Why all the analysts out there "just don't" get Microsoft!

There seems to be a fundamental lack of strategic understanding in all people currently writing off Microsoft or more explicitely wp7 and even windows 8.

Most recently, after Eldar Murtazins latest gossip about Microsoft buying out Nokias smartphone business, the discussion about how Microsoft was basicallly doomed to fail with WO/ was cooked up again. Why, of course WP7 is a failure right, Microsoft jsut doesn't get "it". Right? This guy here over on wpsauce even questioned whether Microsoft was keen on success at all: http://www.wpsauce.com/2012/01/editorial-microsoft-windows-phone-successful.html

Well.. I'd like to throw in a thought or two there.

First of all, Pre-mango WP7 was merely Microsofts way of getting it out there and keeping a foot in the door of the mobile market. If they had truly tried to make it successfull through strong marketing etc., they'd have had a nightmare of image-problems from hundred thousands of guys complaining about lacking features. Did they want their product to succeed? Sure, only not quite yet, otherwise they would have hampered longterm-growth for a (short-lived) possible burst of success.

Enter Mango - with it, WP7 is good to go, right?
Nope. Microsoft just can't have it all too successfull just yet.
Why? Nokia. Since Nokia phones were not yet available, going all-out marketing wise would have meant enabling Nokias competitors to step up and strengthen their position in the WP7-Segment, grabbing an even bigger WP7 market-share and leaving Nokia with all those that weren't quite ready to jump the ship even after spending some serious money on marketing. And at the same time Nokia might have had to comptete with a rumoured iphone 5 (that ever quite came out). So did Microsoft want WP7 to succeed? Yes, but not at Nokias expense, since Nokia is their best bet for rapidly gaining market-share while still remaining able to strongly influence the manufactoring process and strategic decisions - unlike HTC or Samsung, who seem to regard WP7 as their petty pet besides their favourited android.
 Same thing goes for upping the specs - Microsoft just can't afford to enter the spec-Battle right now. Their product is working, more fluid and better than most others out there. upping the maximum specs might sound like a good idea, but it would basically be a decision at Nokias expense. Stephen Elop has pressed the company and so far made great progress in turnign Nokia WP7, but developing products takes time, and Microsoft can't afford to kick off HD- Resolutions before they can be sure Nokia is going to be able to compete with a hero device. So will - and should - they up the specs? Definitely. But it's going to be a while, and an Apollo release between the second and the third quarter of 2012 appears to give Nokia just enough time. 

Oh, and what about Skype? Many people complain about Microsoft being too slow in integrating it. They take it as an indicator about how slow the giant is. Don't MS get what they bought? Don't they want to fully integrate it and advertise with it? Of course they do - eventually. But not quite yet. Why? Carriers. Microsoft may be the biggest cash-cow in technology since the invention of transistors, but regarding the mobile market, they don't have a big reach. Yet. (Or anymore, if you will) And of course carriers can't be too charmed by the prospect of having Microsoft baking into their phone OS the option for over 200 million people to avoid expensive carrier controlled minute packages.
Come Windows 8 and true cross-integration between the two, a big, established basis of Nokia Handsets, and an overall bigger acceptance of WP7, the tides will turn.
But would it be wise for Microsoft to hurry regarding Skype integration? I don't think so, carriers would work against them. And presenting a half-baked solution like messaging first would present Microsoft with an even bigger image problem.

The thing is, Microsoft desperately needs developers to start populating the marketplace. They need early adopters to start spreading the word. They need and want word of mouth. They do also need WP7 to establish itself alongside the new XBOX Dashbord and Windows 8 once it all falls into place, completing their renewal and establishing a qhole ecosystem so powerfull it will surprise a lot of analysts. But they can't advertise all out yet. They can't throw in too much money yet, it would be too early. They need others to prepare the ground, so they play along. And they can't tell anyone, lest they'd compromise all efforts on developers, adopters and manufacturers ends. 
It always surprises me how people underestimate Microsoft. Sure, big must mean slow, right? Maybe. And I do get why many assume they lost their touch. But that first came up with Vista. Now look how Windows 7 is doing.
Microsofts Future? Time will tell. But don't write them off so easily.