Measuring Microsoft's Progress in Mobile, Cloud in an Apple-shaped World

Microsoft is still seen as "old reliable", the standby that almost every business uses to power their desktop environments, local servers, and business solutions. If you want flashy, go with Apple. Want customizable? Get an Android.

But despite the "stable but stagnant" image, an important year of releases in mobile, touch, and the cloud suggest the Redmond company is setting the table for a fresh start.

The Woz May Have It Right

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak spoke to TechCrunch in a recent interview and said he was "worried" about his former company, and part of that worry comes from Microsoft. Because of their less than perfect market position it appears the Windows maker is actually starting to innovate, especially when it comes to mobile. And it shows.

"They might've been doing that (innovating) for three years while Apple was just used to cranking out the newest iPhone and falling a little behind," said Wozniak. He was specifically impressed with efforts like Microsoft's voice recognition software, which can not only hear and understand but translate into multiple languages.

Judging by the Numbers

As a December 3^rd article at Forbes reports, Microsoft has announced that phone developer revenue and app downloads have increased by 100% since the Windows Phone 8 launch in November. Since one of the weakest mobile areas for Redmond was its app store at launch, this could be good news, but out of context it doesn't really mean anything - without hard numbers to back up the generally positive message, this increase could come as the result of myriad factors, and doesn't necessarily point to a better app ...