Windows Mobile 7 is showcased - WTF is Microsoft doing?!

[ChiffaN]

While the whole world is marvelling at the recently announced iPad or at least the Google Nexus One Microsoft has announced and showcased what their next gen Mobile platform is envisioned to be.

http://gizmodo.com/5471805/windows-p...yline=true&s=i

http://gizmodo.com/5471970/windows-p...+%28Gizmodo%29

With all of the marvelous new features two small ones can easily be overlooked:

• Widows Mobile 7 will NOT applications written for the previous versions of the OS
• Windows Mobile 7 will NOT support skins

What has Microsoft done? Is this the rebirth of the Windows Mobile platform or is this the death of it. After all with the iPhone and the Android phones out there the only thing that kept WM alive has been the enormous anount of SW for it. And now it has all been sent down the drain.

What are your thoughts on this?

[shigzeo]

I think it could be summed up succinctly by: Microsoft lead without vision. Not a single of their OSes has ever been revolutionary other than hardware support. They have played emulation or catch up from the start. In the mobile world, they should give up with Windows Mobile, a name which is uglier than it is meaningful.

Buy RIM and be done with it, but if you do, you will accrue the contempt of many a Canadian who are watching one by one, their corporate legacies swallowed by a hungry US market.

[NineSwords]

I think this will produce no thread to the iPhone.

Like always MS is trying to catch up by copying what other did without adding something to the mix or even getting even.

[shigzeo]

True. This time, Microsoft are focusing a little better than they have in the past. I don't expect revolution, simply because they are tied to a lot of rubbish phones, but I do expect this to somewhat waive the horrible windows mobile 6x.

[shigzeo]

According to this Crave article Windows Phone 7 (who thought of this name?) is looking even more a joke than before. Firstly, Microsoft shun the business appeal which prior releases had. Secondly, the have new and somewhat stringent hardware requirements (sounds like buying Windows Vista). Thirdly, they will 'hub' software for multitasking.

What Microsoft don't get is that the phone shouldn't be treated as a scaled-down PC. It is a phone and things should be catered for the best phone/mobile experience, not to make it into a pocket PC. Apple have done a good, but not exemplary job of this; they have one platform, one machine (okay, with a few hardware iterations based on evolution), and make it mobile. It has drawbacks, but they know how they want the phone to run while Microsoft seem to be moving off to just... emulate their PC while kicking at Apple's shins. The days of Winmo are over.

[Aeaea]

Microsoft's decision may just be based on evidence (?) that a clean break from the past is the best course of action if they want to be a serious player in the future mobile market. They may also assume that just because they are Microsoft, people will buy whatever they put out for sale (see Zune for example). Plus developers will move to the platform because of the overcrowded Android and iDevice markets -- knowing full well that there will always be a market for Microsoft products (albeit perhaps small at first). If M$ wants to spend billions marketing their platform, it won't flop, but the ROI (return on investment) won't be pretty for a while.

I agree that their decisions seem a little bizarre. I guess we'll have to stay tuned.