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Apparently we weren't the only ones who found Microsoft's services strategy utterly confusing and slapdash -- Microsoft did too. To that end, as reported by All About Microsoft, they're splitting up their Platforms and Services unit into two different units as well as giving the previous president of that division a retirement to go work for Juniper networks.

The two new divisions will be “Windows/Windows Live” and “Online Services Business.” The W/WL will have three folks in charge and the OSB will get a new guy. Steve Ballmer sent out a letter to the company about the changes with some interesting tidbits about their feelings on Google, Apple, and Yahoo. Short version: We're working on search and Apple's done better with the “end-to-end” experience.

There's plenty to parse here, including the possibility of a Zune phone, so read on!

Zune Phone?

When Ballmer writes “We'll do the same with phones--providing choice as we work to create great end-to-end experiences,” it's likely to start up the rumor mill again with regard to that Zune phone he's repeatedly denied being interested in. Well, that and the fact that JKOnTheRun has it from an inside source that we'll see it based on Windows Mobile 7 (oh, btw, congrats guys!).

I'll stay neutral on the Zune Phone -- ok no I won't: I'm not opposed, but I'd prefer to see Zune features included in all Windows Mobile Phones, okay? I still like Microsoft's strategy of working with hardware partners to make Windows Mobile quite a bit, I just wish there'd be some more consistency (and hotness) across the different handsets. If Microsoft were to throw their own hat into the hardware market, I hope they can find a way to do it that doesn't undercut the entire ecosystem by introducing yet another non-standard Windows Mobile interface into the mix. So Microsoft: go ahead and make your Zune Phone, but offer the innovations therein to your partners, ok?

Services

Back to the Windows Live branding debacle. I'd like to think that this new split is going to help things along. I'd like to think that, but I don't. Windows Mobile is precisely the sort of platform that needs to straddle the gap between traditional business space services that will fall under the “Online Services Business” and consumer-focused services that are part of “Windows Live.”

It's all very frustrating, because the truth of the matter is that Microsoft's offering is much better than anything anybody else has put out there except for RIM. There are some quirks and bugs with Windows Live on Windows Mobile, sure, but they're nothing compared to the Mobile Me mess right now. Toss in Live Mesh and Live Search and you have yourself an excellent suite of great online, cloud-based apps. That's not even counting what we see coming, consumer-wise, after the Danger acquisition.

In poker terms, Microsoft has a straight right now, they just haven't noticed yet because they can't seem to put the cards in the right order. With any luck, they'll be smart enough to keep betting, stay in the game, and take a shot at the big money.

Fire sale? Sprint is selling off a ton of its cell towers to a private equity firm, TowerCo, for an infusion of $670 million in cash. They'll then lease the towers back from the company. The reason? “Significantly, this transaction provides Sprint Nextel with additional liquidity which gives us greater flexibility in managing our company.” Yeah, that extra liquidity is probably something Sprint could use, but a less optimistic observer might suggest that getting rid of physical assets makes it easier for another company to buy them up. Of note -- this is very similar to the arrangement Sprint has set up for their WiMAX network: let somebody else handle the physical towers, Sprint just leases them.

Sprint is selling around 3,300 towers, give or take, which the Wall Street Journal says is “nearly all” of them, though that seems like a lowish number to us since Steel in the Air estimated they had 25,000 of them back in 2005.

Sprint Press Release

We all know the new Windows Live app is out and has been giving us what we need. Push! In order to get your real push up and running you will first need to set up an account with Live mail. Then once set up you can download the app, input your info, and start to sync. Another cool option is the ability to sync contacts with your Live mail account. I had the option checked to merge contacts with outlook contacts but I still ended up with duplicates. That's a persistent issue with the Windows Live client, but a little contact cleanup is a small price to pay for instant email. Check out the video in action and let us know if you're switching to a @live email address.

Engadget Mobile lets us know that HTC Hong Kong has posted a World Wide English ROM that supports the 850 MHz radio band for EDGE data. The folks over at XDA are poking away at it and finding that it does indeed support the 850 MHz band for GSM (read: EDGE speeds) but that 850 3G data is still tough to come by. Reports are mixed on that front -- as Engadget notes and a read-though of the XDA thread confirms, there's some weirdness with the band selection in the settings.

On other fronts, though, the ROM apparently rocks. TouchFLO 3D is reportedly much faster! The other nice thing is that the weird “we're turning the screen off whether you like it or not during a call” behavior now defaults to friendlier settings based on your global power preferences (after the initial default power-down. Yes, it's confusing, but if you have one you know what we're talking about).

We were very pleasantly surprised when a hacked ROM came out a week ago with 850 support, we're just as pleased to see HTC officially supporting the 850 band. Looks like, for once, CompUSA has been somewhat vindicated. Whoodathunk?