Microsoft Learns to Love Apple's iOS and Google's Android - Businessweek

Belatedly changing with the times

"Larson-Green’s way of thinking is prevailing at Microsoft as the company faces plummeting demand for Windows PCs. Its operating systems now control 20 percent of the total consumer-computing market, which includes smartphones and tablets, compared with 42 percent for Android and 24 percent for Apple’s systems, Goldman Sachs (GS) data show. Microsoft has struggled to move into mobile devices; its Surface tablets accounted for just 3.7 percent of tablet sales, and phones running its Windows Phone operating system made up 3.2 percent of smartphone sales in the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC. On July 18, Microsoft announced its biggest quarterly profit shortfall in more than a decade, taking a $900 million writedown on unsold Surface tablets."

Microsoft Learns to Love Apple's iOS and Google's Android - Businessweek