[Dapper37]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � When Microsoft Corp. took the wraps off the new mobile software Wednesday, it was highly consumer focused.

But Microsoft /quotes/zigman/20493/quotes/nls/msft MSFT +3.14% , and its partner Nokia Corp., may be taking a risk by focusing too much on average Joes, and not enough on the software giant�s bread-and-butter corporate customer with its new version of Windows Phone, Windows Phone 8.

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� Log in and start posting comments right away/conga/story/2012/08/community.html 223701 Nokia�s /quotes/zigman/162154/quotes/nls/nok NOK +3.36% demonstration of its new Lumia phones and their better cameras and mapping tools was heavily consumer centric. Microsoft, too, touted its ease of use and customizable start page, ease of social networking, and location-based apps.

Clearly, Microsoft and Nokia are pitching the tech savvy people who have stormed corporate tech departments armed with their own devices. But by focusing so much on the consumer, it appears, at least in Wednesday�s launch, the company might risk missing the most obvious chance to make bigger strides in the mobile market: the disgruntled and ready-to-leap Research In Motion customers. Read more about Nokia's new smartphones.

Those customers are typically the business users who rely on their BlackBerry device for their work email and the security of the RIM /quotes/zigman/18534/quotes/nls/rimm RIMM +2.99% network. But those loyal customers aren�t going to get anything new until next year, when RIM is expected to launch its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and new devices.

�2012 has been and continues to be a golden goose, wrapped from RIM, to its competitors,� said Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst.


Reuters
A Nokia executive shows the new Lumia 920 phone with Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system at a launch event in New York. Indeed, some have already grown tired of waiting. Perhaps skeptical of what the new operating system will bring, or even the fate of the embattled company, some RIM customers have already planned to abandon ship for Apple Inc.�s /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL +0.90% forthcoming next iPhone or one of the many smartphones running on Google Inc.�s /quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG +2.74% Android operating system.

According to IDC, Android-based phones led the smartphone business in the second quarter, with a �commanding� 68.1% market share of all smartphones shipped globally during the quarter, while pioneers Research In Motion and Nokia Corp. saw their share of mobile operating systems reach just 4.8% and 4.4% respectively. The report also said that the smartphone market has now become a �two-horse race,� between Android and iPhone.

None of these companies are standing still. September is turning out to be a storm of smartphone and tablet launches, with the much expected Apple event now confirmed for Sept. 12. Today, Amazon.com Inc. /quotes/zigman/63011/quotes/nls/amzn AMZN +2.10% /quotes/zigman/63011/quotes/nls/amzn AMZN +2.10% is expected to unwrap new Kindle Fire tablets, but it is not completely out of the realm that it too will launch a smartphone. Read the smartphone storm is on.

Microsoft still has a small share of the smartphone operating system market. But during the second quarter, according to IDC, the software giant was coming on strong in its effort to gain on RIM and eventually became the No. 3 player in smartphones. Microsoft�s Windows Phone 7 had only a 3.5% stake of the worldwide market, but that was at a growth rate of 115.3%.

�It is still a very young and new kind of platform,� Llamas said. �Yes, it has things like security and things like VPN access, corporate messaging and the like, but it is still a new platform for end users to get to.�

Click to Play What Nokia didn't tell us about the Lumia 920 Nokia unveiled its new Windows-based Lumia phone at a splashy event in Manhattan on Wednesday, but despite the fanfare, there was plenty of questions left unanswered.
So perhaps the best way to gain share, at this point, is through entrenched corporate users, who for the most part, use Microsoft Windows and the Office suite at work. Old corporate habits die hard and many information technology departments are likely to be wooed big time by the software behemoth. But if that is in its plans, Microsoft wasn�t talking about that Wednesday.

�The corporate message, and the corporate capabilities didn�t really come up,� Llamas said. �To be fair, there were some other consumer apps and features that they didn�t bring up either. . . They are concentrating on how they are differentiating themselves from the rest of competition.�

Surely Microsoft realizes some IT gurus might want smartphones that are more compatible with their entire corporate infrastructure. With the launch of the new Windows 8 expected next month for the personal computer, Microsoft has an opportunity to get corporate CIOs to consider replacing their corporate fleets of BlackBerrys with smartphones based on Windows Phone 8, while they look at upgrading hundreds of PCs.

When asked about its consumer focus in its event on Wednesday, however, a Microsoft spokeswoman advised reading the company�s blog posts and press releases. In a post in June, Microsoft vice president Joe Belfiore wrote, �Windows Phone and its bigger sibling will share common networking, security, media and web browser technology, and a common file system.� Read Microsoft's blog post here.

Apple has become very corporate infrastructure friendly but Android still does not have that reputation, although Samsung Electronics Co.�s Galaxy Note smartphone is helping to change that impression.

Investors should hope that Microsoft is playing to its strengths in the corporate market with the latest version of Windows Phone. If the company plays its corporate cards right, it could have a shot at quickly taking over RIM�s spot, a far easier target than Android or the iPhone.

[abwan11]

What is it the compelling reasons to buy a lumia, or bb10 over their rivals?
If nokia or RIM can provide this answer, they will have a winner.

When iphone launched, it was the browser that sold me initially, the apps, (little known to me at the time) were a bonus, along with the built in ipod. Throw in great branding, a new design and touch screen tech and you have a winner. There is alot of value added there compelling consumer over the competition. Although I have tried android, I guess their value added proposition was that it was everything iphone was but on acid.

Nokia hasn't put forward a reason to have this phone, I have heard that rim says they are going to change the way people communicate...now that could be a reason, if it's compelling enough.

[dbmalloy]

With MIcrosofts track record with Windows OS... I would really wary of anything Microsoft when it come to security...... This includes smartphones.... Any one in the IT deparments listening????

[GTiLeo]

With MIcrosofts track record with Windows OS... I would really wary of anything Microsoft when it come to security...... This includes smartphones.... Any one in the IT deparments listening????

its the most commonly used PC operating system, what do you expect. hackers go over the biggest group thus they go after microsoft, the more peopel start to use Apple computers the more they will get attacked also,at the rate they are going its just a matter of time before it happens

[Laura Knotek]

Windows Phone 8 will definitely not only be targeting consumers. There will be enterprise features.

From this site:

Business features. Windows Phone 8 will include full-device, hardware-accelerated encryption with BitLocker and always-on Secure Boot capabilities, just like Windows 8. Also, it will support additional Exchange ActiveSync policies and System Center configuration settings and inventory capabilities. Businesses will be able to distribute phone apps privately as they can with Windows 8 apps.

None of the OEMs selling Windows Phone 8 will show off enterprise features during events, since those are boring to anyone but IT staff. The consumer features are always the focus of those types of events.

[Laura Knotek]

With MIcrosofts track record with Windows OS... I would really wary of anything Microsoft when it come to security...... This includes smartphones.... Any one in the IT deparments listening????

There are not too many enterprises with Macs or Linux desktops. The servers might run Linux or Unix. Unless the business is art-related, there probably will not be many Macs in sight.