“groovy mother...”

Windows Mobile doesn’t own your ass

Today, I’m sat at Microsoft’s Walthan office, at their Mobile Developer Day. And once again, I find myself bowing to the smarts of those boys in Redmond.

It’s a common perception that MS has targeted Palm’s “high-tech address book” market. But as I sit here, I realise that once again, the consumer is merely enjoying the scraps left behind as MS targets the much more lucrative enterprise client.

MS don’t care (much) about allowing businessmen to look up phone numbers on the golf course, or letting bored developers play Bejewelled during meetings. They’re chasing the business of the hospital wanting their doctors to have instant access to patients’ medical histories. They’re wooing the warehouse boss who needs inventory control. They’re fluttering their eyelashes and dropping their metaphorical knickers for the package delivery company.

Next to a Palm PDA, the MS handhelds always look ridiculously over-priced. But what you’re really getting is a piece of hardware which can run its own SQL database. Which can be developed for by programmers using largely the same skill set and (excellent) toolbox as other MS platforms. Which (theoretically) integrates seemlessly with other MS systems in your company.

And when you notice that Palm are only just about ready to release a Wifi card for their PDAs, you realise that Microsoft has created a whole new market, largely for themselves to play in.

Crushing Palm into dust is just a bonus.