QUOTE
IDC should stop swelling Steve Ballmer's head for things he hasn't done
By Joe Wilcox | Published June 10, 2011, 1:37 PM
Is Microsoft's contract with analyst firm IDC up for renewal? Hey, the software giant's fiscal year ends June 30, so it could be. What else, other than group insanity, can explain IDC predicting, again, that Windows Phone will be No. 2 in smartphone operating systems come 2015? It's -- get this -- the second time IDC made such a prediction in less than two months. I guess the first time wasn't enough to get the contract signed.
Mighty Suspicious Timing
Seriously, there is inherent conflict of interest between analyst firms like Gartner and IDC, since the majority of the companies they write about also are clients. IDC has done some mighty Microsoft-friendly research or white papers over the years. But this business about Windows Phone is just too much to believe. IDC's forecast validates Microsoft's Nokia-Windows Phone distribution deal without even one handset shipped. It's sheer speculation in a market changing so fast -- Gartner and IDC are forced to revise their forecasts every couple of months (without really acknowledging how wrong they were so short a time earlier).
This second forecast (June 9) is hard to fathom so close to the other (March 29). Surely it will embolden Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to believe that he can turn around the company's lagging performance in the handset market. That's not good for Ballmer, given recent calls to have him removed as chief executive. I promise you that as long as Chairman Bill Gates still believes in Ballmer, the CEO isn't going anywhere else. So IDC is swelling Gates' head, too.
Detailed:
http://www.betanews....done/1307726417
By Joe Wilcox | Published June 10, 2011, 1:37 PM
Is Microsoft's contract with analyst firm IDC up for renewal? Hey, the software giant's fiscal year ends June 30, so it could be. What else, other than group insanity, can explain IDC predicting, again, that Windows Phone will be No. 2 in smartphone operating systems come 2015? It's -- get this -- the second time IDC made such a prediction in less than two months. I guess the first time wasn't enough to get the contract signed.
Mighty Suspicious Timing
Seriously, there is inherent conflict of interest between analyst firms like Gartner and IDC, since the majority of the companies they write about also are clients. IDC has done some mighty Microsoft-friendly research or white papers over the years. But this business about Windows Phone is just too much to believe. IDC's forecast validates Microsoft's Nokia-Windows Phone distribution deal without even one handset shipped. It's sheer speculation in a market changing so fast -- Gartner and IDC are forced to revise their forecasts every couple of months (without really acknowledging how wrong they were so short a time earlier).
This second forecast (June 9) is hard to fathom so close to the other (March 29). Surely it will embolden Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to believe that he can turn around the company's lagging performance in the handset market. That's not good for Ballmer, given recent calls to have him removed as chief executive. I promise you that as long as Chairman Bill Gates still believes in Ballmer, the CEO isn't going anywhere else. So IDC is swelling Gates' head, too.
Detailed:
http://www.betanews....done/1307726417
