Their consumer efforts are pathetic because they've been completely out of the game. Microsoft has always been about enterprises. They've mastered that market for quite some time. The reason they are losing any of that ground to Google or Apple is because of the consumer market. Consumers are swaying the enterprises to brands and products they like. That's why so many business support iPhone. Google docs suck compared to Office online, I've used them both. But companies are starting to pick up Google products because their employees (including managers/executives are using those products).
And that's the deal right there. Killing off consumer products would destroy Microsoft utterly.
Remember blackberry? Yeah, they're still around. Sort of. They were the king of business email for awhile. Secure, dependable, reliable. Ready for work.
So why did iPhone and Android take over? I mean, Android's email support is downright terrible, especially after the manufacturers have had their say. Iphone is okay...until you get a stuck email that hammers the server and eats your data plan in an hour. So up against that horrendously obvious display of incompetence, why is it Blackberry that is practically dead?
Simple: It's the dang app stores. The ability to "download stupid stuff much faster" pastes itself in these peoples' heads. They don't care how good the email support is unless it doesn't work. (Then the carrier makes a handy scapegoat.) They just want to download candy crush.
It's not that you couldn't install games or watch movies on a Blackberry Storm, and it sure as heck wasn't that there weren't any apps. It's because most of the software was self-published by indie devs on forums (such as crackberry). Installing and using them requires at least some computer skill. Your average facebooker took one look at it and ran to the iPhone. They just
know that if there is no app store, that it means there are no apps, and therefore, nothing on the phone that will entertain them.
This is what Microsoft is truly up against. Not Android, not Apple, and certainly not Sony either.
This is their company's fight for survival. Consumer perception is everything, even if that perception is downright wrong.
So, fast forward to Windows 8, the supposed horrible failure. I've been noticing an increasing number of Win 8 tablets around the office. Yes, even RT models. Some people even
prefer RT devices. Funniest thing, eh? And much of what people think of as "xbox" has been heavily integrated into the operating system.
Android tablets and iPads were fun, but in the long run, they weren't very work oriented. People now finally want something more than a portable youtube player. It's starting to sink in that Android tablets and iPads are toys. They don't want to give up the "toy" aspect, but they're starting to miss computers actually doing work.
THIS is why Xbox won't spin off. Because Xbox *IS* Windows 8. It's what melds the fun and work and lets people have it both ways. Xbox has *always* existed for this. Ever since the Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft's purpose has always been to bring it all back to the PC. Investors may think they don't need Xbox to survive, but Windows definitely does. They're taking a lot of the right steps, and yes, their positioning needs some work. But if they lose the Xbox, they lose the war.