Microsoft Is Rapidly Approaching a Critical Crossroad ⇥ blogs.wsj.com

Matthew Lynley, of the Wall Street Journal‘s Digits blog.

Microsoft is keeping its biggest profit engine tied to its own platforms, Windows 8 and Windows Phone. The company has an incentive to do this: The exclusivity ensures that it’s able to keep selling licenses of Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices.

The problem is that the PC market is starting to shrink in favor of tablets and smartphones, and both of those segments are currently dominated by Apple and Google. Microsoft is doing its best to get in with both Windows Phones and the Surface tablet, but if that doesn’t work it’s running the risk of sacrificing the growth of Office by keeping the umbilical cord with Windows intact.