Microsoft's plan to get back in the phone game
Microsoft's efforts to regain lost ground in the mobile phone business will see the company offering two different versions of its operating system next year.
The company will continue to broadly sell Windows Mobile 6.5 to a large variety of handset makers, while working more closely with several handset makers to sell phones built on a new version of Windows Mobile that has been several years in the making, according to a source familiar with the company's plans.
While Windows Mobile 6.5 is a fairly interim update to the mobile operating system that Microsoft has been selling, Microsoft has also been working on more radical efforts to overhaul the operating system. Both its plans for Windows Mobile 7 and its long-running "Pink" project aim to match the kinds of experiences seen on the iPhone and Android, using more advanced voice and touch interfaces and higher-end hardware.
Microsoft demonstrated Windows Mobile 6.5 at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That interim update to Windows Mobile will start arriving on phones this fall, while a more radical overhaul of Redmond's cell phone OS is due next year.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET News)A Digitimes report this week called the effort a "dual-platform" strategy, although I'm not sure I'd use that term to describe two versions of Windows Mobile being sold at the same time.
What is clear is that Microsoft needs to do something serious if it hopes to live up to its mobile ambitions. For years now, the company has made rather modest updates to the Windows Mobile operating system, which dates back to the days of code powered PDAs and other organizers that were neither phones nor, in some cases, even connected to the Internet.
In that same time, Palm has gone back to the drawing board and reinvented itself with the WebOS-based Pre, while the iPhone and Android have entered the market and even Research In Motion has arguably done more to capture consumer interest than has Microsoft.
Internally, Redmond has shifted a number of its people into the mobile unit. In addition to former server executive Andy Lees, who now runs the phone business, former Mac Business unit chief Roz Ho has been leading a top secret "premium mobile experiences" team responsible for some of the "Pink" work. The company purchased Danger, known for creating the teen-centered T-Mobile Sidekick, and Ho heads that unit as well.
The software maker has also tapped folks from its Tellme unit to help bring improved voice recognition capability into Windows Mobile.
Call waiting
Microsoft has been working on Windows Mobile 7 for what now seems like an eternity, especially in the mobile world. The product was supposed to be in phone makers' hands by early this year, but has suffered a number of delays.
Officially, the company will discuss only Windows Mobile 6.5 and its plan to start using the "Windows Phone" brand.
"We're on track to deliver Windows Phones that will be running Windows Mobile 6.5 this fall," a representative said.
But, in a discussion with reporters earlier this year, Microsoft Entertainment unit president Robbie Bach stressed the importance of new user interfaces, such as touch and voice.
"Independent of specific plans for any specific product, you should just assume over time that that's going to become part of the products that we produce," Bach said, according to a Seattle Times account. "And, you know, specific timing and all those things, I'll leave aside, but it is a huge trend. And once you have something like touch or voice to interact with, you wonder why you did it the old way."
And, although Microsoft has denied it is looking to enter the handset business itself, it has said it thinks it needs to partner more closely with a few companies in order to produce more competitive devices.
"To date, we haven't done as good a job as I would like in building the relationships and getting the right level of integration," Bach said at the company's financial analyst meeting last month. "Obviously phones take time to develop, so that won't happen overnight, but you're going to see a dramatic improvement in the integration between what we do in the software and what our hardware partners do on the hardware side."
The company has also aimed to have its software run on the widest range of devices, resulting in what Lees and Bach have both called a "lowest common denominator" experience.
In a July interview with CNET News, Bach acknowledged that Microsoft also just needs to pick up the pace.
"If your point is we haven't advanced Windows Mobile as fast as we like, I think the answer is that's true," Bach said. "You are going to see that change."
However, Bach didn't say much more about where Microsoft is headed, other than to point out that the company has made a lot of changes to the team working on the product over the last year.
"My view on these topics is talk is cheap," he said. "The next thing we are going to show people is Windows Mobile 6.5. There's plenty of innovation in the pipeline."
Update:: This is not Windows Mobile 7, but I just saw this parody video on Mashable and had to include.
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. 
http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/microsoft-port-bing-iphone-488
If/when they start porting word and excel you know it`s game over.
Man your need to get out of your Moms basement and live.
On the other hand if i DID live in mommy`s basement........
While their share of current sales is dropping, and they need to do something to fix that, their overall market share is still 27% - ahead of the iPhone and in fact behind only RIM. People focus too much on current sales, which are kind of meaningless because they're not a good predictor of the future, nor are they in any way indicative of the devices people are actually using day to day. The fact is there are more WinMo phones in use than there are iPhones in use, and the iPhone is not going to catch up any time soon even with its lead in current sales. MS has time to upgrade WinMo, no need to hit the panic button yet.
windows mobile marketshare is cuurently 9% and dropping like a rock.
have a look at gartner data:
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1126812
(at the end of the 10th paragraph - so small and so hidden, the information doesn't seem to be something of interest for gartner anymore)
or canalys data here:
http://www.canalys.com/pr/2009/r2009081.htm
(last table)
I mean don't get me wrong: These idiots come in all flavours, always pounding the keyboard churning out fragmented half sentences against one multi-national corporation which doesn't care about them whilst blindly endorsing another multi-national organisation that doesn't care about them. It would be funny if it wasn't quite so tragic.
I wish they would all just grow up and shut up. No-one cares and if the moderators did their damn job rather than compromising for hit counts these articles would actually be worth bothering with. As it is they've become less and less relevant because of the troll bait they lay out and the moron fish who jump for it.
Anyway, back on topic...
WinMo needs some drastic work but it'll be interesting to see what the likes of HTC and Samsung do with 6.5 and their own overlaid UIs. WinMo may be on the ropes but it isn't out for the count and it may come out swinging again. You never know.
They also didn't start counting smartphone sales untill you guessed it the same quarter the original iPhone was released. Which also happens to be the same time they bought some land to open their US based office, can you guess where the land is? Just outside of the Apple corporate offices. wierd. . .
Amen
embasses away myfriend, embasses me all you want
I swear, you make me laugh so hard! I almost choked on my rum and coke. That stuff burns coming our your nose! Keep it up!
Amen
LOL.... yeah the truth hurts with these guys. Microcopy can't do jack without copying Apple. Good thing IBM was dumb enough to hand them the PC OS jewels and Scully was to chicken to say no to that agreement giving away Apples jewels.
Computer history apparently isn't your forte. Might want to brush up on it a bit.
Yeah you need to stop watching TV and believing made for TV as "real". Kids nowadays, weren't around when Gary Kildalls OS was blatantly ripped off. Silly kids. LOL
Computer history apparently isn't your forte. Might want to brush up on it a bit. "
My thoughts exactly - what a muppet!
And what's with Microsoft's obsession with big, blocking interphases. The interface of the Zune and the new Windows Mobile have that same look and it annoys the hell out of me. It's ugly Microsoft. Everyone else is going to the slick, smooth, and graphical interphase, but Microsoft is sticking to their big blocky letter design. (gags)
I actually think that the Zune interface is nice (although I like the iPhone/iPod more), but at least from the pictures it seems that the interface will get better.
As for the "funny" video, I don't understand why Cnet needs to put something like this on this article. But I guess that as always, Cnet needs to bash MS from time to time, to make some of their readers happy.
What r u talking about? Windows Mobile 6 does more than the iPhone - true multi-tasking, copy/paste, tens of thousand of apps without being forced into the iTunes app store, non-proprietary dev language (objective c) - tethering - i use my WinMo phone as a wifi hotspot and ditched Comcast! Email is way better on WinMo than iphone.... apple is improving their mobile os but it still is missing a lot of features. I only mention apple becase it is inevitable when the topic is MS - but, compare to any other mobile os and WinMo compares very very well. Broad busniess support via Exchange, Mobile Word, Excell, PowerPoint - My Sprint Touch Pro is fantastic. Add to that that you can get flash running on current WinMo 6 devices and that WinMo 7 will have flash support..... "MS needs to get their act together?" Whatever...
As far as the words versus graphics... if you use 6.5 for any length of time you'll notice that Microsoft is moving everything to the same type of experience slowly but surely. The design elements of Office play into the new Zune interface... I do not know what they call it but the experience plays well over all the devices... this is what makes a platform a true platform. A simplier experience across the full gambit of product... hence why Apple has done so well - they are the masters of controlled experience IMHO.
I also just find it physically easier to scroll horizontally than vertically, and I can do it with the thumb on the hand I'm holding the phone with. Scrolling with the WinMo 6.5 list interface really requires two hands. It's poorly thought-out.
"Everyone else is going to the slick, smooth, and graphical interphase, but Microsoft is sticking to their big blocky letter design. (gags) "
Hate to burst your bubble, but a lot of deices use large block letters to make them easier to read on a variety of devices. Heck, even the Apple TV does this.
...so Microsoft is actually competing with the Jitterbug (jitterbug.com), then? ;)
(kidding...)
Myles does have a point, though. The Zune has yet to sell, what, four million devices two years on? Even the iPod Touch (not counting all the other types) has outstripped that, likely by a factor. I'm guessing there's something about the Zune that simply doesn't appeal to the majority of consumers, so why try to replicate its obviously below-par design onto a new product?
WinMo has lost way too much marketshare, and is still losing it at a horrendous rate. I'll grant you that Symbian is losing theirs faster, but Microsoft should have come up with something compelling and completely different by now.
Why? Because it ain't just the iPhone they have to compete with anymore; Palm is selling the Pre in huge numbers, RIM has the Storm (and likely new models on the way), and Google is actually making some progress with the Android.
Even if their target were just one... the iPhone is completely touch-oriented; WinMo 6.5 is 'sorta' touch-enabled, and WinMo 7 ain't due for another year at least. Apple's store has over 65,000 apps and is growing daily. Yes WinMo has 3rd-party apps (not sure how many due to their being scattered all over hell and breakfast), but most of those will likely require a complete re-write over the next year or so to take advantage of the featureset that's promised (though not proven yet).
To top that off? WinMo is losing manufacturers, what with Nokia open-sourcing Symbian, Android being OSS, and similar smartphone OSes being low-to-no cost - this makes paying a license not-so attractive to the makers, yanno?
I can text, send email, have Garmin XT loaded up, listen to DRM/Zune subscription music all at the same time. Whether you like Winmo devices or not you have to admit from a multitasking perspective there are few out there who can do it better... yes, the Palm Pre is a multitasking OS.... and yes it does it is better at the application switching :)... regardless there are way more apps available for Winmo.
I love my Winmo device. The community via XDA developers, Pocketnow, ppcgeeks, and Modaco pump out some great customizations... if you like to chop and screw Winmo cannot be beat.
Integrated with Exchange, OCS, and Office - nothing beats a Winmo device in this area. I have my Winmo phone set up as a wifi hotspot. If I am out and about and need my computer I simply access it via the wifi connection on the computer....
Yeah the UI isn't that pretty... it's a bit clunky around the edge here and there - no doubt it's long in the tooth but from a business productivity perspective Winmo is a roadwarriors dream.... if you are a corporate worker and your shop uses Exchange, Windows, and OCS for UC... nothing beats the Winmo platform for security (encryption... hello Android, hello Apple?) and integration.
Thanks
MS has no control over the apps written for WinMo. Whether an app requires a stylus is up to the app writer. The free market's going to determine whether styli are required or not.
6.5 does still have a few tiny buttons in its own interface (the "close" button drives me crazy because I use it so often), but not as many as 6.1. It is improving.
http://www.wmexperts.com/winmo-65-getting-even-more-finger-friendly
Keep in mind, these are all prebuilds - the RTM build of 6.5 is still unknown as of yet and there's a lot of speculation that MSFT will put the complete wrapper as it goes RTM (some stuff will stay like the home screen applet/widget functionality.) Prebuilds seems to circulate all over the web but what the finalized version will look like complete is not known (not sure if it's because its not finalized or that ppl just cant get their hands on the RTM code.)
Needless to say you can see that finger use is going to be a very strong point for 6.5. What will not change is the support for resistive screens which is really hindering the smooth experience that iPhone has always experienced. The stylus is good for somethings in my opinion. I like to use it for writing notes on the screen for instance... I also like to use it for handwriting recognition which comes with 6.1. HTC is rumored to be working on a device with capacitive screen capabilities on Winmo 6.5 - I am assuming that Microsoft will be allowing these types of screens as a supported format for the first time in 6.5. HTC also has a patent (and RIM too for Blackberry) for stylus use on a capacity screen (one of the down sides about an iPhone.)
All this is speculation at this point. It's worth noting that Winmo is a tool which when put int he hands of a certain person is highly customizable, extremely powerful, and very useable. While Microsoft missed the boat big time on the consumer front (iPhone, Android to a lesser extent) they are a very strong player in the enterprise/business side of things. Next to Blackberry I would argue that there is no better business device for integration.
How much more obvious could they make it?
I definitely agree that it?s buggy. My phone either freezes up or the touch screen stops responding probably twice a week, where the only fix is to reboot. But all, or most of, the complaints I read are about how complicated and confusing it is. Rarely are the annoying glitches that seem common in the OS referenced as a reason to dislike it. Seems like every cnet review about a winmo phone says something about how it's a bummer that the phone runs winmo, and while the maker of this phone has made some sort of attempt to cover it up with a new today screen plugin, it's still the oh-so-confusing and "clunky" winmo OS underneath.
Maybe it's just because I've been using windows OS's for about the last 15 years, but to me windows mobile was as simple to use and easy to understand as I could imagine when I picked up my first windows mobile phone (which is my current phone). It's almost exactly like the desktop version. Everything was where I expected it to be, and I could change almost whatever I wanted with ease because it all works similarly to regular windows.
My last phone was a BlackBerry, and while I did eventually like the OS, it took me a relatively long time to figure out how where all the settings were, and how to get it to do or display certain things. My girlfriend has a BlackBerry and the other day asked me how to make separate inboxes for each of her email account and SMS messages. It wasn't incredibly hard to figure out, but it definitely wasn't incredibly easy either. The BB OS just didn't seem as logical to me as winmo, but again, that's probably because I'm used to regular windows. Having a start menu and control panel just make sense to me, along with the familiar file/folder organization.
I'm not saying it's the best phone OS, but I am questioning how it gets so much sh*t for being confusing or unintuitive. Again, I've used desktop windows forever, so it's probably different for a Mac user. But how many smartphone users are there really who haven't had at least some experience with a windows computer? I gotta question at least how a windows user could have any trouble with it.
One thing I like about winmo is that it gives users most of the capabilities that they have on a computer. Recently I sent my friend who has an iphone an email with an mp3 attached. I later asked her if she listened to it and she said "not yet". I suggested opening it up on her phone since I know she gets my emails on there. She said the iphone couldn't do stuff like that. I'm not trying to bash the iphone, but that just seemed weird to me, especially since playing mp3s is such a big part of what the iphone is known for. And maybe she just didn't know what she was doing. I will say that the "apps" (aka programs) on the iphone, for the most part, blow away ones for winmo. Compare a stop watch program for winmo to a stop watch on the iphone and the iphone version will probably be much more slick.
I can definitely understand complaints about winmo not being touch screen friendly. I'm a big fan of using the d-pad on my phone, though, so that doesn't really affect me. I read complaints about how accessing the tiny icons on the start menu is so hard and I think "why the hell would you try to touch one of those when you could just scroll down and push the ENTER key?" I would hate to not be able to scroll through lists or pages without simply holding the an up or down button, but that's just me. So if you want to do everything with the touch screen, then I can see not liking the OS.
It just seems like anytime windows mobile is mentioned, 95% of the comments are about how badly it sucks, but no one gives examples of what they dislike about it. I believe reasons exist, I'm curious to know what they are.
The OS isn't as stable as I would like. I have had it lock up on occasion requiring me to remove the battery and reboot it. If this was something I was life dependent on, I would be very concerned about that.
The menu's are not as intuitive as I would like. For example, I can pull up recent calls on my cell phone rather easily. Sure, you can do that in windows mobile, but the "path" to get there isn't one that's universally used by almost every other phone. I can say the same for many of the functions... the path to get there doesn't seem right. Some things I would like to see moved more towards the gui touch interface such as making a call. After pressing the phone button, I'd like to see a HUGE numberpad pop up on the touch screen. Basically, give me what I want without having to navigate a string of menus.
Browsing the web nowhere near what it should be.
App support is excellent along with corporate integration, however not all apps are written equally. On occasion I have seen apps hog resources. I can't really blame this on microsoft since they are not the app authors, but it does reflect on the experience as a whole.
Phone hardware design is per the OEM, and that's just now reaching the stage of good. The ones that flip out a keyboard from beneath the screen are reaching my level of acceptance on size/performance. The old designs (everything on the front and the size of an old palm) were just too big for me.
Other than that, there are several features in winmo that I thought were excellent... the ability to open and see attachments, the openness of the app development, remote desktop, cost of the phone, just to name some.
I agree about skyfire. It's a great browser. It's what I use on any sites that don't work well with mobile browsers. The only thing I don't like about it is the startup time and it seems to load pages more slowly than other browsers some of the time. It could just be that my phone (original HTC Touch) is too slow for it. It'd probably run a lot better on a new model.
@DrtyDogg:
Completely agree about the laggy issue. I should have included that when I mentioned that winmo seems buggy. I've learned to live with the insane delays that it takes to do things. When I tap the button on my today screen to check my email, it seems like it takes 10 seconds for outlook to open. It'd probably be a lot better on a newer phone.
@Seaspray0:
Agree about the stability. Definite annoyance.
I don't know about the paths, though. I've never had any problems (but like I said, that could be because I'm a windows user) On my HTC Touch, which has a green "call" button, red "hang up" button, a d-pad, and a center "enter" button, if I hit the green button, up pops what you said you wanted - a number pad (maybe not HUGE, but the numbers themselves take up at least half the screen, and I couldn't see it being any more useful if it was any bigger). I don't think that's something that is just on the Touch, either... I had a Mogul briefly and I believe it had the same thing. For my call log, the two easiest ways to view it are to hit that green call button, which brings up the dial pad like I said. There's a call log button right there, one of the only two non-normal-dial-pad buttons. The other way I do it is to tap the call log button that's directly on my today screen, but I realize that's a part of the specific today screen plugin, so it's not part of the "default" or whatever winmo, although I'm pretty sure anyone with winmo can get the plugin.
Regarding the web browser, skyfire might be my preferred browser. I've used the iphone's browser, and it's nice, but no flash is a bummer, especially when you read a lot of message boards where seemingly every topic has someone embedding a youtube clip or some other flash object. I love the way skyfire renders the page exactly as it's meant to be viewed, other than formatting text in columns narrow enough to read without panning when zoomed in. The only complaints I have about it, like I mentioned above, is the speed, and I think that'd be improved with a faster phone. Also, on sites that do render well and don't have flash content, opera mini is a pretty excellent browser... I mainly like it because it's fast as hell even on my outdated phone.
Agree with everything else you said.
Windows Mobile has a dated interface, it's slow, and it's still buggy. I've used it for years but it's such a PITA to use anymore that I'm more than wiilling to jump ship if my one critical app is ported.
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/09/27/iphone-now-supports-mp3-and-wav-attachments/
kinda old news
take this roll of toiletpaper and wipe yourself on account your talkin outta your arser
Seriously, Microsoft should ditch Winmo, and make a Zune phone. It would greatly increase their sales. The zune currently has enough hype to make a great "wow" product. Winmo doesn't have that glory at all. In addition, if Microsoft followed apple, and made their own phone hardware, it would sell better than winmo currently does. Who knows, knowing microsoft and their tendancies to try monopolistic practices, a zune phone may take most of the marketshare in time.
Microsoft lost its cool.
Not cool is OK, evil is not.
I think what's holding MS back is that the Phone companies decide if the OS and patches will be updated. MS should off free OS updates to all new MS Phone users.
They are essentially saying that if you buy a Windows Mobile phone in the near future, you will one operating system, version 6.5, but if you wait a little longer, you will get another one, version 7. If you get 6.5, you will likely be disenfranchised from version 7 unless you change phone hardware. This is a very strange way to encourage people to buy your product.
Microsoft just doesn't have that incredible loyalty in the phone market that they can afford to fragment their users and expect to make any inroads.
I can't see how this will compete well with RIM, Apple, and Android, which all provide ongoing software upgrades. This is just another example of MS not focusing on the prize.
- by inachu1 August 20, 2009 5:30 AM PDT
- I'll buy the Windows phone if they make Age of Empires 2 for it.
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