More on Microsoft’s Strategy for Mobility

As you would expect, the CTIA keynote delivered by Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, focused on his company’s solutions to the world of wireless technology. He never explicitly mentioned location technology or LBS but his presentation was rife with how mobile lifestyles will rely on understanding location as the context in which information will be exchanged with the user. He said that consumers will want phones that span all of their life personas: Life with family, life with friends, and life with co-workers.

Ballmer explained in broad terms how Microsoft views itself with respect to its customers: Enterprise Computing, Personal Lifestyle, and Platforms.

In enterprise computing…
Ballmer wants to see enterprise computing brought to the phone. Text messaging, instant, messaging, and more…all brought to the phone. He asked, “How do we make sure the software works well on the networks we have today?” And in talking about global application delivery, Ballmer acknowledged that PC and the Internet are not as ubiquitous. “In many countries, the phone will be the PC,” he said.

In terms of mobility in the workplace requirements Ballmer said that workers need to communicate with partners, vendors and customers in whom business is transacted by voice and email. In addition, they must communicate with business processes and access corporate information and that access to corporate business applications will help them succeed. “IT needs to secure these devices and make sure they integrate with other resources of the company,” said Ballmer.

He also made the announcement of a new service as part of Microsoft System Center: Mobile Device Manager 2008. Mobile Device Manager provides secure access for phones that are on the go. It will work with forthcoming Windows Mobile devices. It is a management service the IT department can use and manage many mobile devices as well as mission critical data on the PC and help them to manage mobile devices like TV; mobile VPN capabilities and others. Ballmer said it will adhere to standards from Open Mobile Alliance.

Personal Lifestyle…
Ballmer sees that Microsoft must offer software that meets personal lifestyles. Some may want a choice of media and entertainment; others will want to be able to connect to social networks. He wants his customers to be able to integrate mobile devices with MS Messaging, share photos, or blog on Windows Live Spaces in addition to using voice. He also said that, “the phone is almost like the personal remote control…for your life.” He gave an example of using a mobile device to emulate the controls on Windows Media Center that would enable the user to set the recording settings remotely from the phone back to a PC at home that controls a TiVo.

Platforms…
Ballmer said that, “The other thing that the industry needs is a rich platform to support a rich lifestyle on the phone…And we need applications that create demand for the devices. We need to focus in on the work scenarios and the home scenarios to fuel this expansion."

Microsoft wants to invest in platforms that enable applications to run which means that they will develop rich APIs. They want to try to maintain a very consistent platform to carry off high-levels of service. Ballmer sees Windows Mobile as a platform that will be critical in bringing all elements together.