Microsoft's plan to try to win back consumers with "Modern Life Services"

It's no secret that Microsoft has not won the hearts and minds of consumers lately.

Killing products like the Groove Music service, the Microsoft Band fitness tracker and Windows Phone left many doubts about Microsoft's big project: to focus on business users and leave consumers to its competitors.

This week, Microsoft executives told partners that Redmond was not abandoning consumers.

Yusuf Mehdi – whose new title of June 2018 became "Corporate Vice President of Modern Life and Devices" – led a session at the partner show in Las Vegas where he described the company's vision for what the authorities plan to name "Modern Life Services".

"Modern Life and" Gaming "are the two new additions to Microsoft's core areas of digital solutions that its own sales force and partners are expected to target in 2019 and beyond. (The others, Microsoft announced it a year ago Inspire, are Modern Workplace, business applications, applications and infrastructure and data and AI.)

In preparing his presentation, Mehdi acknowledged that "in recent years, we have lost some of this magic with consumers, "According to the participants who asked not to be named, he added (as can be seen on the teleprompter on a screen shot encrusted above that Mehdi himself tweeted) that " we begin the journey to win back consumers. vision . "

Most consumer businesses focus on one thing, says Mehdi: Amazon focuses on shopping, Spotify on music, Netflix on movies, Microsoft's value is productivity, he says. is trying to make productivi ty sexier.

Microsoft is targeting what so-called "professional consumers" with these services, said Mehdi.These are people who already know how to use technology, but who have need to know how best to use them to make them more productive.The purpose of these services will be to give users time and help them focus on what matters to them.

The makers Microsoft believe that the company "already has the work schedule with Outlook." the line between consumer and commercial activities.

(For the record, Microsoft's leadership continued to insist on the fact that & # 39; there is no identifiable line between software and business and consumer services, because people often work at home and at work, but in recent months, they have been trying to argue this argument as forcefully as they can. They did it several years ago.)

What, exactly, will be considered a modern life service? It will be mainly applications, services and features that Microsoft will already provide on Windows, Outlook and PowerPoint, but that officials will try to position appropriately to the needs of professional consumers on Windows PC, iPhone and Android phones. 19659005] An example: the Microsoft "Your Phone" application, which Microsoft executives showed for the first time at the Build 2018 developer conference earlier this year. Your Windows 10 phone will allow users to respond to text messages on their Windows desktop, as well as drag and drop photos from their desktops and send them via their phone without having to access phones. The idea is to not have to interrupt their workflow, users will save time and be more productive.

Features like Focused Inbox, @mentions, Time to Leave in Outlook for Windows 10 and Outlook Mobile will also make professional consumers more productive, Mehdi said.

Microsoft plans to sell the newer, cheaper and cheaper Surface Go tablets running Windows 10 S and Office 365 as part of this "win-win" campaign. Microsoft is devoting more marketing and commercial resources than ever before to try to push the surface line, especially targeting consumers, said Mehdi.

Microsoft will also be part of the new consumer campaign its Cortana digital assistant, which will come to more smart devices at home, such as the Johnson Controls GLAS smart thermostat as early as this summer. (It seems that Microsoft expects the Cortana-powered thermostat to be available in its stores from August 2018 on the basis of remarks by Microsoft's executive vice president, Judson Althoff, at the partners this week.)

Unsurprisingly mention the Microsoft Andromeda dual-screen mobile device (I've asked a few people.) Andromeda does not occur this year and Microsoft is considering changing the form factor to be more similar to a PC for any type of new mobile device, it may present point, the sources said.