Microsoft Buys Danger - Zune Phone Anyone?
Long before Apple’s iPhone, another Silicon Valley-based company pioneered the consumer-friendly smart phone. That company was Danger Inc. best known for its T-mobile branded Sidekick (the Paris Hilton smart phone of choice) and its user friendly mobile OS and Internet applications.
As of today, Danger is no more. Instead, the company is being gobbled up by Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, responsible for overseeing the Zune, XBox, Windows Mobile and Microsoft TV product lines.
Of note, Danger was founded by Andy Rubin, Google’s recently appointed Director of Mobile Platforms, following the search giant’s acquisition of Android.
How will Microsoft utilize Danger’s technology and expertise?
Consumers
Although successful in penetrating the corporate world with its Windows Mobile-powered smart phones, Microsoft hasn’t, until now, shown much interest in developing a consumer-friendly offering. There has long existed the misguided notion that non-business folk aren’t interested in doing much more with their mobile phones other than making calls, sending SMS or listening to music and taking photos. With the introduction of the iPhone, companies — including sleeping giants like Microsoft — are finally waking up.
Microsoft’s press release describes Danger’s customer base as “young and enthusiastic, Internet-savvy and socially inclined”, and that the team at Danger has a “deep understanding of consumers and a hold on what people want from mobility”.
Integration
Furthermore, the Entertainment and Devices Division is all about what Microsoft calls “connected experiences”, and it’s in this context where the acquisition has the most potential. Microsoft cites Danger’s mobile Web browsing, instant messaging, games, multimedia, and social networking applications, which in combination with MSN, Xbox, Zune, Windows Live and Windows Mobile technologies, it hopes will give the company a leg up in delivering “industry-leading entertainment and communication experiences”.
Zune phone?
How this will translate into tangible products is yet to be seen. While many are already predicting something along the lines of a Windows Mobile-powered Sidekick, alternatively, might we see Danger’s technology and expertise used to deliver a Zune-branded mobile phone? Although fulfilling the company’s “connected experiences” vision, the latter would imply that Microsoft is getting even more into hardware. Currently, the company sells its Windows Mobile smart phone OS and platform to various hardware vendors (which now includes Sony Ericsson) but doesn’t produce handsets of its own. Likewise, Danger is pitched as a “software and services” company and offers a hardware reference design to partners including Motorola and Sharp.
This post is syndicated from last100, our digital lifestyle blog covering Internet TV, digital music, Mobile Web and more. You can subscribe to last100 here.
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Interesting.
It seems Microsoft is making steps towards becoming more hardware focused. Considering the Zune has gone down like a lead balloon, the 360s hardware failures and the fact Microsoft's home entertainment division eats up considerably more money than it spits out, you have to wonder. Microsoft have traditionally been a software company, afterall, with their Windows portable products sold to 3rd parties.
Perhaps they're trying to compete with the iPhone or they are threatened by Android (and potentially the coming Android), but if they wanted to make inroads into the hardware market a purchase of HTC would be the better, because it's not as though the Sidekick is the coolest device on the block these days or even in the same league as the iPhone. I just hope they didn't pay too much.
Whoops, on the second Android I meant "Gphone"
I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually did it, but I don't think Microsoft necessarily has to make a dedicated 'Zune phone' hardware platform. The Zune software and its slick (IMO) twist interface is something that could be replicated on existing Windows mobile devices (in fact, a lot of the early leaked info on the next versions of Windows Mobile show a great deal of twist style navigation obviously derived from the Zune/MediaCenter.) Obviously though if they ever want to push the Zune into the phone space they'd want a more consumer-grade device, so I could see either a dedicated hardware platform OR a more consumer-grade mobile OS eventually emerging. The latter would allow them to continue to work with a wide range of OEMs.
I think the Zune as a media player will eventually be absorbed by the phone space (that's only natural as is the reason Apple got into the phone business.) But I could see the Zune as a dedicated hardware platform eventually becoming more gaming-oriented (since Microsoft currently doesn't have an entry in that large market.)
I don't think it is a good deal. Microsoft should focus on the software, not hardware.
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