areas. Although Windows 8.1 tried to solve many of the most dazzling problems, user confidence has been dampened.

However, this year's Windows 10 seems to meet the needs of users. Users can happily run Windows 10 on Surface Pro 4 and other tablets, while Windows 10 is very similar to the traditional Windows style.

More favorable to the popularity of Windows 10 is that in the first year of the release, Microsoft let Windows 7 and 8 users upgrade for free.

So far, users have responded well. Microsoft said that since its release in July, more than 120 million devices have installed Windows 10. Microsoft is also pushing the Windows Store app store from notebooks to tablets and more futuristic holographic glasses.

Xbox One got an update in November and the kernel was replaced with a version of Windows 10, paving the way for Xbox One to become a key member of the Windows family.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, once said that he sees the Xbox One as the centerpiece of the company’s smart home strategy and calls Xbox One “just another type of Windows computer.” All devices running Windows 10 are the same.

However, the upgrade cycle is not perfect, mainly due to privacy concerns and some tough measures taken by Microsoft to prompt users to upgrade. Overall, Windows 10 was praised by users. It "stood steadily" to eliminate or at least ease the bad impression caused by Windows 8.1.

Hard bone

However, Microsoft has a bigger problem to solve: smartphones. Microsoft's situation in the smart phone field is very bad, and some analysts have completely disappointed Microsoft's smart phone business.

Although Windows 10 is considered to be the best version of Windows ever, due to its low share in the smartphone market, the importance of Windows has been decreasing for some time. As competitive pressures continue to intensify, Windows is left far behind in the industry. Behind.

Microsoft's global smartphone market share is about 3%. Google Android and Apple iOS are the world’s first and second largest mobile operating systems. In the past four quarters, Apple’s iPhone business revenue exceeded the total amount of Microsoft’s revenue.

This is a tricky problem. The rise and fall of smart phone business depends on the applications available for them to run. Although Microsoft has established encouraging cooperation with such vendors as Facebook and Uber, Windows 10 Mobile still lags behind iPhone or Android phones in terms of applications.

Windows has fallen into a vicious cycle in the smart phone market: People are not buying Windows phones due to lack of applications. Developers are unwilling to develop applications for Windows phones due to fewer users.

Google and Apple are gradually pushing Android and iOS tablets to replace laptops. The obvious subtext is that competitors in these technology areas think that their operating system can replace Windows.

Microsoft is under increasing pressure. There are rumors that Microsoft plans to release new star phones next year, hoping to change the trend in the smart phone market. If Nadella can revitalize the smart phone business, it will be of historical significance.