Based on the product announcements from Microsoft last week and this article I saw on CNet, Microsoft is finally learning from Apple. This is a good thing for Microsoft and maybe not so good for Google.

Microsoft is fixing major issues with Windows phone, by updating to Core 10 and taking full control of the system updates; the later still being a big issue with fragmentation, for Android devices. With all the Android variants (Samsung, HTC, et. al, etc.), Google will not be able to put this Genie back in the bottle, without taking future Android versions private or starting from scratch with a new private Mobile OS (like Apple and Microsoft).

Even if Google were to make one of these moves, the best they could do would be to compete in an already crowded market. This leaves a huge hole for the 3rd place mobile platform from Microsoft, to gain ground, by providing a solid, usable and stable platform (Windows Phone 10).

It might actually make sense for Google to partner with Microsoft to provide Google services on Windows Phone 10 and for Microsoft to provide Google with Windows services; they already provide all their Office Suite on the Google Android platform. Google seems in a perfect position to take the same approach that Microsoft is now using…be where the customers are. After all, Google makes money by views and clicks. So, anything that makes that happens, helps Google.

I’m not sure how all this is going to shake out, but I would think that over the next couple of years, it should be real interesting to watch both Microsoft and Google, when it comes to the mobile and services arena.

It’s going to be a fun ride….:-)