Microsoft was not destine to win the whole iPod versus Zune contest... Everyone knew that. What people do not realize is that Microsoft has swung their company to be much more services driven... this is why you see services like ZunePass growing (and trust me - it will continue to grow big time now with WP7.) This is why people pay Microsoft $50 a year to play Xbox Live... This is also why companies like Netflix are succeeding and why Apple may have to rethink it's strategy on Micro-music transactions for a subscription service. The thing about subscription vs. per transactions is that once people get locked into a service they are highly unlikely to leave. The ZunePass retention rate is ubber high... it's like crack - once you get a taste you do not want to go back.
Regardless - Microsoft HAS lost before. KIN was a failed attempt at a product which did not have all the right ingredients in place and in the pot to get cooking... kids who actually used the device loved it. Microsoft kind of failed at the channel effort and their business relationship with Verizon.
When Microsoft says they are in it for the "race" and not the sprint (no pun
) you know you are in trouble. They will wear your a$$ down like a river rock. They do not quit and the do not stop. Just ask Sony and Nintendo. Ask Sun Microsystems. Ask Novell. Ask IBM. Ask Oracle. I would say ask Google but they are so new in the market with such fanfair they definitely will be a good challenge for Microsoft as they both have big revenues. Funny thing is that these two companies need each other more than anything... probably has to do with the ethos and leadership of Google - Eric has a hate on for Microsoft like you wouldn't believe through his many years of losing badly to Microsoft.
Alas, I digress, someone who actually thinks the WP7 device is a "clone" of an iPhone needs to get their head checked out... WP7 and iPhone have nothing in common except for the control module for software updates. Of course leave it to any AppleFanBoy to believe that Apple actually made the world of SmartPhones. Give your unaddressed market an Android phone and a WP7 device. Which one do you think they'll get first? Which one will give them the best experience? If you think it's Android you may need to look in the mirror and ask if your Geek ego is taking over reality. The WP7 GUI is much cleaner, much more simplistic... fact of the matter is at the end of the day WP7 will not fail - it will compete and do quite well especially capturing the market that hasn't stepped to the table yet... that is by far still the largest market. We are just a bunch of geeks battling over petty stuff - the unaddressed market is far more "interesting" to a company like Microsoft.