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Windows Phone 7 takes on iPhone and Android

Over the past 2 years, I have been hearing via Microsoft channels they have had over 1000 programmers locked away working on significant improvements in Windows Phone OS.
On Feb 15, 2010, Steve Ballmer introduced their new Phone OS called Windows Phone 7. In typical Microsoft naming convention fashion they dropped "mobile" from the name. :/

Windows Phone 7 - is at first glance like nothing you have seen before from Microsoft. As it had to be. Gone are the tiny stylus demanding _ X [] like buttons that open and close everything you need to do - a clear indication that they went back to the drawing board and somewhat started from their Zune like interface and built up.

They call their strategy "Life in Motion" here an inside look at the project team manager Albert Shum. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2010/feb10">http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2010/feb10/02-15WindowsPhone7.mspx
Albert has a good point of view and is saying the right words.

Most notable on the new interface is a series of movable tiles called "live tiles" on the start screen. Live tiles are dynamically updated icons that show real-time content from applications, services, contacts etc. This could be a big improvement over the iphone icons as the tiles allow for more data to be updated. iPhone icons typically only show the number of new items that have arrived since your last visit. ie; a 4 shows when you have 4 new emails. Innovative thinking Microsoft.
here is another insider view from Microsoft's internal "Channel 9" site http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/LauraFoy/First-Look-Windows-Phone-7-Series-Hands-on-Demo">http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/LauraFoy/First-Look-Windows-Phone-7-Series-Hands-on-Demo/

Windows Phone 7 also provides new hooks for developers to access deep in the user interface during programming. This approach delivers a very robust potential for some COOL programs in the future. A phone is not competitive without 'apps' . Microsoft finally gets this.

Still unclear is Micosoft's commitment to allowing you to "upgrade" your phone as new updates come available. One of the most compelling features iPhone delivers is the ability to upgrade EVERY iPhone ever made to its latest 3.x version software. Yes some features dont work on all iPhones - but it means your investment in the first generation iPhone is still good today. Microsofts historical approach has left you abandoned to the "island of misfit toys". uuggh.

I am predicting that Windows Phone 7 is a good start for Microsoft to get back into the game.

Would you buy another Windows powered phone?

2 Responses

  • Mar 16, 2010

    Principle

    I would! I for one cannot wait for the new Windows phones. I own several different mobile phones and rotate through them from time to time. They all are different obviously, but each has their strengths and weaknesses. I own a Palm Pre (WebOS), a Palm Treo 800 (Windows Mobile 6), a Samsung Moment, an HTC Hero (Android).

    I must say that if you or your company runs Microsoft Exchange, and Email, Calendar, and Contacts is your main goal. You can not do better than Windows Mobile. It just works! You set it up once and never mess with it again.

    If you feel the need to have your Exchange and a nice rich OS too, then I have to go with the Palm Pre. It has the best Exchange Integration out of the new OSes. There are not as many "apps" for it, but most of the good ones are there.

    If you are not too worried about business email but more personal email like GMail, Yahoo, Etc. then Android wins easily and handily. Great browser, great GMail integration, tons of Apps, and pretty sexy too.

  • Mar 29, 2010

    Co-Founder

    I remain open minded for Windows 7 Phones. So far what we have seen is really cool and somewhat unique. You can really value UNIQUE these days because so far all everyone's done is copied Apple's iPhone and played a game of catch up. It seems MSFT was playing a wait in the shadows game. However, last time they played this game (with Zune) they stayed in the shadows too long. MSFT knows just how valuable having a significant market share in mobile means, they know this because they used to own a good portion of it. Unfortunately for them they became content and their platform quickly became dated. In recent past MSFT has taken a positive turn releasing quality software like Win7. However, some might argue they just borrowed there also (from Snow Leopard). Ultimately, competition is good and will result in a win for the consumer.

    We also have several phones in office: iPhone, Google Nexus One, Moto Droid, Palm Pre. I like some things about each but iPhone is still king.

What do you think?

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