No specifics on the official date on the Windows Phone 7 launch, but the groundswell of buzz is getting to amass newsworthy recognition. Last week Daily Tech reported that handsets sporting beta OS had found their way to developers for review. The early feedback was that Windows was spot-on with many key elements, but in other areas were vastly buggy or flat out just missing. Biggest complaints: no copy and paste and no multitasking. Biggest likes: home screen, picture quality and touch keyboard. Pocket-lint then broke the news of confirmed launch partners, which include Dell, Asus, Samsung, LG, and HTC, had all RSVP’d for the party.
It should be noted that all 5 companies are to have handsets available at launch, which is rumored to be September/October of this year. Microsoft’s senior product manager told Pocket-lint that at least five handsets would be available at launch, sporting both full-Qwerty and touchscreen configurations. In a more obvious and interesting statement, Sullivan also confirmed that Windows Phone 7 will not be carrier-specific, opting for Google’s Android route instead of Apple’s iPhone model. This is where the true meat of the story takes place. The funny part in that statement is that the original “model” that Google has is actually Microsoft’s old model, which some people forget. Microsoft has spent an asserted effort making the move to the clouds. The entire industry has. Mobile is going to be the absolute MUST play of all of the tech giants over the next 5 years.
Where Microsoft stands to have the largest advantage is in product. It’s product line isn’t going to be an easy move to the clouds, but its dominance in the space of online documentation allows them to have a card up their sleeves that Apple and Google simply don’t. Microsoft and Google haven’t played nice since Google made the firsts moves to take IT, documentation, email and mobile to the clouds. Apple and Google are in a battle for mobile devices and marketplace. Microsoft and Apple have no love lost either. This is a very interesting storm that has been brewing for the last 5 years. Mud is being thrown from all corners of the ring. The only certainty in the forecast: users stand to benefit greatly from the innovation and competition.
Microsoft is in full re-branding mode. Investing heavily in search with Bing taking over Yahoo! search a year ago would be an understatement. But has Microsoft spread itself too thin? Competing against Apple and Google for the mobile device and app marketplaces. Competing head-on with Google in search. Does Gates’s crew have what it takes? Fourth quarter numbers for Microsoft show net income of US$5.93 billion, increase of 49 percent over the same quarter a year prior. You be the judge.
Microsoft and the branding and/or re-branding they are doing across the entire fleet of their products can be boiled down to this simple phrase: sexy is in the eye of the beholder. You don’t post revenues exceeding US$16.04 billion in a quarter if someone doesn’t find you sexy.
The little darling that was the Apple is taking a couple of punches back from the schoolyard kids it bullied for the past 5 years. With the iPhone 4 antennagate issue, and tech pundits left and right making the switch to the Android, the balance of powers may be shifting. That is a very preliminary maybe. Apple has one thing to rest it’s head on it’s pillow at night: a superior mobile smartphone. Who’s to say that it’s going to stay the sexy play in the mobile smartphone space. Maybe smartphones are more like models than we ever thought. When it comes to ageless beauty, it’s clear Microsoft has kept its bikini figure longer than anyone.
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