FrankInKY :
This is the most cringe-worthy piece I've ever read, I am really embarrassed for Microsoft.
How so? MS has had some serious hardware blunders resulting from the "late to the game" factor and the "throwing money at it" strategy, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day sometimes... The original XBOX was more or less a sacrificial lamb. They dumped tons of money into it, sold it at a loss, funded companies making games for it, etc etc. The XBOX was itself a failure, but it created mindshare which led to the XBOX 360 being something that was in the public eye so when it came out, people considered it seriously. That's the thing - people taking a product seriously is half the battle.
The other half is having a quality product. The reality is, Windows Phone is just that.. They're solid devices with a unique style that deliver what you want from a phone and hook up to a lot of good services very well. Not saying this is going to work, but hey, I'll bet they'll end up with at least a few hundred thousand more happy Windows phone users out of it.