Summary: As Windows Mobile's small market continues to decrease (while Linux gains), Microsoft drops Recite

A FEW days ago we witnessed the end of two Microsoft products and now comes the end of another.

Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing Microsoft Recite, an application for Windows Mobile that uses voice-search technology to let users record and search voice notes. The product never made it out of the Technology Preview status.

From another source which is closer to Microsoft:

Microsoft is discontinuing Recite, a Windows Mobile application that lets people record audio notes to themselves and search them later by voice, according to a notice today on the Microsoft Recite site. The app will no longer be offered as of Dec. 31, 2009, the company says.

This is indicative of the declining relevance of Windows Mobile, which Microsoft intends to complement or replace with its own phone, assuming the rumours are true.

Other coverage of the ending of this relatively new product says: "It’s a shame this has been discontinued so quickly. Recite showed real promise in giving Windows Mobile a technical advantage so desperately needed, especially given Ballmer’s admission that they are lagging the competition."

Among Microsoft's competitors in this field: Linux.

Linux-powered phone platforms include Android, WebOS, and LiMo. According to the following, Microsoft's CEO still cannot say the "G" word, let alone the "L" word.

Ballmer Won't Call Google by Name in Interview

In a strange part of what was otherwise and interesting and insightful interview with TechCrunch this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer went out of his way to avoid naming Google, instead referring to them repeatedly as "the incumbent." This seemed to be a deliberate strategy and left me shaking my head wondering why he couldn't refer to Google by name. (The whole interview is interesting, so I encourage you to watch it, but the part I'm referring to begins at around 6:30.)

One of the reasons Comes vs Microsoft exhibits are valuable is that Microsoft publicly avoids using the "L" word, unless there is no choice. But looking at internal mail, it is beyond evident that Microsoft knows its "most potent" competitor. ⬆

"Google's not a real company. It's a house of cards."

--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

"[If I ask you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?] Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have to go with that."

--Steve Ballmer (Microsoft's CEO), February 28^th, 2008