Wired has an interesting article on how the iPhone boosted smartphone sales for other manufacturers (most notably RIM and Palm). With the next version of the iPhone now released, you might be asking yourself
- What will Microsoft do to keep Apple from breaking into the enterprise smartphone market?
- Why haven’t I bought this new iPhone yet?
- What’s that pretty thing in the Crystal Ball?
Now might be a good time to analyze the potential impact Apple’s iPhone might have on Windows Mobile.
The current version of Windows Mobile is version 6.1… which is still based on Windows CE 5.2 despite the release of Windows CE 6.0 back in November of 2006, which is well over a year ago. Windows Mobile 7 will be based on either Windows CE 6 or a later version of Windows CE judging by its anticipated mid-to-late 2009 release. Since the last major Windows CE release, two iPhones have come along and, according to the people watching today’s WWDC keynote, eclipsed every smartphone in existence (we’ll disregard the argument that the iPhone is not a suitable enterprise tool for now).
Since the moment news of the first iPhone broke two Januarys ago, companies such as Meizu and HTC have tried to revamp the Windows Mobile interface with their own code, though only HTC has actually managed to push anything to the market. A number of threads discussing the new HTC Touch Pro have come and gone, with many people as-yet-unaffected by Mr. Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field seriously weighing the unreleased Touch (less so with its Diamond sibling) against the new iPhone and another HTC project, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.
The impact of the iPhone is already visible in the preparation of new user interfaces for both Windows Mobile and RIM’s Blackberry (the Bold UI). However, with the announcement that iPhone v2 will carry full Exchange support, the latest iPhone is also making an attempt to invade the enterprise smartphone realm, and third party innovations for smartphones in this department typically have a high FAIL rate in catching on, so it’s up to Microsoft to keep itself awake and running. HTC pulled a lucky rabbit from its proverbial top-hat, but HTC’s experience lies in what most people in the Orient prefer with their phones: glitz, glamour, and lots of overly pretty animated functions, menus, spinning icons, and other similar user interface clutterings enhancements which missed the Longhorn boat back in 2004.
This gets me to what I think Microsoft might be forced to do with Apple’s growling 2ft-tall-and-growing-fast presence in front of it.
Background Applications won’t go away. Even though Apple had a fun jab at how background applications eat battery power and performance, I personally don’t believe Microsoft will let background applications go the way of the dodo. Instead, Microsoft will likely make enhancements to how Windows Mobile manages background applications. This will save battery power (good!) while making it less likely that your phone will be infected with spyware (good!), while also preserving backwards compatibility (good, but not as enthusiastically good).
A revamped user interface will likely be issued with Windows Mobile 7. While this has already been discussed many times in the past, I personally think the new UI will be developed in tandem with Windows 7’s User Interface. We’ve seen Windows 7’s poorly executed touch demo at D6 (I’ll keep my 50 cents Steve, thank you), but I think that Microsoft will keep a similar but highly condensed touch-centric user experience for Windows Mobile 7 for two reasons:
- The iPhone has already made touch look cool, and with companies such as HTC pulling off some of the most ingenious touch interfaces , touch and gestures won’t be going away.
- Microsoft has a history of keeping things looking alike (and yet disjointedly different at the same time) for the sake of branding. Windows Mobile 6 had this mildly Vista-esque feel through the use of gradients and glossed elements. On the other hand, this is a phone. One of the problems some people have with the iPhone is that while the user interface is great, the time it takes to go from one place to another (despite the presence of the home button) can get a bit annoying with the animations and other UI tidbits in place. In consumer environments, a glitzy UI is great, but in snappy business environments when CEOs are jumping from cabs and limousines to business meetings in skyscrapers while trying to arrange that multi-million (or billion) dollar merger during the only 30 second time slot available in the elevator trip to the top floor, the last thing that is needed are animations which eat time.
With that in mind, Windows 7 might be less of a festival of motion than Windows Mobile 6.1 with HTC’s TouchFLO, with a new interface likely catering to both businessmen and consumers alike.
Accelerated Development might split priority between Windows 7 and Windows Mobile 7. Should the two systems share a similar user interface, seeing Microsoft split its resources down the middle for both Windows and Windows Mobile might not be the largest surprise. One of Microsoft’s most successful areas is within the corporate sector, and with the iPhone trying to barge in, Microsoft might be much more inclined than before to put more emphasis on Windows Mobile development. With connectivity becoming the ultimate focus for Windows 7, seeing a heavy emphasis on connectivity between Windows Mobile, 7 and Windows 7 might be less of a shock now than it might’ve been, say, three to six months ago. This doesn’t mean we’ll see Windows 7 launch in 2009, nor does it mean that Windows 7 will come before the second half of next year (but it might). All it means is that more teams might be devoted to Windows Mobile 7, with collaboration between both Windows and Windows Mobile development climbing much higher than ever before. This could also mean that a number of Microsoft’s Windows 7 “pillars” will carry over into Windows Mobile.
Mind you, all of this is my own mindless speculation. The iPhone is not a crystal ball, I can’t see into the future, and the phone in the ball is an HTC Touch Pro. If you have any other ideas as to which directions Microsoft might take with Windows Mobile, post! Comments are below, but before you post, here’s a dose of irony, courtesy of Paul Thurrott.
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1. Background applications: Apple announced that they’re adding a push-messaging service to the iPhone. It’s sort of pseudo-background applications. And it’s better because it’s a single system service, allowing for a more reliable platform, and potentially power and performance saving.
2. WinMo7 UI: It’ll be rubbish. Because that’s what Microsoft does. Rather than being known for UI consistency for branding, they’ve been known for all applications looking different and having nothing in common with one another. Look at Office 2007 and the XP and Vista UIs – it doesn’t fit in at all. Look at Windows Media Player! Then take a look at Pages, iTunes, even Office 2008. Apple can do UI consistency, Microsoft just can’t. Even their in-house teams ignore the Vista UX guidelines. They’ve got no hope when it comes to 3rd parties.
Also, WM7 tries to do too much. It has to be compatible with phones without a touch-screen, and those that do. Which is why you end up with a rubbish sort of compromise that leaves neither fulfilled. Apple actually have a UI philosophy for the mobile market, and hardware and software complement each other to pull it off.
Windows Mobile will fail because it has in the past. It’s had a massive long head-start over MobileOSX, and managed to make the smartphone market as dull and mundane as doing the dishes. There was hardly any profit in it, and both Microsoft and the hardware vendors were too weak to stand up to the carriers and push any sort of innovation through. The only time the smartphone market has been exciting, for user, developer, or investor, is once Apple got involved.
That’s why it’s no surprise that their large touchscreen form factor has been copied countless times on to various WinMo phones, who just don’t get it, and fail. They make them like white goods. Apple makes semi-luxury products. They think about their design, and do things for a reason, and try to be original at the same time. When you use an Apple product, you’re constantly amazed at how they thought of everything. With a product by one of these Korean plasticrap manufacturers, you keep getting disappointed, and keep lowering your expectations. And you hate your phone.
Also, it seems Paul Thurrott has learned how to copy images from MacRumors forums. Fancy that.
1. That’s kinda what I was thinking Microsoft should do: isolate all background services which request network access (things like IMs, etc.) to a single service while suspending all the rest that don’t need to communicate with things.
2. We can always hope.
You wrote it in a less-ciritical way than I would have. When I saw it, I immediately thought not that WM7 should have a better interface, but that it HAD to. I still think that. If Windows Mobile 7 intends to keep competitive with the iPhone, the current interface needs an overhaul. WM6 was good, but there’s potential for more. What would really help is an interface like Oragami. It might provide a nicer starting point. But that would be best if it were upped to a new base.
You don’t get it: WinMo can’t compete with the iPhone on a usability perspective. Microsoft have no input as far as the hardware side of things goes. So they need to develop two concurrent interfaces which are both uniquely suited to different types of hardware whilst still being perfectly compatible and providing an intuitive feel to applications. In other words, they need pixie dust.
The only way they could compete would be to start from scratch. You can’t keep compatibility with older applications whilst redesigning the UI to be intuitive and consistent. Because older apps couldn’t care less about intuitiveness or consistency. There was no competitor to WinMo, so they could get away with it. Now Apple has a new mobile platform built from day one to be easy to use, with no menus or anything you find on WinMo, and with a single task-based feel, similar to the way Mac OS works. They’ve gone from being the lone contender to being so far behind little short of the infinite power of Christ could save them.
Microsoft blew it massively. And it bugs me when people like whoever posted this continue to lap up Microsoft’s dirt. Yes, we’re a Windows-based site, but when Microsoft screw up, we shouldn’t ignore it and pretend they’re actually better.
Most people I know who use WinMo hate their phones. Every day they find some niggling task is not as they expect it – buried in menus and submenus. Jobs mentioned a 90% satisfaction rating for the iPhone, and frankly, I can believe it. I’ve never not known how to do something – it’s always obvious. Honestly, my 5-year old sister could use it. She was flicking through music on cover flow and taking photos after I left it within her reach for a few minutes. She’d need a PhD before she could use the N95 I was using a couple weeks ago.
“The only way they could compete would be to start from scratch.”
That’s the plan with WinMo 8.
My brother hasn’t complained with his BlackJack II; he seems to think its better than my friend’s BlackBerry Curve. Then again, his primary motivation in getting it was because it was one of the only decent(ly affordable) phones AT&T has with a keyboard. So it’s not like he’s doing much intense stuff on it – mostly text messaging, and some lite calendaring.
But in response to the hardware-control thing: That has been Apple’s advantage in multiple products. It’s easier to support 5 computers, each with only a few truly different configurations, than any combination of thousands of pieces of just core hardware. Therefore, its easier to concentrate on the more “fun” things in their OS, like the UI and still get it out the door quickly. Microsoft doesn’t have that advantage, and it’s pretty safe to say they never will. Meanwhile, Apple takes advantage of it every single chance they get. Its obviously working.
Wow..what a seriously biased article.. -_-
“Wow..what a seriously biased article.. -_-”
actually, it looks fine (other than the reality distortion field ref.)
better than Paul calling them “iCabal” anyway
I completely agree with Karl on this one. Apple has this battle wrapped up. Microsoft will never catch up with this. It’s just like their Zune vs. the iPod. I mean come on… Having an iPod now is a way of life for almost everyone I know, and Apple are doing it again with the iPhone. They are reinventing these products, and they completely destroy their competition! I’ve used and tried almost every phone on the market since last year. And the only one other than the iPhone that I really liked was the Blackberry 8830. Honestly RIM is the only competitor that has also created a superior device. Even the HTC Touch was nice, but using WinMO frustrates the hell out of me!!
Mobile Phones are not just cell phones anymore, they are becoming a neccesity. What made me buy the iPhone is I asked myself, why would I buy a new Sony Ericsson and buy a new iPod… when I can buy an iPhone and it has everything I need AND MORE! Anyways I’m heading on a rant here lol
Point being, Microsoft has lost this battle, and will never win it.
Personally I believe that Apple has taken over yet another part of the market.
Apple has basically vertically integrated everything seamlessly. They have their own phone hardware, operating system and what not and the same with the iPod. The iPod is Apple’s own hardware and firmware, they have iTunes which is designed to work specifically for the iPod and iTunes is tied into THEIT OWN music store, not emusic or napster. Apple doesn’t rely heavily on any other third party vendors for hardware or software for their devices, it is all their own products. This includes their laptops and desktops also! They only made OS X work on their hardware for a reason, it is much easier to design and keep reliable and compatable. They know every single inner working of everything they make which helps them keep every one of their products working flawlessy with one another (or at least most of the time) (OOOH watch out MS, I see a serious trend and problem forming here.)
On the other side Microsoft does have their own Zune hardware and firmware and the Zune player and the marketplace, they did a good job with the vertical integration thing there…but… when it comes to the smart phones or PCs, they can’t compete. Microsoft, as stated before, has to design a user interface for 2 totally seperate markets, the enterprise market and the general comsumer market. This basically means they have to design an OS that will work on the older click-a-button to navigate hardware and they also have to have it compatable with the newer touchscreen devices. Also along with those two setbacks they have to worry about the device itself, no two phones are the same. This is causing major heartache for them. People want a super intuitive and nice looking interface that just works flawlessly, just like apple. The problem here is that microsoft has to be worried about compatability and they aren’t focusing on the UI as much, the UI seems to be a last minute throw-it-together kind of operation. The problem here as stated before is that they have UI inconsistancy between all of their (or most) products and people get upset about this. Microsoft really needs a lot of luck and some “pixie dust” (as Karl said). The new WinMo ABSOLUTELY HAS to be revolutionary before we start to see diehard windows users moving to apple.
Personally I feel that Apple has bit the bullet and taken the risks they needed, they have come back from one failure in the past and they used their resources to get ahead. Microsoft on the other hand has tried to use the same tactics since the late 80’s and they aren’t willing to change and take the risks they need. I think personally that apple is going to have smart phone sales drop if MS can’t pull off the new windows mobile layout.
Personally I just bought a Blackberry curve over the Blackjack and the iPod, my reason…It was, in my opinion, easier to navigate and the UI made more sense to me, and I didn’t have 300.00 to spend on the phone with extra “bling”. I mean, A START MENU ON YOUR PHONE? Come on MS! You dont see the RIM OS having a start menu, you dont see apple placing a start menu on their phone. The phone UI should be categorized like the iPone and the RIM environments are. Place your most commonly used tools in front of you and have other categories for the more uncommon features.
meh. As much as ppl hype the apple product, I still think it’s overrated. iPod? I can get better mp3 player from Taiwan manufacturers (Sandisk makes good players as well as memory cards, as well does Samsung) that cost less than half of iPod. I don’t use phone other than to talk or SMS, thus I don’t see the need of a smartphone, thus I still prefer the old school Nokias.
@Karl – Office 2008 is all Microsoft, despite what you say.
At least nobody here thinks MS copied Apple with multitouch right?
The Office 2008 remark is bad editing – I originally had a remark about how Office 2008 integrates more in to OSX than Office 2007 does in to either XP or Vista. It ended up ambiguous because I removed half the sentence.
Microsoft can’t save WinMo. 3rd party applications are the problem. WinMo has to work on all sorts of hardware that Microsoft has little control over, so the applications need to work in lots of different environments – i.e. touch-screen based, keyboard based…etc. That means each application can’t take full advantage of the input methods on WinMo, whereas on the iPhone, they’re all designed to be used with touch. If Microsoft want to save the platform, they have to scrap all the 3rd party applications (and hence their competitive advantage), and work with tougher hardware restrictions (maybe even their own phone). But Microsoft has always been about business, and software licensing is much more profitable than full system design, so that’s the road they’ll choose to go down. Which will bring the same problems we have now, with the software not taking full advantage of the hardware, and hence offering a sub-par user experience. Oh, and then there’s the control over what software goes on the phone -you need a strong hand to force the device to go in the direction you want it to, for its own good.
It’s Microsoft trying to be all things to all people again. They don’t understand that if you don’t control the ecosystem, it’ll destroy itself. It’s anarchy. You need to think of it as constantly in a state of collapse, and you need to be active and strict in constantly propping it up.
iPhone is overrated, WinMo while admittedly not perfect does have plenty of niceties and the HTC products are wonderful and functional. Anything the ipod does well is available on WinMo, pocketplayer is awesome for mp3’s i daresay it has more functionality than the ipod. You can use your windows phone as a wireless access point (wifi router program), you can add all the touch functionality you want via several outlets. and google s2u2 for a sweet unlock program. So yes basically you get a somehat lackluster product but you can transform it into a true gem and tailor it specifically to your needs. The average consumer is just too lazy or incompetent to know this.