>>You can see right there how closely I have been following mobile technologies. It's the view from 50,000 feet.

Nothing to it: if you're into a particular maker then it's iOS for Apple and Android for whatever other brand you like. If you don't care about hardware brand then you can choose between Samsung and LG offering Android followed by HTC and a few others. WP seems increasingly irrelevant, unfortunately.

I notice Google has started selling the Galaxy with vanilla Android via AppStore. Not sure what that means for Motorola- but certainly it means that WP won't be saved by Google cannibalizing and burning off the other makers by promoting their own Motorola hardware. Not happening. Google drove LG to number 3 smartphone maker by subsidizing its Nexus on Appstore and now builds Samsung by doing the same. Maybe the plan is to offer Android makers access to all of the Motorola patents for detente against litigious other players or simply to remove the patents from play so Google can continue its current strategy to dominate by being chosen by customers, not by litigation.