Microsoft’s long belated response to the iPhone finally arrived in October with the launch of Windows Phone 7, but despite being an admittedly great modern day mobile operating system, it’s not doing so great in retail, so far only selling two million licenses to OEMs, with even less actual phones getting into end user’s hands.
Microsoft thinks it needs to do better to retake the smartphone market from the likes of Google and Apple, and now they’re shuffling around the upper management in the hopes that an internal restructuring will help them take Cupertino on.
The shuffling is a direct response to pressure put upon the organization by Microsoft’s board of directors, which views Microsoft’s existing structure — rightly — as confused, bureaucratic, ungainly and filled with complacent MBA dinosaurs. The board of directors wants younger and fresher talent to take over some of the reigns.
It’s interesting timing for a restructuring, given that Nokia is also about to undertake a major internal shuffling in order to better compete with Apple. Both organizations once dominated the smartphone world, but have been unable to quickly and effectively react to the sudden threat posed to their businesses by the iPhone. It is also worth noting that rumors currently suggest that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will be leading a charge to partner with Microsoft and the Windows Phone division to better counter iPhone and Android.
