There's an interesting take on Ars Technica today called "The carriers are not your customers: the Windows Phone 7 update mess." Peter Bright suggests that Microsoft's history of treating partners well is hampering it badly in the smartphone market. Key quote:
"Microsoft is still treating the OEMs and carriers as if they were its customers. While they're the ones Microsoft is dealing with directly, treating them as the customer will kill the platform. The early-adopting end users -- the people who actually bought the platform, are buying the applications, and are encouraging their friends and families to follow suit -- have to be treated as king. But they're not, and they're not happy."
Bright argues Microsoft's missteps aren't fatal yet. Better communication could still help, he says.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 14, 20110 comments
A recurring theme in any channel program is how many leads a vendor can provide its partners.
In the Microsoft channel, partners have complained for years that the Solution Finder didn't do much for them. They've often said the same of its replacement, Pinpoint, which launched as a beta in July 2008 and in full two years ago. (Microsoft is still in the process of transferring all partner listings from Solution Finder to Pinpoint.)
In a Microsoft Partner Network Interactive Leadership Forum with 500 partners last week, Microsoft executives shared progress numbers that suggest the company's steady focus on Pinpoint is starting to pay dividends for partners.
"This year we set ourselves a fairly aggressive target to generate 700,000 leads for partners through Pinpoint. We're very pleased with the progress. We're expecting to exit our financial year above that," said Karl Noakes, general manager of partner strategy and programs in the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group.
According to a chart that Noakes referred to in the forum, Pinpoint delivered 270,000 prospects to partners in fiscal year 2010 (July 2009-June 2010). So far, the lead-generation directory has produced 642,000 prospects to partners this fiscal year with several months remaining.
Going forward, the projections get more ambitious. Noakes said the projection for fiscal year 2012, which starts this July, will be 1.25 million leads.
"[Where we are is] just a start," Noakes said. "As Pinpoint starts to become more pervasive in our marketing, then we hope to drive more customer traffic to that."
It would be wise to treat the projections with a grain of salt. In discussing the Pinpoint beta at the 2008 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, former Microsoft global channel chief Allison Watson set a goal of 500,000 leads in Microsoft's fiscal 2009. That number is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison with Noakes', given that it may have mixed Solution Finder and Pinpoint numbers, but the ramp-up is unquestionably slower than Microsoft had led partners to hope for. Meanwhile, for context, Microsoft regularly says that its community consists of 640,000 partners, meaning that the leads so far for FY '11 would only average about one per partner per year if all were involved (not even close to all Microsoft partners have solutions listed in Pinpoint).
Nonetheless, Noakes' numbers indicate that the tool may now be building some real traction.
Given that Microsoft is doubling down on its emphasis on Pinpoint, it's starting to make more sense for Microsoft partners to invest the time in improving their listings in the Pinpoint directory. RCPmag.com blogger Barb Levisay recently wrote a how-to for making a solution stand out in Pinpoint. Check it out here.
(Ed's Note: For more news from the Microsoft Partner Network Interactive Leadership Forum, click here.)
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 14, 20113 comments
Initial sales estimates from Wall Street analysts are in, and it looks like the Apple iPad 2 sold out within a few hours Friday evening. A story on Fortune's Web site has the details.
What's more interesting to the Microsoft partner community is the way the device is breaking out of the Apple ecosystem and getting into the PC user base.
A team from Piper Jaffray interviewed 236 people in waiting lines in New York and Minneapolis. That team had done something similar for the original iPad launch, so they had some interesting comparison figures (the Fortune story has a full graphic with their results).
Of the would-be iPad 2 buyers, 70 percent hadn't owned the first iPad, meaning the next generation of the tablet is successfully breaking out into a new market, not just prompting upgrades.
Asked whether they had Macs or PCs, buyers of the first iPad were overwhelmingly Mac users, with 74 percent saying they had Macs versus 26 percent saying they had PCs. On Friday in the iPad 2 line, that number had changed dramatically: Mac held a statistically insignificant lead -- 51 percent said Mac, 49 percent said PC.
This isn't a cause for panic for Windows-focused Microsoft partners, however. Asked on Friday if they would continue to use their computer in addition to the iPad, 97 percent said yes. That was up a (statistically insignificant) point from the 96 percent at the original iPad launch who planned to keep using their computers.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 14, 20110 comments
Microsoft wrapped up meetings with Partner Advisory Councils last week and heard strong demand for roadmaps, both product-related and Microsoft Partner Network program-related, Microsoft executives said.
Microsoft Corporate Vice President Jon Roskill of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group tweeted about the feedback on Wednesday: "We wrapped up the PAC with report outs and while clear we have work to do (roadmaps etc) much progress on Cloud vs. last year."
More than 100 partners from around the world attended the PAC sessions in Redmond during the first half of last week. PACs are small groups of partners representing organizations of all sizes in various categories. There are PACs for cloud partners, Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners, independent software vendors, scale resellers and a number of infrastructure and Dynamics categories.
Senior Microsoft channel executives provided more detail on the feedback they got from PAC attendees on Thursday during a Microsoft Partner Network Interactive Leadership Forum with about 500 online partner attendees.
"One thing we heard loudly from a number of those PACs is the need for more transparency in our roadmap on where we're going, both in terms of product and program," said Ross Brown, vice president of Worldwide Partner Sales.
An immediate area where Microsoft is especially focused on providing a roadmap is in the program area for the ISV partner competency, Brown said.
Both partners and customers have been clamoring for product roadmaps from Microsoft for a long time. It's encouraging that Microsoft is acknowledging the demand from partners, because that could be a first step to a more systematic, global framework for sharing critical product-planning information with the channel. Until then, keep Redmond Channel Partner magazine's regularly updated 2011 Microsoft Product Roadmap bookmarked.
(Ed's Note: For more news from the Microsoft Partner Network Interactive Leadership Forum, click here.)
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 14, 20110 comments
The quick thinking of a tech at a Boston-area Microsoft Certified Partner company helped police recover an iPad stolen from one of the firm's clients at a train station earlier in the day.
The morning of March 2, Michael McGowan, an IT Associate at NSK Inc., took a call from a client who'd had his iPad snatched from his hands while typing an e-mail as he waited for the Red Line of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. McGowan had configured the client's iPad in 2010, so he logged into Apple's MobileMe site to lock the device remotely and track it through its GPS. On the phone with MBTA Transit Police, he helped guide officers to the perpetrator's vicinity in about an hour.
I'll let NSK's press release (which is, incidentally, the most well-written news release I've seen in 20 years in journalism) tell the rest of the story:
"Once the officers were in the area, McGowan enabled the iPad's location alert. The alarm wasn't loud enough to draw the attention of the officers, but it did make the perpetrator pull the device out of his backpack, which the officers then witnessed and swiftly moved in to retrieve the device.
"To prove that the iPad was in fact the stolen property of his client, McGowan sent a message to the device that said 'This iPad is stolen property.' The officers felt this was sufficient enough evidence and they made sure to get the iPad safely back to its owner."
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 12, 20112 comments
The media tablet market exploded in the fourth quarter of 2010 (read: holiday sales of the Apple iPad), according to figures released today by market researchers at IDC.
For the last three months of the year, 10.1 million media tablets were shipped. Apple's share was 73 percent for the quarter. The other big contender was the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which garnered 17 percent of the market in the quarter, according to IDC.
The Q4 results more than doubled the 4.5 million units shipped in Q3, when Apple had 93 percent of the market. For the full year, IDC put tablet shipments at 18 million, with Apple's share of the market at 83 percent.
IDC categorizes media tablets as devices with color displays larger than 5 inches and smaller than 14 inches, running lightweight operating systems, and based on x86 or ARM processors. IDC also distinguishes media tablets from PC tablets, defined as running full PC operating systems and based on x86 processors.
"Media tablets are on pace to reach shipments of roughly 50 million units in 2011," said Loren Loverde, IDC vice president of Consumer Device Trackers, in a statement. Loverde's phrasing seems carefully constructed so as to not be construed as a forecast, which is wise in a market where no one knows what to expect. Not to beat up on IDC, but last May, the company was calling for 7.6 million tablet shipments in 2010 and 46 million in 2011.
IDC did include some of its expectations for the market shares of various models. Given the iPad 2 release, the Framingham, Mass.-based researcher is looking for Apple to maintain market share in the 70 percent to 80 percent range. With a raft of competitors coming to market, such as the Motorola Xoom, and pricing issues, IDC expects the Galaxy Tab to have trouble maintaining its Q4 position.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 10, 20110 comments
The Apple iPad got a major enterprise nod this week from virtualization giant VMware Inc.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization vendor has introduced its first iPad app, a 6.1 MB download called VMware View for iPad. The free app enters the crowded fray of remote desktop apps for iPad users, joining Citrix Receiver for iPad, Wyse PocketCloud RDP/VNC (Remote Desktop) and others. (See RCP's Web exclusive, 23 Intriguing iPad Apps for Microsoft Partners, for a discussion of several of them and many apps in other categories.)
In a statement, Christopher Young, VMware vice president and general manager for End-User Computing, explained VMware's decision to move into media tablet apps. "The growing popularity of the iPad in business presents a new opportunity for enterprise IT organizations to empower their mobile workforces by providing users with anytime access to business-critical apps on the go," Young said.
Elsewhere, VMware CTO Steve Herrod's blog almost hints that VMware felt a little reluctance to jump into media tablets and mobile apps. "Welcomed or not, these devices are entering enterprises with users requiring the freedom to take advantage of them," he wrote.
Even if VMware's app, which requires VMware View 4.6 on the back-end, is entering an already bustling market, the company appears to have put some serious thought into the app for remote viewing of Windows desktops. A video demo of the app by VMware shows what appears to be some rather slick development on top of Apple's multi-touch interface.
Now that VMware has an app in the Apple iTunes Store, the company seems enthusiastic about diving deeper. "This is just the beginning of our mobile device efforts, and just one step in the overall journey we have in mind for end-user computing," Herrod wrote.
Maybe an obvious step would be following in the tracks of iDatacenter, another iPad app for administering a virtual datacenter, including monitoring a virtual machine, physical host or datacenter, and restarting, shutting down or moving virtual machines. The $1.99, 0.5 MB app by Nym Networks gets its real power, of course, from the server it connects to -- VMware vCenter Server 4.0 or later is required.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 10, 20110 comments
Apple's iPad 2 launch captured all the attention last week, but the Cupertino-ites also quietly launched a professional services package for micro-SMBs.
Whether it's a direct assault on Apple's existing partners and other VARs in the SMB space or a "rising tide lifts all boats" scenario is hotly debated among Apple's current partners. In any case, the offering, called JointVenture and formally launched Thursday, is somewhat similar to what Best Buy was doing a few years ago with its Geek Squad.
The JointVenture starter package goes for $499 with the purchase of a new Mac. The contract buys system setup, employee training and maintenance.
According to Apple's JointVenture Web site, Apple will transfer existing data from PCs or Macs to new devices. The $499 package includes support for up to five systems, including Mac, iPhone and iPad. The starting price includes up to three two-hour sessions of training at an Apple Store for employees. JointVenture also includes monthly group workshops for business professionals. Other features include a personalized JointVenture site for each customer, equipment checkups and device loaner programs. In the category of desktop support, Apple's site says (and we are not making this up), "For the first time ever, you can speak to an Apple Genius over the phone."
Whether Apple intended for that line to be funny or not, what about the whole lineup? For Microsoft partners who offer Apple products as well, what's your take? Is Apple cutting in on your business, or raising the business profile of the platform?
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 07, 20110 comments
Four months into the new Microsoft Partner Network, the massive overhaul to Microsoft's partner ecosystem still holds as many questions as answers for many partners.
Senior Microsoft channel executives will be dedicating 90 minutes to trying to clear up some of the uncertainty during an interactive webinar on Thursday.
"During this session, we will be discussing topics, questions, concerns, misconceptions and more that we have heard from partners around the world regarding the Microsoft Partner Network to help address and answer these for you, the Microsoft partners," Microsoft wrote in a description of the session.
Staffing the webinar are Microsoft's heaviest-hitting channel executives from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group. They include Corporate Vice President Jon Roskill, Microsoft Partner Network General Manager Julie Bennani, Vice President of Worldwide Partner Sales Ross Brown, and Karl Noakes, general manager of Microsoft Partner Strategy and Programs.
In addition to covering topics like "Which is right for you: Action Pack, silver competency or gold competency" and "Revenue requirements in Microsoft Partner Network," the executives will take questions.
Roskill has been remarkably open to tough questions in partner forums, and fairly forthright in his answers in the past -- it could make for a worthwhile session and not just marketing speak. Sign up here (MPN credentials required). Meanwhile, get ready for the webinar with RCP's independent guide to the MPN changes, 11 Key Things To Know About the New Microsoft Partner Network.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 07, 20110 comments
On Monday, I reported on a Microsoft blog post from the previous week saying that Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 would hit the Microsoft Digital Download Center, where partners grab their Action Pack bits, by the end of February. That didn't happen, and now the estimate for availability has stretched out into Q2.
According to a blog post Friday by Eric Ligman, global experience lead for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft ran into a problem with posting the server software and the Multiple Activation Key (MAK) product keys to the partner digital distribution portal.
Ligman says Microsoft is working on the situation and hopes to have it fixed "during the second quarter of calendar year 2011 (if not before)." In the meantime, partners with access to TechNet or MSDN via their Gold or Silver competencies or Action Pack subscriptions can obtain single-use activation keys for SBS 2011, just like before. A lot more specifics on the process are available in Eric's post.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 04, 20110 comments
On the Microsoft SMS&P blog this week, Eric Ligman wrote about a current partner incentive program for cloud that we'd missed -- and it's a pretty big deal. The math is really good for partners, and it's effectively seed money for the add-on services that Microsoft is always saying partners will get if they sell BPOS.
"Here is a great opportunity for all of you partners focusing on SMB customers to drive adoption of online services," wrote Ligman, the global partner experience lead for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group.
The U.S. promotion is called the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Services Customer Rewards Offer, and it covers sales from Feb. 1 through April 1.
Anyone who has used Microsoft's popular Big Easy subsidy program will be familiar with the concept in use here. Sell a product that's covered by the subsidy, and the customer gets a rebate check from Microsoft made out to a partner, who then can then provide services, follow-on licensing or hardware.
In the case of the BPOS offer, covered products include Microsoft BPOS, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Office Communications Server Online, BPOS Deskless Worker Suite, SharePoint Online Deskless Worker and Exchange Online Deskless Worker.
This rebate is worth 50 percent of the customer's first annual subscription fee, payable in subsidy checks made out to a Microsoft Partner Network member. If that partner is the BPOS Partner of Record, they're already getting 18 percent of the first-year subscription revenues in referral fees. Together, that's 68 percent of the first-year subscription going back to partners as revenues.
Why is Microsoft putting so much back into the channel? According to Microsoft materials describing the program, the point for Redmond is to "drive SMB adoption leading up to the launch of Office 365."
I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations on what the deal is worth for BPOS partners. This promotion applies to deals of at least five seats, and the subsidy cuts off after 25 seats. Assuming the BPOS price of $10 per user per month, and that the 50 percent subsidy applies evenly across that range of seats:
- Each seat sold under the program is worth $21.60 in referral fees and $60 in subsidy checks for $81.60 total per seat from Microsoft, so
- A partner selling the five-seat minimum would get $108 in referral fees and a $300 subsidy check for $408 total from Microsoft, and
- A partner selling 25 seats would get $540 in referral fees and a $1,500 subsidy check for $2,040 total from Microsoft.
Where it gets even better is on the add-on services side. Microsoft officials have said repeatedly that partners can make five or six times the BPOS subscription fee in professional services fees, and they've suggested similar multiples in the past for the Big Easy promotion, too.
In other words, those subsidy checks under this BPOS program aren't the end of the revenue opportunity, they're the beginning. What's better is that for the first time that I know of, Microsoft is seeding that add-on spending with these subsidy checks.
Jump aboard this promotion quick, because it runs out in less than a month. Here's hoping that the BPOS Customer Rewards Offer will get reupped after April 1 and again in the Office 365 timeframe. Yes, Microsoft has reason for desperate giveaways now in the limbo period between an aging offering (BPOS) and the release of its hotly anticipated successor (Office 365). It still may be in Redmond's interest, though, to continue the program later, because it puts real money behind the promise of add-on revenues to cloud services.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 04, 20110 comments
FalconStor Software revamped its partner program this week with new partner tiers, a portal and new benefits for resellers of its disk-based data protection solutions. The new program is called PartnerChoice and the launch also includes a new portal called PartnerPlace, which includes opportunity and order tracking.
Brendan Kinkade, vice president of channel management and global alliances for Melville, N.Y.-based FalconStor, said the program now has three tiers: Authorized, Preferred and Premier. The Authorized level includes access to the portal, lead locking and a logo. The Preferred level brings eligibility for market development funds, volume rebates and not-for-resale software and a dedicated tech support hotline. The top, Premier, level increases volume rebates and includes co-marketing projects, event participation and a partner showcase.
Kinkade, who added the channel management role to his job in November, said the enhancement of the program fits with the 100-percent channel sales company's recent moves such as creating a Partner Advisory Council and growing its channel sales force.
"All this is a big interrelated initiative to really develop our channel sales," Kinkade said.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 02, 20110 comments