Innovate the Future

Original Web Article: Microsoft partnership just the start for Nokia

Review Summary: 
Nokia (HEL:NOK1V) announced the delivery of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office on Nokia’s Symbian devices. This is the first totally clear indication of Microsoft’s new directions. Microsoft is positioning to dominate the new IT and consumer services market. Nokia could win big.
Review/Analysis:  
Microsoft is reinventing itself.

And Nokia is positioning itself to benefit.

Microsoft Windows 7 is designed for the new breed of Netbook devices and will easily dominate the market. Not because of volume. Because of quality and breadth. Microsoft recognized the opportunities and intentionally slowed down the sales of Netbooks by placing restrictions on how XP can be packaged and sold.

Microsoft Office 10 will move the software giant’s application suite from traditional fixed platforms into the cloud. Same capabilities. Same user experience. Very small footprint. Will a different sales model arise? Free entrance level packages have already been discussed. Per Usage billing for best of breed?

Microsoft Media Player 12 and Microsoft Media Center will pull together all media types and position Microsoft Windows based platforms as the predominant media platform in the home and on the road.

Nokia, through its initiatives with Microsoft, is positioning itself to be an early winner in the Netbook sales explosion that is coming. Stop thinking just consumer sales. Think enterprise sales - small, medium and large. Government sales.

So many things are changing right now. And they are accelerating:

1. Cloud based data centers and computing have become practical with virtualization, deduplication, solid state technologies and more.
2. Software vendors, large and small, are aggressively moving products to the cloud. Check out Epicor (NASDAQ:EPIC).
3. Everyone is chasing the small to medium enterprise as the untapped market. Dell (NASDAQ:DELL)/ATT (NYSE:T) with ProManage. Unisys (NYSE:UIS) and its Cloud offerings.
4. Software footprints on portable devices will shrink dramatically. Installation, deployment, support and replacement will be greatly simplified. Watch Microsoft Office 10.
5. Security will become much easier to guarantee through minimized content on the device. Watch for Microsoft Security Essentials to drastically change this market.
6. Long Term Evolution (LTE)/4G will provide the bandwidth needed and the quality of service required.
7. Device refresh rates within enterprise customers will accelerate as devices become cheaper and less complex to deploy.

The entire consumer and business IT and communication infrastructure models are shuffling. Unified and ubiquitous communications are being redefined and are now practical. Doors are opening for both large players, like Nokia, and small players.

Everybody better start running now…the door of opportunity is already wide open.
 

SPEAK WITH THE AUTHOR:
David Croslin consults on this and many other topics through Gerson Lehrman Group. Please click here to contact David Croslin. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.