Is There a New Phone in Microsoft’s Future
November 30, 2008 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
I’m one of those weird people who really don’t expect or need my phone to do much else than make phone calls. That was until I ditched my PDA (a Sony Clie at the time) and went with a PPC-6700 SmartPhone running Windows Mobile.
I quickly discovered that having a completely mobile device with full Internet connectivity, ability to natively open and use Microsoft documents, and to synch between my main laptop computer without much second thought was a valuable place to be working.
The problem of late though has been not seeing much improvement with my Windows Mobile experience. Sure, I could enjoy the new features of Windows Mobile 6 if a upgraded my phone to the latest model, but is there anything really major that’s new there? Plus, similar to my earlier thoughts about cell phones, I’m not one that needs to invest in the cost of upgrading or changing mine very regularly. I’ve been using my PPC-6700 now for over three years.
How do I compare all the new features and status icon components that are now all the rage with the iPhone 3G and the Google Android phone? Is Microsoft doing anything to compete?
- Windows Mobile development is going nowhere when Apple’s iPhone OS and Google’s Android are going everywhere. Smartphones are the future of computing. Either Microsoft really is in a sorry state, or there’s a super-secret project that will supersede Windows Mobile.
- Months ago, I heard rumors that Zune poster boy J Allard had moved on to some secret project. Right away, I thought Microsoft phone. Sometime later, his title got an upgrade to chief experience officer and chief technology officer of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division. Zune and Xbox 360 user experiences are great following upgrades, by the way. Could J be scheming with Danger and Tellme folks about a Microsoft phone? Sure.
- Microsoft already is working on an applications store code-named Skymarket, which would rival similar operations from Apple, Google and Research In Motion. That’s a dish best served up by one chef, Microsoft, rather than restaurant franchises. End-to-end software plus hardware plus services would be the way to go, like Xbox Live and the game console.
- Recent Zune device price cuts and music store freebees could be preparation for a Microsoft phone. The device operating system should draw lineage from Danger and Zune rather than Windows Mobile. A Microsoft go-to-market strategy would first target existing Microsoft customers—and Zune users would be good ones, particularly if their purchased and subscribed content were transferable.
That’s the information that’s in front of us regarding the potential for a new Microsoft phone. Will it be more than just Microsoft powered? Could it be new functionality that’s going to be part of their Azure mesh network? I’d say it has to be, otherwise we probably would have heard even more about it for now.
Interesting though not surprising. M$ has always tried to enter every big market that other players are in, thought not usually successful in catching up with them. Search, RIA, now smart phones.
I hope Microsoft doesn’t create its own phone. I love the choice of hardware I can get, some with better specs. If Microsoft create its own phone, this will motivate the companies that currently make WinMo phones, to start switching to Android, which would be a bad move.
WinMo 7 should just be more robust, bring in stricter and more higher end hardware requirements (would help developers a lot!), have better touchscreen support, a whole UI redesign that’s not based on the traditional two-paned menu and is more sleek and easy, as well have more apps, and a much better browser.
Microsoft should work even closer with the companies, than to attempt to try another thing similar to the Zune.
I love the Zune, but WinMo is a whole different story. Unlike PlayForSure, WinMo still has a chance to make things right, before giving up and doing it yourself.
@Sravan: Microsoft’s not always successful, but sometimes they are. Zune’s been gaining more positive traction amongst users, and it will take awhile for Zune to take a bigger chunk out of Apple.
Search is weak in some areas, stronger in other areas. Microsoft’s RIAs are actually getting much better, and I know some people already using them, such as Windows Live Suite (includes Messenger), WorldWide Telescope, Zune software, etc. Smartphones is still a rumor at the moment.
Oh, and nice use of the $. No other company but Microsoft makes a profit.
Sometimes I just cannot figure out what the %^#@ Microsoft is doing. Windows Mobile is one example. A monkey could do a better job managing this product line. As a developer and IT consultant focusing purely on MS solutions, I do not plan to use any other device. However, I find increasingly difficult to defend WinMo as an alternative to the Iphone or Blackberry.
The person(s) in charge of this platform should be sacked. Same goes for some of the marketing folks. For example, the most impressive application I have on my device is Live Search (not to be confused with their search engine), but this app isn’t even installed by default and I rarely find a normal user who even knows this exists. I could go on and on with the pleathora of issues I have with WinMo. I think eventually (years) MS will finally get it right, probably by copying ideas from the other vendors.
I doubt they will go the MS Phone route as I do believe they want to create an open platform solution available to any phone maker and third party developer that also integrates nicely with their other products. I wish they would work with HTC and use their leverage to get the communication vendors to change the way phones are sold and upgraded. The current model seriously inhibits progress.
@Quikboy: Agreed that M$ :-) is successful sometimes. That is the reason why we are all discussing it. Speaking of Silverlight, have you tried Shidonni? A feather in Silverlight’s cap.