The Truth About Microsoft's Hardware Event

Microsoft is going to war. Its target? Apple .

In April of 2015, I said that Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, wasn’t waging a war. I was wrong. Nadella is clearly going after Apple with guns blazing.

That is my take-away after getting a preview of the devices and the strategy behinds today’s Microsoft hardware event.

Microsoft new hardware portfolio includes

-three new phones (950/950XL on the high end, the Lumia 550 on the low end),

- the new Surface Pro 4

- a new wireless version of HoloLens

- an upgraded Microsoft Band

- new laptop (Microsoft's first) called the Surface Book

So what does it all mean?

Nadella’s strategy is to flank Apple on two sides.

On one side it is about devices, on the other it is about infrastructure and solutions.

First let's talk about hardware. Microsoft is challenging Apple on the nomadic's that define the modern desktop. Surface Pro 4 (50% faster, 9 hrs of battery life) challenges MacBook Air while the Surface Book takes on the MacBook Pro. In fact, I think Apple signaled it first defensive move with the release of the iPad Pro in response Surface Pro 3 success in enterprise accounts.

On the phone front, while Apple seems preoccupied with keeping Samsung at bay. If not on volumes, certainly on profit margins. Apple may be making the same mistakes that BlackBerry, Nokia , and Motorola made: taking a contender for granted. Now, don’t get me wrong the aesthetics of Microsoft new phones are “meh”, though at least in the 950XL’s case, very powerful under the hood. We’re not going to see lines of people at retail stores salivating to buy these phones. That said, I think with the new phone portfolio, Microsoft is demonstrating the art of the possible and its commitment to phones to its ISV’s.

Of the three new phones that Microsoft is announcing, CIO’s and enterprise business leaders will be most interested in 950XL. During the hands-on, we unlocked the phone using the new iris scanning feature and put the phone through some tough paces. Including; streaming full HD 60hz video to a 50in TV, working with several office apps and surfing the Internet via Bluetooth connected keyboard and mouse, while also taking a call on the handset. While all this was going on, I swiped the home screen and scrolled up and down the app menu, finding the phone still very responsive and smooth.

Universal Apps, Azure cloud services, and Accenture make up the software flank. They counter the anemic battlefront being staged by the Apple / IBM relationship. While I give Apple lots of respect (A+) for building a solid infrastructure for its consumption and storefronts, Apple gets a D grade on productizing any useable enterprise infrastructure. And I know I am not the only one utterly confused by iCloud. While I see a lot of traction in enterprise accounts via IBM ( 7 out of 10 as of Q2) that action is all on the application development and consulting side, not product or infrastructure. In fact on that infrastructure front, VMware, not Apple/IBM is clearly Microsoft’s biggest mobile infrastructure competitor from my observation point.

Microsoft still has a lot of work to do. And Apple ( nor Google ) isn’t going to stand still. Mobile in the enterprise is just getting started. Over the next ten years, we will rewrite all the rules of business as we redefine end user computing – again. One thing is clear, Microsoft is making some big bets and looks to reclaim territory.