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Microsoft: The ripening 'Mango'

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DQC Bureau
New Update

The stage is getting set.

Windows creator- href="http://www.dqweek.com/Microsoft-nominates-Team-Frontline-for-President%27s-Club-membership">Microsoft,

through a series of partner programs, is strengthening its

attempt to be the king of communications, just as it is the king of

computing. The Windows Partner Conference was attended by 15,000 of

Microsoft's solution providers from across the world, including

those who build business and consumer applications for mobile users.

At the conference, president of Microsoft's Windows Phone Division,

Andy Lees said, that Microsoft partners will get exclusive discounts

on Windows Phone devices and accompanying rate plans from mobile

operators. In fact, going much beyond that, Lees also listed down new

ways for Windows Phone partners to get mobility competency

accreditation, and a new Microsoft Partner Network application for

its competency partners. The new benefits and opportunities for

members of the Microsoft Partner

Network (MPN) include an exclusive discount program that makes it

easier for MPN members worldwide to obtain and experience Windows

Phone. The new discount program, which begins immediately, is

available to all MPN members with at least one Microsoft competency.

Also announced at the conference was a new MPN app for all Mobility

Competency partners that will give them easy access to exclusive

technical and sales content for Windows Phone while on the go. To

give these partners a special identity, a special MPN logo was also

unveiled.

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Code-named 'Mango',

the motive behind the next version of Windows Phone is to reach out

to more than 750 million Microsoft Office users, 150 million Exchange

users and 100 million licensed SharePoint users. Mango, likely to hit

markets by the end of this year, will be the only phone to offer

Microsoft Office Mobile and Outlook Mobile built-in. This capability

can significantly enhance productivity by allowing businesses to

extend their IT infrastructure and utilize Microsoft cloud-based

services such as Office 365 while increasing opportunities for

partners around the globe, believes Lees. This allows Microsoft to

bring a familiar platform and tools together that will help partners

scale quickly and reach new customers. “This represents a huge

opportunity for partners to thrive and grow their business in the

rapidly expanding Windows Phone ecosystem,” Lees added. With this

perspective in mind, the call to partners to join and benefit from

the expanding Windows Phone ecosystem becomes compelling.

Ever since Windows Phone 7

was launched in October last year, Microsoft has got some key

players-Nokia, ZTE, Acer and Fujitsu, on its side. Plus they have

now got over 42,000 developers, who have downloaded over 1.5 million

toolkits, and launched more than 22,000 applications and games, which

is about 100 titles every day. Paul Bryan, senior director, product

management, Microsoft, said, “Our huge base of partners in the

Microsoft Partner Network that are already very familiar with

Microsoft technologies such as Exchange, SharePoint, Lync and now

Office 365, can deliver great customer experiences by making all of

these things available on the go with Windows Phone.” By 2012, IDC

predicts, Windows Phone has the potential to generate annual software

and service revenue of $296 per Windows Phone device for Microsoft

partners. Not bad. Partners riding over Cloud Wave Admitted Steve

Ballmer, Microsoft CEO in front of about 15,000 solution partners who

had assembled to hear what the world's biggest software company had

to offer, as the cloud wave, seen with a lot of suspicion as a

disruptive business model, gathers momentum.

Partners did have and

still have a feeling of great discomfort with cloud, and the best

thing is to address it and not brush it under the carpet. I am not

holding anybody's brief, but I am happy to see that industry

leaders are taking the partner route to the cloud. And they better

do. It is the solution providers who have traditionally owned the

customer, have the most interesting and unique set of customer

insights, care for them with time and energy, and translate these

technologies into the solutions that really change people's lives.

The partner route to cloud is going to be an uphill task though, and

will take a lot of doing. The various types of partners such as

solution providers, developers, SIs, VARs and

distributors will have their specific needs to successfully go to

market. And investments can be staggering. Ballmer said they plan to

pump in about $4.1 bn as incentives for partners to move to cloud.

Beyond that, what is critical is partner awareness. Some very

interesting insights, even though from Microsoft, can be quite

encouraging. For instance, 74% of their cloud CRM deals is happening

through partners. Those cloud partners who have signed in are getting

a good deal-12% of the deal revenue in the first year, and 6% from

the second year onwards. The only on-site guys are being encouraged

to start a cloud division, without abandoning on-site. There is a 30

day free trial period for customers during which partners can help

them understand and try out the advantages. And for the cloud

partners, there is 28% more revenue per employee. In India, I know

that the partner awareness level of the advantages of the cloud is

still very low.

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The smart thing that

Microsoft is doing is to exhort its partners to first adopt the

cloud, which effectively means that there are already 40,000 plus

Microsoft cloud customers inevitably, and another 600,000 could log

in. 'Use the cloud to sell the cloud' is the slogan. Just over

40,000 partners in an ecosystem of over 6,40,000, means that there is

still a long way to go, but it does show that the first steps are

being taken, across the world. And that is not too bad. Whoever said

that partners are going to be sidelined with this new technology, can

take it easy.



(The author was hosted by

Microsoft in Los Angeles)

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