如何恢复微软的魔力？

    微软犯下的另一个大错就是，推动Windows成为移动设备领先操作系统的计划遭遇惨败。苹果当然使用自己的操作系统iOS，而几乎所有其他制造商都在使用谷歌的安卓操作系统(Android)。为了加快让移动设备制造商，特别是新兴市场的制造商采用Windows系统，微软最近停止向智能手机和平板电脑制造商收取这款操作系统的授权使用费。

    于微软而言，这样做不啻为一场豪赌，因为它牺牲了Windows带来的授权收入。但该公司希望此举将帮助这款操作系统能被更多移动设备采用，从而吸引更多开发商为这些设备开发应用程序，最终获取回报。但目前对此感兴趣的开发商寥寥无几，因为大多数人使用的是安装iOS或安卓系统的手机。

    微软的移动市场份额极其寒碜。根据市场研究机构互联网数据中心(IDC)提供的数据，在去年年底，Windows手机仅占全球智能手机出货量的3％，而安卓和苹果手机的份额则分别为78％和18％。

    道森表示，微软必须彻底反思其Windows策略，而不是仅仅做一些微调。该公司应该让所有设备（而不仅仅是智能手机）免费使用这款操作系统。它应该通过销售附加服务来换取收入。他的建议反映了其他市场参与者的策略：苹果公司的Mac电脑随机赠送一套操作系统，谷歌的Chromebook笔记本电脑亦是如此。他说从长远来看，等待只会让微软的处境变得更加艰难。

    “一个大问题是，他们如何将这套软件的售价降低到零或接近零的水平？”道森问道。

    除了跟更多移动设备制造商结为合作伙伴外，微软还希望借此提升自己的移动设备销量。作为这种决心的标志之一，该公司今年早些时候斥资75亿美元，完成了对芬兰手机制造商诺基亚(Nokia) 的设备和服务业务的收购。

    分析师表示，微软应该集中心思制造廉价手机，退出高端设备市场，虽然技术爱好者通常不会赞扬廉价手机，但它们是这家公司获取一些必要市场份额的唯一希望。

    在道森看来，微软同时进军平板电脑市场的策略基本上已宣告失败。2012年，该公司推出Surface平板电脑，引起轰动。但IDC预测称，Surface去年的市场份额不到1%——远远落后于苹果和安卓——今年则有望达到2%。

    “这项目标看起来已经失败了•，”道森说。

    鲁宾表示，纳德拉应该缩减微软的消费产品，以更专注于企业客户。微软已经拥有一个购买其服务器，依赖其数据中心的企业客户群。戴尔(Dell)目前正在推行这一策略，这家曾经的消费电脑制造商后来将经营重心转向公司客户。与此同时，在消费市场步履维艰的惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard )也开始增加在企业市场的赌注。

    这是纳德拉在《财富》科技头脑风暴大会期间，把微软称为一家“生产力和平台”公司，而不是一家“设备和服务”公司的原因之一。（后一种表述出自他的前任史蒂夫•鲍尔默。）生产力至少意味着工作和其他琐事，但纳德拉给出的定义是如此宽泛——比如，通过给页面拍照来自动翻译一份菜谱——以至于它几乎意味着任何东西。

    “侧重于生产力有助于将微软跟谷歌和苹果区别开来，这两家公司已经把消费类设备和服务确立为它们的目标市场，”鲁宾说。“微软期望专业人士将更加倾向于这家把他们的目标置于广告商之前（一如谷歌的做法），同时在IT管理服务领域拥有优势（苹果公司依然不具备这种优势）的公司。”

    纳德拉预计将在7月22日，微软发布其季度营收报告之际，透露其重组计划的更多细节。这家公司悠久的重组历史给纳德拉的计划蒙上了一层阴影：多年来，尽管历任高管自信满满，但无数次旨在重振微软雄风的重组计划几乎总是以失败告终。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    In another blunder, Microsoft failed miserably in making Windows a leading operating system for mobile devices. Apple, of course, uses its own operating system, iOS, while nearly every other manufacturer uses Google’s Android. To accelerate adoption among mobile device-makers, particularly those in emerging markets, Microsoft recently stopped charging hardware makers to incorporate Windows into smartphones and small tablets.

    It’s a big gamble for Microsoft because it sacrifices Windows licensing revenue. But the company is hoping it will pay off by giving the operating system more traction and thereby entice more developers to create apps for those devices. Currently, relatively few developers bother because most people use phones with iOS or Android.

    Microsoft’s mobile market share is anemic at best. Windows phones accounted for just 3% of global smartphone shipments at the end of last year, compared to 78% for Android and 18% for Apple, according to data from IDC, a market research firm.

    Dawson said Microsoft must completely rethink its Windows strategy, rather than just make minor adjustments. The company should give away the operating system for all devices, not just smartphones, he said. To generate revenue, it should sell add-on services. His suggestion mirrors the rest of the market: Apple’s Mac computers come with a free operating system as does Google’s Chromebook laptops. Waiting just makes things tougher in the long run, he said.

    “The big question is, how can they take their price down to zero or close to zero?” Dawson asked.

    In addition to signing on more mobile partners, Microsoft is hoping to ramp up its own mobile device sales. In a sign of its commitment, it paid $7.5 billion earlier this year for the devices and services business of Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone maker.

    Analysts said Microsoft should focus on making cheaper phones and leave the market for more expensive devices to others. Though technology fans don’t generally praise cheap phones, they are the company’s only hope to gain some needed market share, analysts said.

    Dawson described Microsoft’s parallel push into selling tablets as largely a lost cause. It introduced the Surface in 2012 with a splash. But Surface had less than 1% market share last year—far behind Apple and Android—and is expected to reach just 2% this year, predicts IDC.

    “The objective seems to have failed,” Dawson said.

    Rubin said that Nadella should scale back Microsoft’s consumer products to focus more on enterprise customers. Microsoft already has a huge base of businesses that buy its servers and rely on its data centers. It was a strategy followed by Dell, the one-time consumer computer-maker that later shifted focus to corporate customers. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard HP -2.33% is making more bets on the enterprise in the face of a tough consumer market.

    It’s one reason Nadella called Microsoft a “productivity and platform” company rather than a “devices and services” company during his Fortune Brainstorm Tech appearance. (The latter term was coined by his predecessor, Steve Ballmer.) Productivity, at least, implies work and other chores, although Nadella’s definition is so broad—automatically translating a recipe by taking a photo of the page, for example—that it could mean virtually anything.

    “The focus on productivity helps differentiate Microsoft from Google and Apple, which have aimed their devices and services as consumers,” Rubin said. “Microsoft is betting that professionals will lean toward the company that puts their goals ahead of advertisers—as Google does—with a strength in managed IT that Apple still doesn’t have.”

    Nadella is expected to give more details about his reorganization plan on July 22, when Microsoft reports its quarterly earnings. Casting a shadow over the proceedings: the company’s long history of reorganizations, which have, despite optimism from senior executives, almost always failed to revitalize the company.