Steve Ballmer has admitted without hesitation false: the arena of mobile platforms, Microsoft is in fifth place. No turn of phrase, no diplomatic tongue to hide what is under the eyes of all Redmond can not replicate on smartphones good that did for PCs.

Ballmer did not clarify what the recipe does not work in Windows Mobile and pointed out that there is no political motive behind the decision to send in early retirement on 47 year old Robbie Bach, (former) president of Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division (but then why not replace it?). But he said it very clear that Microsoft has lost an entire loop strip thyself.

The impression is that beyond the iPhone phenomenon, Ballmer is annoyed by the slow but inexorable climb of Google, Android is doing what Microsoft should do with the so-called Windows Phone. The data reported recently by Gartner speak for themselves: in one year the share of Windows Mobile fell from 10.2 to 6.8%, while Android has jumped from 1 .6 to 9.6%.

At this point the question arises what will become of the Mobile division of Microsoft (a question that returns cyclically ); hard to think of head shots, the mobility sector is increasingly strategic (as Ballmer continues to support the immortality of the PC ), give up now would be thrown to the wind million investment.

Easier to think of turning a radical (especially now that Ballmer himself has to steer the ship), whose results, however, will only further over time. In practice, after the release of Windows Mobile 7 . An operating system announced perhaps too early at this point and that is likely to be already old before he was born.