The blockbuster deal between Motorola (s mmi) and Google (s goog) is going to be a game-changer, and it will force many of the smaller handset makers to rethink their reliance on Google’s Android operating system. Many mobile industry insiders have shared that sentiment with me privately, and now one of them is ready to go on the record.
“We see a number of major vendors very seriously considering Windows Mobile (s msft) as a core platform and therefore we are following their lead and examining it as well to complement our work in Android to date,” said Frank Meehan, chief executive officer (CEO) of INQ, the Hutchison Whampoa company that came up with a Skype phone and a Facebook phone. Meehan is worried about the latest Android development. Hutchison owns and operates 3G networks across the world under the brand name, “3.” And when he says Windows Mobile, he does mean Windows Phone 7 operating system.
INQ started to work on an Android-based device in 2009 and since then has been selling Android-based smartphones. “From a group perspective at Hutchison Whampoa, we have worked hard at bringing Android to consumers across our operations,” he said. “However this year there has been a dramatic increase in the way companies are looking to maximize the potential revenues of IPR (intellectual property) holdings, and the trend for many companies is now to concentrate on litigation rather than innovation.”
Meehan, a long time veteran of the mobile business, believes that ecosystem players need to take a deep breath and learn from GSM where major companies involved with development of that standard got together and came up with a way to help grow the mobile ecosystem. Meehan has a point and I do believe that eventually the mobile OS players will have to adopt a similar approach or else we are going to be stuck in a patent related mess for a long time.
“The advantages with Windows Mobile is that the legal issues and resulting costs seem to be much less,” Meehan said. He thinks the quick growth of Android — almost 600,000 activations a day — has made it a big target. But if Windows Phone 7 grows as quickly, then who knows if that will be hit by similar legal troubles, Meehan argued.
Meehan took a swing at rival Motorola and added, “It is telling that the Motorola Board decided that they could get more value out of 15-20 year old patents rather than use their huge R&D to create new exciting technologies over the next 10 years which is what Motorola used to do very well.”
You’re afraid you’ll have to compete with a goog-moto for android handset sales… so to avoid that you’re going to move to an OS that nobody wants to buy? That doesn’t seem wise.
@Davod C Dean – the large majority of smart phone users do not go to buy an Android phone, they get one because it is like toothpaste, they are just everywhere so they get the neatest looking one. That is not say that there is not an significant audience who like the Android and go to get what they call a “Google phone”. I talk to 100’s of people everyday and I would say oh, how do you like your Android device or Google phone and they would go, “What’s that?” I go on to explain the phone the purchased in running Android. They shrug they shoulders and say “oh, thanks for telling me”. Microsoft has a great phone but was so late to the game with so few choices I mean they have one handset each for Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, 3 on AT&T, and zero pay as you go phones as to Android who has so many devices I stopped counting at every level. If Microsoft can win more handset makers and just get some shelf space, it will help their cause. With no sales pressure hand a non tech/fanboy for either platform a Windows Phone and a Android phone and you will see there is a good size audience who like the Windows Phone.
This is a weak argument, that blames the lack of sales of WP7 on mobile carrier salesmen. If consumers don’t know what android is and just happen to be buying the phones, does that mean they know what windows phone is, and just aren’t buying it?
The fact is WP7 is a great mobile operating system, but one that hit the market too late and with not enough difference that consumers care about it. Zune and xbox integration(both additional pay services) are not going to differentiate the platform to 500k activations a day. Just like webos, it’s one of the better mobile OS’s that people aren’t buying, and we know how that turned out.
WP7 is a placeholder to keep MS “in the game” as they prepare win8/9 to be able to run on phones/tablets/pcs.
Since wp7 came out, I have seen a few of wp7 handsets people carried. The only issue only 3 of those people were NOT microsoft employees. The others told me it was an ok phone but they had a bit of “app envy” because they could play games with their friends who had android/ios devices. (Most specifically “words with friends”) or could not find specific apps for services they used, but knew those services had apps for ios/android and even blackberry.
Its not the sheer # of apps an app store has, but the 3rd party support and integration of services (google docs, voice, spotify, rdio, dropbox, etc.) That matter. Sure they may come to wp7 in time, but they are here now on ios/android.
Wp7 is a work in progress, and to a consumer do the pros still out weigh the cons?
Its great we have choices in mobile OS, and it looks like more people have confidence in phones running android/ios than wp7, even if they don’t know all the geeky OS bits.
How does microsoft reverse that? If you can’t get people to buy them, then what? How do they make wp7 so compelling to the average consumer they care about the OS?
They actually say, “Oh, thanks for telling me”? Cuz, that would be as hilarious as it is unlikely.
So says the person with Microsoft written across their user image.
WP7 is a shit, that’s why people don’t buy this. Android has more advantages than WP
“the large majority of smart phone users do not go to buy an Android phone”
but that is changing fast, very fast….
I disagree that the public is so “ignorant” as to the platform of their phone. Do you really speak to 100’s of NEW people daily? Everyone I’ve ever met, with a smart phone, I ask “Is that an Android?” 100% of them respond with either, “Yes it’s a Droid ohone” or “No, it’s an iPhone.”
Also, your grammar & spelling are atrocious. Not trying to disrespect you, but, if you’re going to post something publicly, read it first before you submit it.
i agree we need to see more wp7s on the shelf. i have had an android and a wp7. when i went to a popular provider store and asked to see the wp7, the salesman told me what i really wanted was an iphone. when i told him i didn’t want an iphone, he said then what i should buy is an android. when i wold him i was interested in looking at a wp7 before i made up my mind,, he said to me i didn’t really want one, that everyone was buying androids and iphones. shop sales attitudes have to be changed.
@Jef
“(google docs, voice, spotify, rdio, dropbox, etc.) That matter. Sure they may come to wp7 in time, but they are here now on ios/android.”
Rdio and DropBox already have apps for WP7 today. Spotify has already confirmed their app for WP7 and are waiting for the Mango release so that it can make use of multitasking. As far as Google Docs, Google isn’t going to support Windows Phone directly, just like you’re not going to find Microsoft Office/Sharepoint/Office 365 on Android phones. That being said 3rd party developers have already come up with “Google” apps that are often better than Google’s own Android apps. Gmail, Picasa, Gdocs, GMaps, and Youtube are all well supported on Windows Phone with 3rd party apps. The Youtube apps in particular are superior to Google’s own app, allowing downloading of videos (SuperTube)and even remote control of Youtube on your PC (EasyTube).
The biggest thing hurting Windows Phone today is ignorance. People don’t know what it is, they are underestimating and undervaluing it’s importance. They are assuming apps are not there, when the truth is that the 30,000+ apps in marketplace already cover most people’s needs. Microsoft already went hunting for the big fish in the app game.
The bigger deal is that the equivalent apps on WP7 and Android are much better on WP7. You don’t get to realize this until you use both extensively, but how many people take that time?
@Jef et al.
Try and take a step back and be objective for a minute: quite a few Android users really don’t understand just what “Android” is. They either buy the phone because the sales person said to, or they heard that “android is great” so they went and asked for one, without really knowing what it was. My sister-in-law is a prime example of the first one.
She wanted a “phone that has an agenda and isn’t as expensive as an iPhone,” so the guy sold her a Samsung something. She doesn’t know how to use it, or how to find things on Android Market.
When her contract is up, she’ll probably get an iPhone.
Android really is riding on the coattails of media hype, and is being helped along by a strong geek movement. But like the Tea Party, the Android geeks are smaller than you’d think, and they’ll whither out and disappear.
no one wants to buy? more like less exposure since the droid OS is on every shitty hardware phone. It’s the standard nokia symbian that flooded the market when big screens were not around yet. I’ve had an android. one thing I noticed was “Virus scanners” in the marketplace. That is kind of embarrassing if a cellphone needs a virus scanner.
iPhones are also susceptible to malware. And if you’re going to defend an MS product while simultaneously complaining about another OS being susceptible to viruses, you are truly an ignorant idiot. Android is Linux based. Linux is orders of magnitude more secure than MS Windows. Why should I think Windows Phone would be any better than Windows 7?
It still seems more rational than HPs approach!
Run away scared completely out of the business…
Google’s going to sell or bury Motorola’s hardware business. They’ll announce it within 10 days. Nothing else makes sense.
Paying 12.5 Billion for patents alone doesn’t make sense either. And then let Sammy/HTC/who-have-you walk into a golden sunset with one less competitor in tow…yeah Google has a lot of money, but do they want to use it only to help the (other) handset makers?
You are assuming that Motorola’s IP is valuable enough on it’s own to warrant $12.5 billion, I’m not willing to accept that assumption as Moto’s IP hasn’t stopped anyone from suing them to this point.
put nokia and ms together on patents and you know how lopsided it can become..
Considering Google’s purchase of Motorola will take months to be completed, your “They’ll announce it within 10 days.” is about as wrong as wrong can be — they can’t sell something they don’t yet own.
Also, who is going to buy a money losing phone business with zero patents? And for the “bury” option Motorola has 20,000 employees – that’s going to be one heck of an expensive burial — both in terms of severance costs, and reputation cost to Google “do no evil” slogan. Many will think that for a rich, profitable corporation firing 20,000 people is evil personified.
Ted – while the purchase is completed (months – you’re right), handset makers will be deciding how much they can trust Google. So Google should move quickly to assure them that they will not compete directly.
Agreed with you about the cost of firing 20k people – selling the handset unit would be better.
As for how wrong I am, I plead to being less wrong than HP’s board when the approved the purchase of Palm, and perhaps less wrong than Cisco when they shot Flip without trying to sell it first.
When companies are reduced to or spoken of in only the value of their patent portfolio, that’s pretty sad. The only way to realize that value in the market is to go around suing others to make that money back for yor shareholders.
Smaller players would be better to go with MeeGo, like LG is doing.
Everyone seems to forget the elephant in the room: That after a year on the market, Windows Phone has failed. Even Samsung’s Bada OS is outselling Windows Phone. The public simply don’t want Microsoft on their phones.
The sales of Bada OS, while not in the league of iOS and Android, still demonstrate it is easy to do better in mobile than Microsoft’s Windows Phone. If a major number of players got behind MeeGo, it could really do much better.
Anyone taking on iOS and Android is already late to the game. The only, only way to do it is to be very open. Any closed and walled-garden OS (like Windows Phone) will fail. Going open will attract a natural ecosystem of developers.
I guess phone makers will have to weigh the risk of getting sued by Microsoft/Apple/Google/RIM. Will Intel step forward to protect them in Meego infringement lawsuits?
It’s a tough choice. Either go with a closed platform that belongs to a major company or go with ‘open’ platform that comes with litigation risk.
IF taken at his words: “The advantages with Windows Mobile is that the legal issues and resulting costs seem to be much less,”
His reasons for looking at Windows are legal cost issues, which should be negated by the Googlerola deal, not intensified.
So the Moto deal isn’t the cause of this — it may even be the opposite. More: http://9to5google.com/2011/08/21/is-inq-really-thinking-about-leaving-android-for-windows-mobile/
IF taken at his words: “The advantages with Windows Mobile is that the legal issues and resulting costs seem to be much less,”
His reasons for looking at Windows are legal cost issues, which should be negated by the Googlerola deal, not intensified.
So the Moto deal isn’t the cause of this — it may even be the opposite. More: http://9to5google.com/2011/08/21/is-inq-really-thinking-about-leaving-android-for-windows-mobile/
Microsoft is a greedy corporation. I wont buy windows phone. Google products are always free for us consumers.
at the end of the day, both companies are greedy corps. And you just happen to be typing away on a windows PC. Someone misinformed like you should be using Linux or something.
i paid good money for my android, thank you. it wasn’t free. the system may be free to the device makers, but not to you and me.
These guys are afraid of Google+Motorola, so they’re running to Microsoft+Nokia.
WINNING!!!!111one
NOT
Fanboy comments are useless in adult conversations
Inq just turned to android from brew, now they think of moving again?
Isn’t the acquisition of Motorola supposed to actually help with the patent issue? And they are running from Android, which at least Google said they’d keep as fair as possible, even after the acquisition, to Microsoft which have already said they will give “special” benefits to Nokia, compared to the other manufacturers? How does that logic work? Not to mention that Android actually sells handsets for manufacturers.
The real reason Google bought MOTO was to keep Microsoft from aquiring the patents and to keep MOTO from using their patents against other Android OEMs. Google basically bought MOTO to keep the patents from being used against them. While they may help strenghten Google’s patent portfolio the purpose for the high price was to keep Android from becoming a cannible.
Would you rather make money with Google (largest OS on the market) or go with the SMALLEST OS and compete against Nokia (the largest handset maker on the market…
The problem is that very few OEMs are making a profit on Android phones and of those that do, very few are making strong profits. Don’t take my word for this, do some research.
I don’t buy that. The only data I’ve seen about that has been seriously flawed. Like they took the whole profit of the handset division, which was low and attributed it to Android. Except there was one big flaw with that – those phone divisions of some big manufacturing companies were still making only about 5-10% of all their phones as Android phones. All the other 90% were dumbphones. So yeah, of course they aren’t making too much money on the “whole handset division”. But they are making on Android.
Let’s put it this way. They aren’t making as much money as Apple, that’s true. Apple has very strong deals with the carriers. But there’s also nothing out there that makes them more money than Android phones. Their old OS’s are definitely not making them money. And WP7 which sells in very few units, and had to slash prices to get rid of them, are not making them money either.
Samsung for example is selling like 280 million phones per quarter, and out of those only about 20 million are Android phones. So what is their answer to making more money and increasing overall profit? Making fewer Android phones? NO. It’s making MORE Android phones, and replacing all the other 260 million phones with Android ones (in time).
MUST VIEW Apple iOS 5 Vs Microsoft WP7 Mango Vs Android IceCream 3.1 [Pics & Video Comparison]
http://ihackuall.blogspot.com/2011/07/apple-ios-5-vs-windows-phone-7-mango-vs.html
I don’t know why they would be scared, Google is just protecting them from litigation. That would be a major plus, Google make their money from advertising, not phones, so they will still want their os on many devices. The manufacturers are safe.
Handset manufacturer’s would be fools to put all of their eggs in a single basket, which is why none of the major players were banking solely on Android *prior* to the Mobility acquisition. Most were already increasingly dabbling in Windows Phone 7 and the big ones were investing in their own solutions too.
… The notion that manufacturers will flee Android now is simply foolish, for two simple reasons. First, until the Mobility purchase, the biggest immediate threat to Android was the *perception* of IP problems. That *perception* has been totally silenced. Second, while Android obviously isn’t without flaw, the fundamentals behind its momentum haven’t changed one iota.
Silenced? Not at all, neither Microsoft nor Apple were afraid to sue MotoMobo. Many of their key patents are supposedly encumbered and I’m betting not many of them relate to new smartphone interfaces.
The overwhelming majority of the current media buzz on this issue focuses on Google’s spending $12.5 billion for patents. Contrast that with the perception prior to the purchase. I don’t mean to suggest that Android is in the clear, but the immediate perception problem that was dominating the media, in terms of IP and Google, has totally vanished.
For the record, MotoMobo is also suing both Microsoft and Apple and the new patents won’t need to relate directly to smartphone interfaces in order to provide leverage/protection.
Patents only last 20 years, so I don’t think anyone thinks there is any value in 15-20 year old patents.
This line about some companies wanting to litigate rather than innovate is pure BS. It implies only one kind of relationship between handset makers, and there are dozens if not hundreds of individual situations. And there is very, very little innovation, and lots of cloning and counterfeiting.
BS – Yep! You innovate and protect, Innovate and protect – an ongoing process. And you keep the copycats out thru court actions. You protect your IP or there’s no reason to further innovate.
The reality is actually pretty backwards from that. Companies innovate to continue to remain competitive, to bring out products that are better than their rivals, to keep up with their rivals. If they are relying on patents to prevent their rivals from competing with them, they have *less* reason to continue to innovate.
Also as far as 15 year old patent being useless… if you think that, you fail to see how patents are actually used. If you have a 15 year old patent that will expire in 5 years, you can still fast-track a patent suit in the ITC, get a finding within a couple years, and now you have a hammer with which to force your competitor to seriously harm their product or even outright stop shipping it for 3 years. Imagine HTC not being able to sell phones in the U.S. for 3 years. That is as good as an eternity.
Why would I care what the guy responsible for skype and facebook and facebook phones thinks? How can he call anyone out for not innovating when his idea of innovation is to take whatever web thingy is popopular and get the branding approval to stick on some junk phone?
I bet 20 bucks this guy floated the idea for a groupon phone.
Ps: nokia has had skype integrated in the OS forever. They were never cheesy enough to stick another logo on it.
Hah! For starters he does run a company that makes handsets for a large mobile carrier. Second of all the Skype phone was a cult hit and so was Facebook phone and those two app-centric phones have become conventional wisdom in the mobile industry. I think it is fairly easy to dismiss someone, but think it this way — Frank is someone who is speaking out what rest of the industry is secretly saying.
Problem for Microsoft is, they continue to send mixed messages.
The Nokia deal is supposed to bring solid hardware to the OS platform, which seems to be a threat to the other current WP7 handset makers LG, HTC, Samsung and others. But Elop dismissed this, and in return made the hypocritical comment of the Motorola buyout as a threat to these same handset manufacturers.
Then there’s the argument Microsoft has presented, of a unified – read no fragmentation – on WP7. But we already know that Nokia’s got some special love from Microsoft to give them the ability to distinguish themselves from the other WP7 manufacturers.
And of course, if the problem is one of a lack of awareness due to inadequate advertising, why is Microsoft slowing ad buys, instead of increasing them?
So yeah, I’m curious to see how Microsoft handles Mango. For them, it’s a reboot from the BSD…and maybe this time around things will go better, right? Nevermind of course, that Android Ice Cream and iOS 5 will come out shortly, as well.
Oh well, there’s always next year and the next reboot from the BSD.
You lost me when you said that mobile handset makers were looking at Windows Mobile. Calling it “Windows Mobile” instead of “Windows Phone” shows right off that the author doesn’t know the subject matter.
Second, you start this article off stating that “major vendors” are considering “Windows Mobile” over Android but then the only vendor you list is INQ. I’m sorry but INQ is a small-time London based Mobile Tech company that just got it’s start in 2008. Relatively unknown and by no means a “major player”.
If anything, they would be an extremely “minor” player in the mobile world.
A minor player like INQ could go with Windows Phone but that definitely won’t make them a “major” player anytime soon.
The Windows Phone Platform is at a paltry 1% in terms of Market Share. The only way they can get Developers to build apps for it is to give them FREE Phones and even that isn’t enough as Windows Phone users often complain that the platform lacks “quality” Apps.
Most seasoned Mobile Developers know where the money is and it isn’t with Windows Phone.
HTC, Samsung, LG and Motorola, those are “major players”. You know what they all have in common? They all have investments in Android and all but Motorola has an investment in Windows Phone.
Why doesn’t Motorola have a Windows Phone? Because they want the same deal Nokia has to be able to make phones that will sell to the lower-end crowd that are less likely to buy an expensive smartphone.
It’s simple, Android is FREE to the vendor and makes them money. Windows Phone requires a license fee and does NOT make money. However, while Google doesn’t charge a “license fee” for Android, Microsoft has and/or is in the works of creating “patent agreements” with all of these handset vendors forcing them to pay Microsoft a “licensing fee” to use Android.
If I were HTC, Samsung or the others being squeezed for paying “patent agreement” fees to Microsoft, honestly, I’d drop Windows Phone as it doesn’t make money and I’d form an alliance with Google to kick Microsoft’s but in court. Bullying pays off in the short-term but in the long-term Microsoft will pay for their evil ways.
Will Google’s buyout of Motorola send HTC, LG or Samsung crying to Microsoft’s doorstep hoping to get in bed even more with the industry’s worst seller? Not bloody likely. They aren’t stupid.
Writing an article like this shows me that you likely are not a good person to ask for stock market advice as you don’t seem to know the subject matter very well.
“Android is FREE to the vendor and makes them money”
The first part of the sentence is no longer true for many phone makers and second part is questionable, yes they make money, but enough to justify a $12.5 billion purchase of a company that isn’t making any money?
Since when? I haven’t heard any announcement of a “license fee” or any sort of “fee” vendors have to pay to Google for Android.
There is a “patent fee” that Microsoft extorts out of many Android vendors though.
Whether or not Android vendors makes money has no bearing on what Google buys and for how much.
Google bought patents and lots of them.
If you’ve been paying attention, Google recently lost out on a bid to buy patents from Nortel which went for $4.5 billion to Google’s competitors.
With that in mind, $12.5 billion isn’t very much when you consider that (A) the competition wouldn’t get yet another patent portfolio to extort money out of Android vendors and (B) it gives Google control of an entire Mobile Vendor Division which not only makes Phones but also makes TV set-top boxes.
Google is big into both so the move makes perfect sense.
Motorola Mobility was already looking for a buyer. Allowing Microsoft or Apple to buy them would have been foolish.
After losing out on the Nortel bid and sitting back watching as Microsoft bullies each and every Android vendor into paying blood money, Google needed to step up to the plate and reach deep into their pockets.
Google isn’t a patent hungry company like their competition. They needed to do this to defend their platform. The Motorola deal, including it’s patents will go a long way toward ensuring Android’s success in the continuing fight against the Microsoft juggernaut.
@Kevin Darty
It should be noted that Google bought Motorola Mobility, which spun off from Motorola at the beginning of this year. No set top boxes for Google.
Motorola’s Android products might be banned in a year from the US.
Windows 7 is just starting out. And some people do like it. A lot.
A lot of people don’t even realize they have android phones. And they don’t care about it.
So INQ, what a HUGE player ! LOL
I know, I know… I’m used to GigaOM having much better articles… this seems more like the kind of crap you expect from Mashable 🙂
There is away for Google to deal w/ this love-hate situation they just created; 1) offer the newly acquired IP royalty-free to OHA for the purposes of protecting Android and partners, and 2) spin-off the HW group. See more at the About Mobility blog: http://wp.me/p5Y7q-12N
ceo
“Windows Mobile”??? Are these people stupid or they just take us for fools?
Bah, M$ is falling back on what they do best these days – kill innovation or buy innovators. Consumers have cast in their lot with Apple or Android to make it a two horse race.
Everyone else is a fringe player. M$ may at best become the new 3rd place RIM replacement when developers realize they arent pulling in the market share!
Besides who really thinks M$ will make inroads on Android or iOS?
I will ask this again. You would jump ship for the most popular smartphone OS in the US and the world that is free and you can modify it to differentiate it from other Android phones….to go to a WP7 that has a license fee and is going to look just like every other WP7 manufactured….why? And as a smartphone consumer…if you want a locked down UI and mindless interface you buy and iPhone. If you don’t you buy and Android. You buy a Windows Phone 7 why?
Because as a consumer, I like wp7’s look & feel better, that’s why. Android always seemed like a cheap knockoff of iOS and I already wasn’t a fan of that app-centric GUI. (Crisp looking water droplets though). I don’t think in terms of “apps” as a consumer. I think in terms of “functions”, in terms of “what do I want to do?” — not “what app do I need to open in order to do what I want to do?” I think the wp7 GUI is attempting to work in the way I want to think. Is it there? Well, it’s close. Or, at least, it’s the closest I’ve seen in, let’s say, ever. And I think a lot of people, especially non-tech-minded folks, would rather approach tasks in the same way: “what do I want to do?” and just not worry at all about them thar “app” things.
The one advantage to Windows 7 phones is totally seamless syncing with Outlook (contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, email) without needing Exchange. No Android phone will do that without the addition of lots of software.
People still use Outlook in this days?
I got my first WP7 device this past April (the HTC Arrive on Sprint) and updated it to the developer version of Mango (OS version 7.10.7712.60) and its wonderful.
I have used a 3rd generation iPod Touch for a good deal of time before I got my Arrive (had a Treo 755p before and loved it) and think WP7 and iOS are both so stable that calling one more stable than the other is really splitting hairs. I just don’t see how Android can last given how unstable and clunky it is. People will realize they should not have to settle for bad battery life and a great lack of fluidity and will stop buying Android devices if there is some viable competition other than Apple.
That’s where WP7 comes in, for people who have actually used it, you can see why IDC and Gartner’s predictions make sense. WP7 provides a totally unique and seamless experience. I can get to the information I need much faster in WP7 than I can in iOS. The real key is that WP7 is that it puts your information above all else, while iOS puts your apps above all else.
I think WP7 strikes a good balance between Android’s open and customizable model and iOS’s closed and structured model. With the iPhone, you are guaranteed a solid and unified experience but everyone’s iPhone is the same (except backgrounds, ringtones, and app variety/placement). Android provides a totally open experience with infinite opportunity for customization but at the cost of stability and battery life. WP7 brings a closed, fluid, and stable architecture like iOS and combines it with the customizability of Android. The result is a strikingly useful phone that is still uniquely yours.
Microsoft has also proven they are willing to innovate (and spend the money to do so). While they should have had more updates in the first year the phone was out, the update from NoDo to Mango is truly striking. It brings an incredible amount of features and upgrades to WP7. I would argue its more significant than any single Android or iOS update has been. While Mango is still missing a few features (very few) it has for the most part brought WP7 up to date with iOS and Android. If Microsoft keeps their pace, the next update to WP7 (beyond Mango) is going to offer way more than iOS or Android do.
Microsoft does have some problems that need to be worked out, though. For one, they need to adjust the marketing for the product so it truly highlights how quick and usable the phone is, they need to showcase its Office abilities (which are admittedly quite limited), Xbox Live, and its Facebook integration (which is, BTW, a quantum leap beyond iOS or Android’s Facebook offerings). They also need to get phone sales people on board so they don’t steer them toward Android or iOS devices. Additionally, WP7 needs more apps and higher quality apps. This will take time, but Mango brings the potential for developers to create great apps for the Marketplace and Microsoft’s developer network will certainly help push the process along.
As far as ecosystems go, if Microsoft wanted to (and i’m sure they will within the coming year or so) they could wipe the floor with iOS. Not only can iOS devices not interface with each other (why can’t I text from my iPad?) but Apple really has nowhere else they can go. Microsoft, on the other hand, has so many possible synergies its baffling. For one, Skype integration will come to WP7 in a short period of time and it is certainly more potent that Facetime. Microsoft has already announced plans to interface the Xbox 360 with WP7. They can also integrate it with Windows 7 (more likely with 8) which still captures the vast majority of the market. They can also integrate it with Office, Office 365, Exchange, Sync, XBL, Zune, SharePoint, Silverlight, .Net, XNA and so many others. Microsoft certainly has the money and talent to do it and the sheer breadth of options is stiffing.
What excites me most about WP7 is the potential. As I mentioned above, Microsoft has the resources, talent and above all else the synergistic potential to create a truly dominate platform. Mango proves theyre willing to go the extra mile for WP7, the Skype acquisition and the Nokia deal shows they are willing to spend the money, and based on my experience with it, it is already better than iOS and Android. Microsoft certainly has a long way to go but I believe that in the long run, the quality of the platform and the possibilities it will bring to life will speak for itself.
I was with Windows Mobile for 5 years. After awhile I decided that it just couldn’t keep up with some of the other smart phones on the market. I decided I didn’t want an I Phone because it seemed to be to limited despite the amount of apps it has available. I knew that the best choice for me was Android. I love Samsung’s S amoled screens so I was to get a Galaxy S device. Soon after I heard that MS was to come out with a successor to Win Mo 6.5, which was just to outdated for me, called Windows Phone 7. I was skeptical of windows Phone 7 because of the lack of support MS had displayed with Win Mo 6.x. As time went on, while I waited for my upgrade, I read more and more about this new and upcoming OS from MS and I began to really get exited about it. It finally came out and the reviews were very positive. This was my chance to be outside of the box of not only IOS but also the growing Android trend. I wanted to be cutting edge so I set my mind on WP7. I finally upgraded and chose the Samsung Focus, which is kin to the Samsung Galaxy S line. I have to say that it is one of the best decisions I have made. This OS is the most fluent and responsive I have tried out so far. It has the most modern look and feel of any user interface you can get. Thousands of apps are available, although not as many as IOS or Android yet, but you won’t be missing any of the ones that you really need and want. These aren’t just apps they are some of the best quality apps that have been custom made for this beautiful new interface. Once you see a WP7 app, let’s say E bay for example, you will wish your phone had WP7’s version of it because it utilizes the metro look and feel of WP7. The applications, this fall, will be able to “connect” data to each other, another Windows Phone 7 first of many innovations.
Some other must have features included in every Windows Phone 7 device are live tiles that update themselves automatically, a Xbox fully installed on each device, MS office, including word, power point, excel and share point, a Zune player fully installed on each device, full Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn integration on each device etc. Notice I said “each device” because Microsoft wants everyone to experience the best of WP7.
Times change and nothing good last forever. If you are to devoted to your current OS and aren’t even interested in seeing what Windows Phone 7 is about you could get stuck in the past with a 5 year old UI format. WP7 is the future of smartphones! If you don’t believe me pick a functioning device up and give it a whirl. I bet your first reaction will be that your device seems to have a more outdated look and feel to it and your second reaction will be how easy and fluid Windows Phone 7 really is in comparison.
Good job team Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft for going the extra mile with these phones. I am so proud to be a part of the newest revolution in mobility.
Microsoft’s ascendency in PC world can certainly be not denied just like of Google’s and Apple’s ascendency in mobile, but in regard to Microsoft salvage for Windows Phone, it needs to work real hard according to this article http://radiomobiletech.com/blogposts/microsoft-is-on-the-move-to-make-the-windows-phone-%E2%80%9Ca-hit%E2%80%9D.html A pessimist might call it a dead platform but once Microsoft would come up with all the right ingredients, it can strike the masses.
east and west iphone is the best.
try iphone 4s.