1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,520 Thanks for watching Techquickie. 2 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:05,920 Click the subscribe button, then enable notifications with the bell icon so you won't miss any 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:07,600 future videos. 4 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,520 So unless you've gone against the tide and used a Mac or some flavor of Linux, you probably 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,700 have a desktop or laptop running Windows, for better or for worse. 6 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:21,400 But how is it that Microsoft managed to be the dominant player on PCs, yet be almost 7 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,600 invisible on smartphones that were all carrying everywhere? 8 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:29,820 Well, believe it or not, it wasn't too long ago that the Windows Mobile OS was actually 9 00:00:29,820 --> 00:00:32,060 the market leader on smartphones. 10 00:00:32,060 --> 00:00:33,060 Wait, what? 11 00:00:33,060 --> 00:00:35,280 Haha, yeah, about that. 12 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,100 So before the original iPhone was released in 2007, the smartphone market was a mishmash 13 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:44,840 of lots of different devices, without any real must-have models among them, and many 14 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:46,880 of them ran Windows Mobile. 15 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:51,700 So many, in fact, that Microsoft owned nearly half of smartphone OS market share before 16 00:00:51,700 --> 00:00:53,540 Apple got into the game. 17 00:00:53,540 --> 00:00:54,740 So what happened? 18 00:00:54,740 --> 00:00:59,040 Well, even though Microsoft's presence in smartphone land was very significant, it was 19 00:00:59,040 --> 00:00:59,820 still a company whose brand name was Microsoft. 20 00:00:59,820 --> 00:01:03,440 Microsoft was bread and butter with software for traditional PCs, and their management 21 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,660 at the time wanted to be cautious about throwing themselves headfirst into mobile, skeptical 22 00:01:07,660 --> 00:01:09,460 as to whether it would catch on. 23 00:01:09,460 --> 00:01:13,540 As a result, Microsoft didn't devote enough resources to Windows Mobile, which quickly 24 00:01:13,540 --> 00:01:19,300 became dated, while at the same time, Apple's iOS rapidly gained popularity. 25 00:01:19,300 --> 00:01:23,860 Making matters worse, the Windows Mobile experience felt a little different depending on which 26 00:01:23,860 --> 00:01:28,440 phone out of that mishmash of devices I mentioned earlier you were using, something that makes 27 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:29,040 a software product very different. 28 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:34,060 But hold on a minute, Android does this. 29 00:01:34,060 --> 00:01:36,540 So why did Google succeed where Microsoft didn't? 30 00:01:36,540 --> 00:01:40,800 Well, by the time Microsoft decided it really should be focusing more attention on the mobile 31 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,540 market, Android had already become widespread. 32 00:01:44,540 --> 00:01:48,660 And not only was it technologically superior to Microsoft's outdated offering, but it 33 00:01:48,660 --> 00:01:50,920 was also free. 34 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:56,180 By contrast, Microsoft charged phone manufacturers for Windows Mobile licenses, just like you 35 00:01:56,180 --> 00:01:59,020 have to pay for a Windows license for your home PC today. 36 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,420 Now, Microsoft justified this because they thought Android was too bare-bones and would 37 00:02:03,420 --> 00:02:05,320 cause fragmentation of the market. 38 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:06,460 Sound familiar? 39 00:02:06,460 --> 00:02:10,900 But what actually happened is that it gave the phone industry a freely available base 40 00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:15,360 that included tons of Google services that people actually wanted to use. 41 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:21,120 So in 2010, Microsoft, realizing the PC was losing ground to mobile devices, decided to 42 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:25,280 take its mobile competition seriously and replaced Windows Mobile with Windows Phone 43 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:26,160 OS. 44 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,040 But while reviews of the OS were actually pretty good, one of the main reasons for Microsoft's 45 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:34,760 failure was that by this point, app developers were already focused on iOS and Android. 46 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,760 So it became a chicken and egg problem. 47 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,360 There weren't enough Windows Phone users for app developers, even big ones like Instagram, 48 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,320 to bother to support the platform. 49 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,760 And it's hard to attract users without, like, a YouTube app. 50 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:52,240 All this came to a head in 2014, when Microsoft bought Nokia's phone division, hoping their 51 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,220 name and market power would give Windows Phone a boost and show the world, hey look, Windows 52 00:02:56,220 --> 00:02:57,220 Phone is worth something. 53 00:02:57,220 --> 00:02:58,420 It's going to be all over Nokia devices. 54 00:02:58,420 --> 00:03:02,140 But this backfired, catastrophically. 55 00:03:02,140 --> 00:03:07,100 There was still no incentive for non-Nokia manufacturers to pay for Windows Phone licenses. 56 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:11,540 Because now, not only was it not free like Android, but their Windows Phone models would 57 00:03:11,540 --> 00:03:16,500 also have to compete against Nokia's phone division, which was now owned by the same 58 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:19,240 flippin' company, the one they were paying. 59 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,220 So in 2017, the Windows Phone project was finally put out of its misery. 60 00:03:23,220 --> 00:03:27,940 And Microsoft is now focusing its mobile efforts on cheaper laptops, the Internet of Things, 61 00:03:27,940 --> 00:03:31,490 and getting its digital assistant Cortana onto more devices. 62 00:03:31,490 --> 00:03:34,770 So there may be an important place yet for Microsoft in this new world where it seems 63 00:03:34,770 --> 00:03:37,210 like everything needs to be connected to the Internet. 64 00:03:37,210 --> 00:03:40,110 But don't expect your friends to be impressed by your Windows Phone unless they also love 65 00:03:40,110 --> 00:03:45,650 your dope HD DVD player and your lit flip HD video camera. 66 00:03:45,650 --> 00:03:49,230 And speaking of being impressed, do you want an impressive solution for protecting your 67 00:03:49,230 --> 00:03:51,490 privacy and getting around geo-blocking? 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