Windows Phone is a tortoise in a rabbits race.

[Rico]

Great article? The writer uses nearly half a dozen metaphors in five paragraphs to state the blatantly obvious fact that Windows Phone is more or less in a holding pattern until Mango. Is it too much to expect someone such as himself, a writer for a mobile phone site and Microsoft MVP to have the Mango beta on his device and be writing about that?

First off, it's summer. People are more concerned about enjoying the weather than phones. There's usually a bit of a lull in summer months in tech.

Secondly, Microsoft is in a tough spot of maintaining interest in the platform while not having any new products for consumers. They've smartly taken a very metered approach of releasing bits over time to buy them a little more time. I doubt we'll see many ads until new hardware is about to ship, and I expect new hardware to beat the update for existing phones.

Third, being an early adopter with a new platform is typically slow initially, especially if it's the only platform you have. It's a chicken and egg game of having to sell enough hardware to interest developers to make software, which boosts consumer confidence.

Lastly, Windows Phone hasn't even been available for a freakin' year! Anyone remember the first year of the iPhone? Beautiful interface, a delight to use, nothing to do but browse the web while listening to music via iTunes as there were no apps. I honestly can't even remember the first year of Android as the hardware was pretty boring and and it inherited some of the same issues of Windows Mobile in underperforming hardware and an overall bland and overly complex user experience while Windows Mobile at the time could at least brag about a comparatively expansive app catalog.

I'm not really sure what some people expect Microsoft to do here. Force OEMs to release new devices sooner? Release Mango before it's ready? Start rolling ads for products that won't be out for months?

 

[Pronk]

Great article? The writer uses nearly half a dozen metaphors in five paragraphs to state the blatantly obvious fact that Windows Phone is more or less in a holding pattern until Mango. Is it too much to expect someone such as himself, a writer for a mobile phone site and Microsoft MVP to have the Mango beta on his device and be writing about that?

First off, it's summer. People are more concerned about enjoying the weather than phones. There's usually a bit of a lull in summer months in tech.

Secondly, Microsoft is in a tough spot of maintaining interest in the platform while not having any new products for consumers. They've smartly taken a very metered approach of releasing bits over time to buy them a little more time. I doubt we'll see many ads until new hardware is about to ship, and I expect new hardware to beat the update for existing phones.

Third, being an early adopter with a new platform is typically slow initially, especially if it's the only platform you have. It's a chicken and egg game of having to sell enough hardware to interest developers to make software, which boosts consumer confidence.

Lastly, Windows Phone hasn't even been available for a freakin' year! Anyone remember the first year of the iPhone? Beautiful interface, a delight to use, nothing to do but browse the web while listening to music via iTunes as there were no apps. I honestly can't even remember the first year of Android as the hardware was pretty boring and and it inherited some of the same issues of Windows Mobile in underperforming hardware and an overall bland and overly complex user experience while Windows Mobile at the time could at least brag about a comparatively expansive app catalog.

I'm not really sure what some people expect Microsoft to do here. Force OEMs to release new devices sooner? Release Mango before it's ready? Start rolling ads for products that won't be out for months?

If he's writing about what's available right now to normal folk, then he's right not to talk about Mango (although he does talk about Mango anyway). That's not what people can go into a shop and get right now, and so from a point of view of what it's like to be a WP7 owner right now, he's on the money.

Summer tech lull? Pretty much irrelevant. People's phone contracts run out all year, and they're not going to wait on an OS update with no date given yet if they can have an Android or iOS handset with features they'd like right now. And yes, WP7 might not have been available for a year yet - but it's not the *same* year as the first year of iOS/Android and this is the crucial factor. If you want the market to take notice, you can't launch years late with an underpowered OS. There have been massive strides in this year, but so there should have been - MS have had a long enough time to get this ready and have known what everyone else is bringing to the table.

If MS want WP7 to do well (and don't get me wrong, it deserves to) then they need to get parity with competitors at the very least asap. If that means throwing money at devs to get apps out there, pushing hardware firms to get phones to market, and advertising the bejezus out of what's available now, so be it. If they really want to be a serious third player, they literally cannot spend enough on marketing and getting people onside.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Is the word c r a p really blocked. Smh.

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

 

[selfcreation]

ive used WEBOS . and honestly its not that great... The selling point of WEBOS is the integration to the WEB ,, and, well, All the phones do it now , haha .. ive use a Palm pre ( befor HP ) and ... meh..

as for MS growing slowly .. dunno if you been paying attention buts its going UP AND UP!! and increasing. they are not far from RIM


as for Wp7 being the same in 3-4 years ... i can say thats not gona be the case like with apple.

MS is working hard to come out with Innovative things AFFTER the OS .. Something apple and Droid are not doing ( well , droid relies on Dev )
MS has like 4-5 UGE things coming to WP in the next 4 years ... again something no one else has done


so if anything we should only see WP grow ...and play catch up. And hopefully become Number 1. or close too

 

[jesdt]

i cant see what the fuzz is all about. The author of that article said himself it's just "blah blah". The sole purpose of that article is to provoke and polarize. The author poorly attempts to emphasize the negative traits of WP7 and purposely neglects development milestones.

Instead of looking forward to the huge Mango update, he goes past that and claims that after Mango there won't be anything. This is just rubbish. Of course there will be more innovations, but right now everyone is talking about Mango, obviously. And he seems rather oblivious about how and when companies reveal their road maps.

No word on fastest growing appstore in smartphone history, Skype, Facebook, or the humongous Nokia coup either. Fail article is fail.

PS: I changed my Pre 2 for an Omnia 7, and am by no means looking back. Honestly, I cannot see the "amazingness" of WebOS. It got great multitasking, palm profile and wifi tethering, I admit, but other than that, my Pre2 wasn't the quickest, and the settings menu were a fking mess.

For every options menu (System Info, Display Settings, Audio, Accounts, ...) there was an extra icon in the app launcher menu, takes ages to find the right one. Also: ugly icons, worse than iOS or bada. And the Pre takes 3 minutes to shut down or start - ridiculous.

 

[tripower]

I love my Samsung Focus. It is 10 times better than the iPhone 3G that I had for 3 1/2 years. The Windows Live integration is worth the price of admission. I'm failing to see what features our phones are lacking.

 

[Winterfang]

I love my Samsung Focus. It is 10 times better than the iPhone 3G that I had for 3 1/2 years. The Windows Live integration is worth the price of admission. I'm failing to see what features our phones are lacking.

It's missing a lot of features my friend.

 

[1jaxstate1]

What features? Besides MMS?

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

 

[BORIStheBLADE]

I'm here to agree and disagree. Haha

I really like the WP7 phone I have. I have owned a palm pre, Android and Iphone. This phone seems to work the way a smartphone should work. I don't care about multiple apps running in the background, thats overrated... Just make sure you can play music and browse the net while doing other things. I think Android has overcomplicated a lot with the way the OS works.

The WP7 phone OS as we speak needs some work. The browser... Makes me want to kill myself! Apps that I need there aren't many to chose from and the ones that have high ratings I feel are overrated. I do like that you can try pretty much every app though.The integration of social sites is great, but who wants to go through that to find a contact on their phone?? I tried it and the features that full apps have are better for me.

To get people interested its all about apps that work.. Sad but true. Get popular apps made and working right and you might get people to give it a chance. Get Dev's interested if they think they can sell an app. Why jump off a ship that you know floats??

I know this is a young OS and Mango has a lot to look forward to, but once its out we will see.

 

[smartpatrol]

I have to agree with the article for the most part. WP7 has been very slow to take off. MS's share of the smartphone market has actually dropped significantly since WP7's launch.

That said, I still feel there is hope that WP7 can gain a strong position over the next year or two. A LOT will change in the next year:

1. Mango
2. second wave of WP7 devices
3. Nokia (world's 3rd largest smartphone manufacturer) switching to WP7 exclusively, meaning we will finally get some high-end, flagship WP7 devices
4. Evo 4G/Galaxy S/Droid owners coming up on their 2-year upgrades
5. All the patent lawsuits against Android manufacturers. DO NOT underestimate how badly this can affect Android's position. HTC pays $5/Android device, Samsung may pay $15/device to MS but is trying to negotiate it down to "only" $10/device. Meanwhile Oracle is seeking SERIOUS money from Google, and Apple has a good chance of blocking some Android handsets from being imported. It isn't hard to imagine a near future where Android is too expensive and too risky, and device manufacturers turn to WP7 instead.

I REALLY hope MS uses the Mango launch as sort of a "coming out" for the WP7 platform. They need to push the message that "WP7 is here, it's no longer playing catch-up, and we'll show you why you should want it".

Regardless, MS is in this for the long haul. They have very deep pockets, and the mobile market is just too important to lose.

 

[selfcreation]

What features? Besides MMS?

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

What features? lol seriously? ok your runing mango alredy right?

haff pf the xbox live intergration/potential is missing.haha ( kinda disapointing.. )

 

[smartpatrol]

Oh, and I am going to call this right now: exclusive WP7 game in the Halo universe. Achievements in this game will unlock exclusive gear/goodies in the upcoming Halo remake for Xbox 360.

There is a tremendous amount of potential in their Xbox 360 audience. I'd be shocked if they don't do some kind of Halo tie-in.

 

[BORIStheBLADE]

Oh, and I am going to call this right now: exclusive WP7 game in the Halo universe. Achievements in this game will unlock exclusive gear/goodies in the upcoming Halo remake for Xbox 360.

There is a tremendous amount of potential in their Xbox 360 audience. I'd be shocked if they don't do some kind of Halo tie-in.

I take that !!

 

[Winterfang]

What features? Besides MMS?

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

What about the FIVE HUNDRED features Mango will bring that I don't have? Mango is not out yet so none of those count. What about Flash or Silverlight support on IE9?

 

[Winterfang]

What features? lol seriously? ok your runing mango alredy right?

haff pf the xbox live intergration/potential is missing.haha ( kinda disapointing.. )

Exactly. Why can't I listen to voice messages from my Live friends on my phone? It's a phone.

 

[bear_lx]

It's missing a lot of features my friend.

buy an iphone then... i dont see anything in that article that makes for good reading, lol. i think it is funny when people complain about this and that. if something is better, go buy it? really... ive used every platform available, and i can say in my opinion, the wp7 OS is for me. i speak from experience, i didnt come from a feature phone.

 

[Rico]

@Pronk
My main objection to the article was stated in my first paragraph. Perhaps if it wasn't noted as a "great article", I wouldn't be so critical of it.

I apologize for not responding to your other points. Nothing personal, it's just that this has been debated by myself and others ad nauseum, and I'm a little tired it now.