Microsoft hopes 'Windows phone' has a ring to it
Prithvi Raj, a product manager for Microsoft, demonstrates the new Windows Mobile 6.5 running in an HTC touch-screen handset at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET Networks)Microsoft is trying to sell the world on the notion of a "Windows phone."
The first part of that effort is simple. It's a rebranding exercise. Although Microsoft will continue to sell its Windows Mobile operating system, it is going to put its marketing muscle behind the term "Windows phone" to describe the devices that run its software.
The second part is trickier: convincing consumers that they want a Windows phone as opposed to all of the other smartphones on the market, such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, or Palm's Pre, to name just a few.
On Monday at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, the company is showing off Windows Mobile 6.5, an update to its operating system aimed at making the software more "finger friendly" and just more appealing to consumers in general. The update, which won't show up on phones until the fourth quarter of this year, also features an update to the mobile Internet Explorer browser and a new "marketplace" for buying software that can run on the phone.
Microsoft will also formally announce its My Phone backup and restore service, some details of which leaked out earlier this month. The service is designed to not only make sure things like calendar and contact data are synced to the Web, but also other phone data such as photos and text messages.
These are the kinds of improvements that Windows Mobile boss Andy Lees said he was alluding to in an interview with CNET last month, where he laid out Microsoft's vision for the phone.
"We talked about importance of the device being easier to use and being a window in on your life," Lees said in an interview on Friday, shortly before he headed to Barcelona.
In the earlier interview, Lees acknowledged that Microsoft had fallen somewhat behind by trying to offer software that could run on "the least common denominator" of hardware, but said that the next 12 to 18 months would bring a series of announcements that would help Microsoft thrive in a world in which phones will soon have dual-core processors and graphics abilities to rival the original Xbox.
With the new software update, Microsoft is adding a rival to the iPhone's App Store as well as making its software easier to use without having to reach for a stylus or flip down a keyboard.
But it remains a question whether Microsoft's changes will be enough, particularly as rivals improve their products over the coming year.
On the browsing front, for example, Microsoft is focusing on the fact that, while other browsers may look nice, Mobile IE can do more than the others because it is compatible with the desktop Internet Explorer 6 and with Adobe's Flash. Microsoft commissioned a study that found its browser can execute "up to 48 percent more assigned tasks than the other browsers and phones studied."
However, it is unclear that such metrics--as opposed to just plain ease of use--are what consumers use to select a phone.
Lees notes that supporting multitouch, a la the iPhone, has its downsides as well. Such phones require capacitive screens which are less precise, making things like handwriting recognition less feasible. Microsoft sells many Windows phones, for example, in Asian countries where handwriting recognition can prove far quicker than a keyboard for entering text.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
MSFT has to catch up, and fast. The mobile space isn't like the traditional (desktop/server) computer space. MSFT cannot dictate and expect the industry to follow, and it is fast losing marketshare. Apple and RIM are domainating (at least in North America) and Sybian's slow erosion of marketshare leaves massive room for growth for somebody... if MSFT can't woo those ex-Symbian customers, then everyone else will.
Good points, but the iPhone will never be an enterprise capable business class phone like the RIM or other smartphones until Apple redesigns it from the ground up. Having the unit run as root by default is a security nightmare in and of itself. The Exchange support is... well, it's not pretty. It works, but only if you don't mind being very very limited as compared to using a RIM or Windows Mobile device.
The jury's out on the Pre until it comes to market.
The Google phone seems to be a forgotten stepchild already.
MSFT has a good chance to catch up if they want to in the consumer market, but they already have a strong presence now in the business market and can only improve.
It doesn't matter if Apple ever becomes "enterprise capable" by your definition, any more than if RIM ever becomes "consumer friendly". The fact still remains that Windows Mobile got beaten up hard for its lunch money - first by RIM in the business space, then by Apple in the consumer space. Whether or not MSFT is "capable" by anyone's estimation, on any level, falls well short of explaining why it is that Windows Mobile is still an also-ran and losing ground fast.
You can't be the lagging runner and win by claiming that the other guys aren't "capable" of winning, when in fact they are well on their way to doing just that. You win by running harder, smarter, and better... Microsoft needs to learn that, then put it into practice.
The Pre? Dunno - until it shows up as a developer beta/reference platform, it's just vaporware. I can claim tomorrow morning that I will develop a smartphone that's guaranteed to give its owner an instant orgasm just by pressing a button - doesn't mean I actually have one ready for market, and it won't make the other guys worry about it until I do...
/P
Anyone?
Clearly you didn't take Arguments 101
Because it could have sold far, far more - but those folks were busy buying Blackberries and iPhones instead.
"and why did WinMo handset sales increase in Q4 by about 20% as opposed to Apple's drop of about 40%?"
Because MSFT has a nasty habit of channel-stuffing during Q4 of any year - you're also basing your numbers on MSFT's earnings call and not NPD or Canalys, the latter two tracking actual sales to customer, and not 'sales to channel'.
MSFT has done the same thing before with the xbox and Zune. I suspect that the Windows Mobile numbers will drop sharply when Q1 numbers come out (as a natural consequence of the channel-stuff), and that they'll blame the economy.
HTH.
Why argue against his facts when all you can do is make things up to counter them?
The Iphone started increasing it's market share only when the 3g was released in june !
So you need to see the quarterly market share for a more accurate picture
Also a Licensing model will obviously have more market share than a closed model
So winMO selling more is meaningless
if you check revenue wise the Iphone brings in 100 times more Revenue than WinMo
and even looking market share wise ,WinMO's share is hardly impressive
Symbian smashes it in everyway with a massive 46%
So winMO is basically surving becasue of all the HTC's LG's and Samsung's
once Android starts getting popular WinMO will eventually be dead !
Can you be constructive in your point of view instead of attacking, refuting, insulting, or coming up with strange figures? Please?
I am looking forward to see if - at last - the new Windows Mobile version will live up to its promises.
After 20 years in IT management and consultancy, having worked with companies worldwide, the truth is no company phone has lived up to its promises. No Palm, no Windows Mobile, no Blackberry (haven't tried the iPhone in a corporate environment.
Yes, they all work. They all lock at some point - usually the irritating moment. If the PDA/Office usage is good, the phone is usually on a par, and vice-versa.
The Blackberry(ies) do what is "indicated on the tin" (mostly) but have a huge overhead and have many shortcomings. The OS and interface(s) look really functional; that is not a compliment.
Windows Mobile differ from manufacturer to manufacturer as far as hardware functionality is concerned, but software is very much the same everywhere. Controlling the mobile remotely - security - many times is hit and miss (We're talking real world here, not advertising). In fact, you can't really use a Windows mobile effectively without adding a 1Gb SD card at least.
Interestingly the Sony smartphones have many built-in capabilities often overlooked. A smart CEO can manage a whole group of them quite effectively.
But, like with RIM's and Microsoft's models, Internet access/browsing and really usable programming is not built-in (of course they can do it, but it seems as though it's an add-on. The devices were not designed around the Web paradigm which is what needs to happen.
That's the funny part about any market outside of the OS or office apps... MSFT actually has to compete out there, and is learning the hard way that they have to actually do something. This does have one side-effect: maybe they'll learn to, you know, do more than just provide a mediocre product and leverage their monopoly status.
Of course many folks will start in with the usual banter about ms being late to the party, copying not innovating, etc. But the reality is that this is exactly how new and cool technologies come into a market. The first one to the party isn't always the winner in the end. Kudos to Apple for turning a pretty boring product into something as exciting as the iphone.
Microsoft will certainly improve windows mobile, the question is; will they only improve enough keep up with the 1st gen iphone??? or will they be able to leapfrog the competition and compete for the next year or more? The odds are tough, but ms is certainly capable.
Agreed, perfectly. This should be painted on every wall of every building where Windows Mobile is programmed. The last time I saw/used Windows mobile directly as an owner was on an old iPaq PDA... (I had since parked the Familiar Linux distro on it), and you're right - the "start" button made zero sense in that context, even when using a stylus.
They're going to have to re-think it, and stop trying to make it all things to all users.
"ms being late to the party, copying not innovating, etc."
Nah, not in this case. The smartphone is still in relative infancy. Even Apple wasn't the first guest at this party - it was actually a latecomer who managed to cause a rather large and disruptive earthquake in the industry... one that isn't even past the aftershocks yet.
MSFT is fairly capable technically, but the question is, are they capable institutionally? A huge part of why they're failing hard in many areas and losing marketshare even in their traditional strongholds is that they have ensconced themselves in a culture that makes them think they're entitled to greatness. It doesn't really work that way...
/P
Really although Mac has some advantages this kind of marketing won't help in my opinion. Microsoft is Microsoft because it works, albeit may be a bit clunky. I do think that with the recession apples frivolities may take a harder hit than the standard microsoft spreadsheet, or the functional fairly open source Microsoft phone or Google Android.
It is an insult to potential customers and the world at large. MS should take a bold step like Apple did when they broke from the past by going from OS9 to OSX ? start with a clean slate and if needed have two eco systems, XP and friends and a completely NEW ONE ? just imagine what they could have done with all their resources and the right attitude.
I was angered by Vista as I expected more than it delivered based on what I was told ? I felt let down ? the same for my Samsung BlackJack with WinMo ? (now gathering dust in the cupboard while I am using a Nokia e71 which is not perfect but better that WinMo) and lastly, I sadly expect another let down from WinMo7.
If they cannot break with the past, they will be doomed to fade with it.
OSX showed how one can disrupt the existing while implementing the new... even MSFT managed to do that when they transitioned from Win3x to what they have now.
Great companies win their customers over and over again as the technology in their industry advances.
MS needs to chuck the whole Windows line of OSes and build a 21st century OS from the ground up and win their customers all over again.
But they will never do it as long as Ballmerthink continues in that company.
I can only see the windows phone crashing in the market...
Stop playing catch-up Microsoft! Bring out something new and amazing. You have the staff, you have the money, you have the incentive; why are you not doing it?
You do realise that those figures are for one quarter only - Q3 - and aren't annualised?
Well of course you don't, you're a fanboy with no grasp of reality. :)
...and yet further up the page, you commit the same sin by cherry-picking fiscal quarters...
"Well of course you don't, you're a fanboy with no grasp of reality."
Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle...
When the iPhone 3G came out and old 7 million or so units in it's launch quarter I said that was awesome but totally unsustainable. Of course, I got flamed by the usual fanboys who were preaching Apple's world domination but, hey, guess what? Sales dropped by approximately 40% over Apple's Christmas quarter. Now this doesn't mean that the iPhone is bad because it's actually a damn good phone. What it means is that it's following a demand curve in the same way as ,say, the N95 did. It'll sell millions of units and then tail off just as other hot phones have done.
Apple may release another iteration of the iPhone in late 2009 or early 2010 but by then the market will have moved on, caught up on the cool things Apple introduced like a centralised marketplace and added features that make them more attractive. That's just business so anyone saying that Apple - or indeed Android which has absolutely nothing compelling to offer the consumer or the professional at the moment - will displace Symbian, RIM or even WinMo is horribly, horribly naive. Hey, they might, but I doubt it.
As for being a fanboy, well not really, it's just that sites like CNET, ZDNet, Slashdot, etc tend to attract people who like to spout off a load of nonsense without actually taking into account the facts. For example, the Linux and Apple fanboys who preach Microsoft's demise year after year and who are always, always wrong. Not because MS are great - because they sure as hell aren't - but because they don't seem to recognise the limitations of their own preferences and why those limitations mean they're never going to be a realistic mass market challenger to the currently entrenched leaders which, if you ask me, is where the real tragedy lies. So, you know, instead of constantly criticising MS for perceived ills you may want to do something like ask exactly why it is that Apple won't allow OS X to be used on third party hardware or why Ubuntu - which is the most consumer acceptable version of Linux - still can't get it right.
But, hey, it's easier to spread the same old FUD, isn't it?
At the GSMA Mobile World Congress, Palm has confirmed to join the Open Screen Project - which will bring Adobe Flash Player on the new Palm webOS platform. Led by Adobe, the Open Screen Project includes industry leaders working together to provide a consistent runtime environment and user experience across mobile phones, desktops, and other consumer electronics devices. The initiative addresses the challenges of web browsing on a broad range of devices, and removes the barriers to publishing content and applications seamlessly across screens.
MSFT is making their phones more "finger-friendly" ??? Just a crappy overlay with a crap CPU. Palm did it right with the Pre. And Palm just announced Pre will ship with EPOCRATES available from the get-go. Thanks to me and probably thousands of Doctors emailing Epocrates , they will have it ready for the Pre launch. As much as I like Windows on the desktop , MSFT should throw in the towel on WinMo...Or just buy Palm !
Get real!
HTML4, H424. That's what we need. No more Flash, or Silverlight, or the likes.
The technology is inherently slow, resource hungry, open to attack, proprietary.
Mark my words, in 5 years, Flash will be as irrelevant as RealAudio is today (was supposed to be the streaming king yesterday)
Really, Ina? Where can I go out and buy a Palm Pre that's on the market? What wireless carrier has the Pre and at what price?
If MS raises the license price, the handset makers will gravitate to the free OSes, Android and Symbian, But if they lower the price, they'll have to start subsidizing WinMobile like the X-Box. MS didn't have a conundrum like this with Windows. IT departments chose IBM and by default, Windows came with it and there were no free alternatives.
With Windows, IT departments made the choices that gave MS a monopoly on the desktop computing market because computer were so expensive in the 80s and 90s. However with handsets, IT departments might be important, but Jack and Jill Average consumer will rule the day.
but the IPhone actually Brought in $4.6 billion in revenue in q4 2008 alone
if seen via Non-Gaap accounting !
Which was more than even Mobile phone giants like SE,LG and Motorola !
Thats a hell of a lot more than Windows Mobile will ever make !
and I totally agree with you
No point for MS to be competing with Revenue streams thats not their Strong point
Even the XBOX division is not yet profitable !
Wat MS needs to do is Completely Change their Model
Licensing just doesn't work n e more they need something like Xbox mobile or
Their very own Windows Phone to win customers over !
Oh yea, I know. I was just referring to Apple's "official" GAAP income of $1.247 billion for the last quarter which is astonishing compared to MS and Nokia, Sony (they had a loss on their mobile division I believe), Moto, Palm, etc. All these players might carve a profitable little niche in the mobile market but Apple has figured out how to print money.
When you copy - people are not stupid, they have less respect for that product and notice that stuff.
Happy OS X since 2005, no turning back. MS mobile is a piece of crap, always crashing, locking up, it's a turd.
Touchscreen devices have existed before. Sure, Apple has done great improvements to how users should be able to interact with their mobile phones, but it's not everything.
At some point, if Apple really wants to pull in more users, they will have to resort to "copying". There are people who still want copy & paste, stereo Bluetooth, etc.
If you seriously think MS Mobile is a POC because it's "always crashing" and "locking up", you haven't it used it for a long time.
The *only* thing Windows Mobile does well and better than anything else is Exchange/Outlook synchronization, and that's because Microsoft makes both products. Beyond that, I'm ready to jump to iPhones this fall for my company; I'm the IT director, and we're currently standardized on Windows Mobile.
Poor Microsoft, sometimes it seems like they don't have an innovative bone in their body. This recent news about Windows Mobile 6.5 shows that they are just applying bandaids to a very diseased and dying patient, and even then nothing will be available until late 2009 after new developments with iPhone and webOS have occurred.
The core of Windows Mobile is an antiquated operating system that can't compete with something like iPhone, Android, and webOS, which were created from the ground up to support finger touch and other modern smartphone features. Windows Mobile, if it is to have any chance of success, needs to be completely rewritten; Microsoft needs to accept the fate that Palm did for its old Palm OS: death. And I seriously doubt Microsoft has the guts to do this.
Sluggishness? It probably is partly Windows Mobile's fault, but don't forget other reasons could include the hardware's processor (I've usually seen the Qualcomm ones not doing a classy job), and then there's carrier/handset maker crapware.
I agree, WinMo has always had a really dated interface, but they're going to really catch up with version 7. There's tons of modified UI's you can download, including SPB Mobile Shell and PointUI.
Also, if you really aren't quick enough to guess by now, 6.5 is pretty much an interim release before the really good release - version 7. Version 6.5 is just going to give the bare updates so that version 6 users can have upgrades (if they can) to some of the good features.
I guess you haven't heard of Microsoft Tag and Microsoft Recite yet - two new INNOVATIVE things that show Microsoft isn't giving up yet. Microsoft may be often slow, but they do catch up when they concentrate their efforts.
I think it goes back to what Steve Jobs said years ago: Microsoft simply has no taste.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU
When you have a company whose products are designed and specified by program managers, with good intentions, but with no design talent and no design taste, this is what you get: a third-rate product that pales in comparison to those designed by experts. But this really should come as no surprise. This is Microsoft. Those who expect anything different from them will always end up shaking their heads in disappointment.
One could argue that Microsoft's products might get the job done, but it's the difference in eating a meal prepared by NASA scientists vs. one prepared by one of the world's top gourmet chefs. Both may provide the nutrition you need, but one is certainly more enjoyable than the other.
And it is difficult to argue your position with those who are without taste. They just don't get it and will most likely dismiss you some kind of pretentious, uppity snob, even though all you're looking for is something that is tastefully designed. But you just can't discuss the subtleties of the palate with the hot dog and burger crowd. That might be a bit harsh, but I think it's dead-on.
Windows Mobile: Pass the ketchup
Waiting for Android myself.
Usually it's the carrier's/handset maker's bloatware.
- by AppleSuxLeo February 19, 2009 6:55 AM PST
- Palm Pre is shipping with Flash support. And EPOCRATES will be available at launch. WinMo ???
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(57 Comments)What a joke.