Cloud Computing: Consumer Apps and Services – Microsoft’s Often-Overlooked Crown Jewels

Grazed from Winsupersite.  Author: Paul Thurrott.

While Microsoft’s business offerings have long dominated the conversation around the software giant, I’m increasingly excited by the firm’s growing set of integrated consumer services that work via apps on all popular mobile device platforms. It is here, I think, that Microsoft’s "mobile first, cloud first" mantra is most clearly seen, because the services that impact end users directly are those that make the most sense on mobile devices.  But here’s the tragedy: Most consumers, I bet, rarely even consider Microsoft’s mobile app and web services offerings. Most don’t even know they exist.

Part of the reason for this is no doubt because of Microsoft’s reputation as a provider of business technology products and services. And while it’s fair to point out that the majority of the firm’s revenues do come from business customers, that doesn’t diminish the quality of its consumer-oriented offerings, or the impact this company has with individuals, through apps and on the web…

Another part of the reason is that as our computing habits have changed, and consumers have embraced non-Microsoft platforms like Android and iOS, many simply assume that Microsoft has no presence on those mobile platforms. Some don’t even think through it that far: They simply use Apple’s offerings exclusively on iPhone and Google’s offerings exclusively on Android. It’s an easy thing to say that a user of any mobile platform will get the best experiences on that company’s own platform. But that’s no longer universally true. And it’s easy to mix and match regardless of which platform(s) you choose…

Read more from the source @ http://winsupersite.com/cloud/consumer-apps-and-services-microsofts-often-overlooked-crown-jewels