All I can say is WTF concerning the recent new smartphone introductions by Microsoft and HP. Talk about getting to the table to late. Hell the rest of the industry ate, had seconds, and desert before either of them knew dinner was on the table. Here we have Microsoft pushing the new Windows Mobile 7 phones and HP reintroducing the Palm Pre as version 2. Even if this was the best hardware known on the planet it wouldn’t matter. The smartphone race is not going to be won by hardware specs, transparent marketing, or even backing by massive companies. This race is a competition to get to as many developers as possible. I personally have an IPhone 3gs. Is it the greatest hardware? Nope. Am I a long time Mac user / fan? Nope. I am an IPhone user that wants access to the phone apps that can help me throughout the work day and ones to help me unwind when the day is over. This is also the reason that the Google Android OS is appealing. Knowing that developers are turning out thousands of new applications every month make the IOS and Android phones the dominant market players. Given the head start by both Google and Apple, how in hell does Microsoft and HP think that their entry really matters. With a much smaller app repository, hardware that is nothing special, and essentially the same 4 carriers with identical service offerings, it would be a miracle to see Microsoft and HP gain any noticeable market share. Microsoft should know this is history repeating itself. How do you think MS Windows was able to hold on to its market share all these years? Superior products. I think not. Just ask IBM if this seems familiar.