Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Lineup 391
adeelarshad82 writes "Microsoft officially unveiled its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system, announcing that it will be available on a total of five devices in the US. Windows Phone 7 handsets from AT&T and T-Mobile will begin shipping in November, while devices from Sprint and Verizon will be available next year. In all, Microsoft announced nine Windows Phone 7 phones, the remainder of which will be available in Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Singapore, and Australia. It will debut in some European markets on Oct. 21. While early signs are encouraging for Windows Phone 7, it is being deemed as do or die for the future of Microsoft's business."
Do or die? (Score:4, Insightful)
If they don't get traction with 7, they can do 8. Or buy Nokia or RIM out of couch-cushion change. Or several dozen other ways to buy into the market that I haven't thought of but I'm sure someone in Redmond has, singly or in combination.
No, it is not do or die (Score:5, Insightful)
MS still controls the desktop, and lots of high end business market. That is a very solid, very profitable market. Then of course there's their office suite, game console, and so on. Having a strong mobile market would do nothing but help them for sure, but if you think they have to "do it or die" you've got your head in the sand. MS is doing just fine.
Re:Before you scoff, Try it (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe true. Probably a case of too little too late. They had numerous years to get it together.
They can only follow, which is fine. But they had plenty of chances to lead.
As long as I have to pay $99 (Score:1, Insightful)
... to apps I develop on my own phone, I'm out.
And I really, really wanted one of these things, too. Maybe they'll come around and change their policy, but until then, I'm sticking with my dumbphone.
Re:So... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Image (Score:1, Insightful)
Windows 7. And yes, XBOX 360. And believe it or not, IE9 has some really awesome stuff. Office 2010
Maybe not recent, but awesome, particularly with recent updates:
C#, Visual Studio
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if MSFT has a basically credible mobile phone OS, what do they have to draw people away from Apple, Android, or Blackberry?
Never Buy A Windows Mobile Device (Score:3, Insightful)
Please take it from my lengthy, extremely painful, dissatisfied experience. Never buy a Windows Mobile phone. Ever. I don't care WHAT they might have done to this version of the software, I can guarantee you it will not work a fraction as well as any alternatives.
I own an HTC Mogul PPC6800. I have never experienced a product so poor, so lacking in quality and completely failing to fulfill its most primary functions. Every day I have to use it I wonder to myself how it was even released. I have never seen such a poor product even be allowed to enter consumer hands in exchange for money. It is just that bad.
I felt this would be a good topic with which to share that experience.
Re:So... (Score:2, Insightful)
Where is cut and paste and multitasking?
Just about the only time I use copy/paste on my phone is during setup, when I need to input my long, pseudorandom WPA key. It is certainly very useful during this time. Otherwise, in practice, I just don't use it very much.
I've tried the Android SDK (Score:1, Insightful)
I prefer the Microsoft tools. That's not to say I wouldn't get an Android if I had to pick a smartphone, but .NET development is just easier (and the tools are just better) than what Google offers.
(I program in both Java and C# for a living, so it's not an issue of familiarity, just an honest preference)
Re:Never Buy A Windows Mobile Device (Score:5, Insightful)
But you didn't share any experience. You merely asserted it was a very poor product, without naming any reasons why you thought so.
Re:No, it is not do or die (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No, it is not do or die (Score:5, Insightful)
they've also seen their share price wibble along going nowhere while Apple's streaks upwards. You may not think that matters but it does, a lot. If this doesn't show some promise for future MS growth, you can expect a little shareholder revolt, Ballmer being kicked out and maybe a ton of layoffs and re-organisation in the name of shareholder value. You will probably also see some divisions spun off to stand on their own feet (yep, online and entertainment divisions.... you'll get your crutch made of cash kicked away) and then we'll see if MS is still the powerhouse, or if other companies suddenly find themselve with a lot of attention from ex-Microsoft shops.
Let me put it this way - would you implement a Silverlight app today, when tomorrow it could be a dead technology replaced by Flash.Net? Its the same with businesses looking to implement their next set of apps, would they buy MS products if it looked like they were stumbling, or would they at least look at alternatives?
Re:Do or die? (Score:3, Insightful)
here's the relevant bit, from TFA: ...there's lots of room for Microsoft. Consumers love their mobile phones, but they switch or upgrade as often as every one or two years. Also, consumers typically sign up with service providers like Verizon and AT&T and will happily switch to the next best phone. Who's to say an AT&T customer's next phone won't be a Windows Phone?
So until customers stop getting new phones every 2 years, or start caring much more about their phones OS, I don't understand why this is " officially Microsoft's last, best chance for relevance in the post-desktop computing world."
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
did anyone see the browser? (Score:5, Insightful)
MS didn't show it in the demo (that I saw).
The quality of the browser is paramount. Do we know if it's any good? Their last one sure wasn't.
Re:Here is my opinion (Score:3, Insightful)
**Except for companies we allow. Like Adobe
Re:So... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes but the Iphone has cut and paste now and has multi-tasking limited but a lot of people say it makes all the difference.
Android and WebOS have true multitasking as well.
I will add that Microsoft WinMo 6.5 also has multitasking and cut n paste.
Thing is that when IOS was lacking those features all it had to complete with was WinMo, RIM, Symbian, and PalmOS.
WM7 must face both IOS and Android in their current state and honestly I don't see a big draw yet. We will see but WM7 must compete with IOS4 and with Android 2.2 today.
Re:Before you scoff, Try it (Score:3, Insightful)
iOS is focused on consumers, not business. Android is too young and nobody's polished it enough for business. Symbian does have offer lots of business devices but they're not by far as nicely integrated as what RIM offers, it's a wildly different range of products scattered across different manufacturers and backends.
Granted, Microsoft and WP7 could move into that business niche in force. Microsoft definitely has what it takes to offer an alternative to RIM's integrated services. Then again, one might argue that their core expertise lies with PC's, not mobiles, and all their previous efforts in this sector were more or less failures.
Let's just wait and see what actually happens, ok? After all these years I'm just a bit weary of Microsoft hype, FUD and vaporware. I'll give them the benefit of doubt, as always... but I want to see some cold hard results before I get excited.
Re:MS's Crappy Online Gaming Service??? Really (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a great service for gamers who have Xboxes. For general consumers that don't have an Xbox or Xbox Live, there isn't much of an advantage to having Xbox Live integration.
MobileMe is a great service for iPhone owners with MobileMe. For general consumers that don't have a MobileMe account, there isn't much of an advantage to having MobileMe integration.
See what I did there?
There are far more Xbox Live subscribers than MobileMe account holders. Only a tiny fraction of iphone owners get a mobileme account. Yet several of the iphones more interesting features are locked away behind that service. If WinMo7 offers mobileme features for free + extra stuff that ties into the gamer-centric xbl it will potentially be quite attractive to a LOT of people.
Re:MS's Crappy Online Gaming Service??? Really (Score:4, Insightful)
There are far more Xbox Live subscribers than MobileMe account holders. Only a tiny fraction of iphone owners get a mobileme account. Yet several of the iphones more interesting features are locked away behind that service. If WinMo7 offers mobileme features for free + extra stuff that ties into the gamer-centric xbl it will potentially be quite attractive to a LOT of people.
MobileMe is for consumers that use Windows, OS X, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPads. Xbox Live is only for gamers that use Microsoft's Xbox gaming platform. Gee, which population is bigger? Consumers or Xbox gamers? Targeting such a niche population isn't a major benefit.
Re:No, it is not do or die (Score:4, Insightful)
They've had Windows CE based devices on the market for something like 15 years yet Apple's iPhone blew it away and quickly Android beat it into irrelevance. As the iPod / iTunes products opened peoples eyes to Apple and the Mac, what do you think Android and all the talk of Android powered TVs, Tablets, Netbooks, MIDs, GPS's, etc will do?
They "do or die" thing is an over statement but when the customers start to get choice at the brick and mortar stores, the fast slide down is upon them. Their brand is already drastically weaker and their stock price has been doing down while the others going up. And when large economies like Brazil( 5th in the world? ) is doing just fine using GNU LInux and open source software Microsoft has to spend billions annually to fend of more of that. I think they're slated to spend over $500 million just on marketing Windows Phone 7.
It's really not all roses in Redmond and with these little phones getting so much press hyping, Steve Ballmer's neck is sticking out in front of his investors and the board of directors. They have to see a success which relates to profits and limits the growth of the others. Something they've failed to do over and over without the advantage of leveraging the Windows desktop market position. IMO
LoB
Re:Seriously? (Score:2, Insightful)
I really can't see people having an interest in this. Even those uneducated masses. There's nothing remarkable about it and certainly no extra raison d'etre.
My guess is that Ballmer will loose some of his 2010 bonus also.
It just strikes me as odd that anyone would be purchasing (or even selling) this device. If they are making it it is due to legal threats and guarantees of indemnification against their Android handsets.
Re:MS Garbage Products: Xbox,Kin,Bing,... (Score:1, Insightful)
Please stop spreading fanboy lies.
The PS3 has had a sub .1 percent failure rate for the entire history of the console. Nintendo has reported similar figures but has had to less often due to the fact that Xbox fans have spent less time trying to smear their console's reliability.
Just a quick google shows survey after survey of Xbox 360 failure rates in the 55 to 75 percent range. The largest and most reliable of those is the 65 percent failure rate that most people use as the best estimate.
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Insightful)
XBox isn't a monopoly. Windows Live isn't a monopoly. Zune is about as far from a monopoly as you can get. The online office apps that it works with are free to all. MS of 2010 isn't the MS of 2000.
Re:MS's Crappy Online Gaming Service??? Really (Score:3, Insightful)
I see what you did there. Neat fallacy, but let's make things honest (and more in line with GP's point):
* There are 23 million XBox gamers with XBox Live subscriptions
* meanwhile, there are roughly 1.5 - 2 billion human beings who could be reasonably considered as "consumers" out there.
But, you were busily counting one phone's potential pool, versus the paid result of the other. See the problem?
Now, to be perfectly fair, out of the 23m XBox gamers, you're going to have to remove the under-18 demographic, and a reasonable percentage of folks who can afford an XBox, but not an ongoing smartphone plan. The leftover folks may or may not consider a console-phone semi-link to be a factor, let alone a deciding one.