Microsoft unveiled its much anticipated Windows Phone 7 operating system this week at the Mobile World congress in Barcelona. It is not based on the existing 6.X OS – but is entirely new – based on the Zune.
The reaction by the tech press has been very positive. For example, Gizmodo says that "Microsoft has out-appled Apple" , and "I'm sorry, Cupertino, but Microsoft has nailed it. Windows Phone 7 feels like an iPhone from the future. The UI has the simplicity and elegance of Apple's industrial design, while the iPhone's UI still feels like a colorized Palm Pilot."
For other comment, see PCWorld, engadget, Wired.
New phones using Windows Phone 7 will be available from several manufacturers and several carriers "by the holiday 2010 season".
I have not seen any comment on when it will be available in Canada.
The frustrating part for me is that I bought a new phone last summer – I hate 3 year terms!
Windows Mobile 6 loyalists don't think that Microsoft nailed it. They're very unhappy about the lack of multitasking and the possibility of Flash being excluded. Overall, I think Windows Phone 7 is a nice upgrade and will be getting its own ecosystem. The biggest problem will be getting companies (HTC, Motorola) that just dumped Windows Mobile for Android to come back. Android doesn't cost manufacturers a thing, so why bother with paying for a Windows Mobile license. After a two-year's slide of WM6, Windows Phone 7 has a lot of market share ground to make up and it's not going to happen overnight.
Whether Microsoft nailed it or not is moot. They've got to start from scratch with an untested mobile OS. They may be a little too late to make serious gains in the mobile space for a long time to come. We'll have to wait for its release to see how well that goes.
Yes, the jury is out – but we now have a contender from Microsoft. I have a Windows mobile 6 phone, and look forward to phone 7 – from what I've seen its advantages outweigh those issues.
Yes, Windows 7 could be contender but that's just it…"could be". Microsoft has found over the last few years that having its logo on a product does not guarantee success, especially those distanced from its Windows and Office spheres of influence.
And is always the case with Microsoft, press release perceptions and launch day realities rarely match. It usually takes them 2 or 3 iterations to get it right. Let's do see what we get when it does launch…as Palm showed, as HTC showed, as Google showed.
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Windows Phone 7 may be great, but phones running it won't be out till _the end of this year_?
Forgive my skepticism, but this sounds an awful lot like the story of Zune vs iPod the last few years. When announced, new Zune models were generally well reviewed vs the iPod offerings of the time, but went almost nowhere in the market because Apple wasn't standing still.
Nine months is well-nigh an eternity in smartphones these days- by the time Windows 7 phones appear, the iPhone software will have been revised and the iPad may well add even more momentum to the App Store.
Competition is good, and kudos to Microsoft for pushing the bar higher, but they need to start getting out _in front_ of this rapidly evolving market to have success.
So it's okay not to draw attention to the fact that the Phone 7 can't cut-and-paste? That's so 2007, the irony is not lost on me.
WinMO 7 could be fantastic but the OEMs aren't beholden to MS anymore like they were with PCs. Let's see, Sony-Android, Palm-PalmOS, RIM, Nokia/Intel-MeeGo, HTC-Android, Samsung-Bada, LG-Android, etc. There is simply no compelling reason for anyone to pay for WinMo as there is no "IBM" in the smart phone universe like their was in the early PC market. Microsoft can't hitch a free ride this time.
Other problem is that, with only 10% of the market, selling WinMo licenses at $8 to $15 per phone doesn't make them any money. Especially when Apple is making over $600 per phone before they even sell any apps, music, movies, e-books or peripherals.
Respectfully, I disagree that "we now have a contender from Microsoft." Right now there's nothing other than a demonstration. There's no hardware. Nothing has been made. In the past, Microsoft has described a product and completely reneged on promises before the product is release. At this time there is no contender, there is only a fantasy, a wish, a fable.
Further, it is based on the Zune, a financial disaster. Why should anyone assume that something that has failed in the past, without being totally revised, will be successful in the future? After Microsoft released the Zune and demolished those Microsoft developers who had supported previous software for MP3 players, why should they develop for this new phone, knowing that its model had poor sales and that Microsoft abandoned them?
So far, Windows Phone 7 is just VAPORWARE.
Microsoft doesn't even plan to ship it until the end of the year.
There is no company that has signed up for it yet.
So far, there IS NO ECOSYSTEM for it. Microsoft doesn't have the expertise to create an ecosystem. The last attempt – the Zune – failed badly.
Microsoft hasn't out-Appled Apple. Doing so would require creating an ecosystem. And it has not.
1. The iPhone is both custom hardware and custom software. Microsoft isn't building or selling the hardware.
2. The iPhone has the humongous iTunes Music Store.
3. The iPhone has over 176,000 apps and growing quickly.
4. The iPhone will be shipping Version 4.0 of its OS this summer – before Windows Phone 7 can even ship with version 1.0
5. The iPhone has a huge amount of 3rd party accessories, connecting devices, etc. A doctor can even monitor his hospital patient's vitals and labs via the iPhone. Windos Phone 7 has nothing.
6. The iPhone has an ecosystem which includes the iPod Touch and iPad which greatly expands the market for apps.
7. etc. etc.