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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

The old idea where Microsoft bases an operating system on central pillars? It’s back, and with a complete refocus of priorities. Looking back, the original pillars of Longhorn were Avalon (WPF), Indigo (WCF), and WinFS, as well as the pseudo-pillar which was referred to as “Fundamentals.”

No longer does Microsoft’s basis for an operating system focus on key architectural developments such as the various frameworks of yore. Now, it seems, pillars are at least tentatively being redefined as design and usability concepts upon which to build the operating system.

Over the next five days, I’m going to spend some time on AeroXP presenting to you the separate pillars upon which the Windows 7 experience (and indeed, Windows 7 as a whole) will be built. What you’ll see are the five pillars of Windows 7 and the specific scenarios which the Windows team plans to enhance. Wherever possible, I’ll enhance the scenario depictions with visual aids (read: screenshots). The first pillar is after the jump.

Pillar One: Specialized for Laptops

To put it simply, Microsoft is looking to simplify the experience the average user has with Windows on a laptop. Vista came with a number of improvements over XP for laptops (most notably wireless connections) and a number of flaws (battery life). Is it a surprise that they’d task themselves with improving some of these usage scenarios even more?

• Data security is as obvious as it sounds, and then some. Beyond simply securing data, one current aim is to secure data in such a way that if, hypothetically speaking, a file were to be moved outside the scope of a domain to which it is secured, the file would still only be readable to authorized users. No specifics here, but if I’m to give a prediction, I’d say that some sort of authentication (and encryption, if necessary) system will be employed within the file system for the portable media.
• Responsiveness is another target. In Vista, SuperFetch helps frequently used applications load much faster than applications which are used only occasionally by preloading the frequently used applications into RAM. The target now seems to be to broaden that (admittedly rare) snappiness in Windows Vista to other experiences such as web browsing, media applications, and the overall Windows Experience.
• Touch and Tablet usability will split the focus away from a solely mouse-and-keyboard experience to a combination of m/k and touc/gestures. User Interface changes such as larger touch targets (larger taskbar, taskbar buttons, and start menu perhaps) as well as improved handwriting accuracy are two of the focal points for this particular scenario. What you heard about Microsoft bringing Surface components into Windows 7 is spot-on; this is where Surface research may have its biggest influence.
• Wireless Connectivity improvements will focus on Windows Vista’s already outstanding Wi-Fi model and make it more reliable and even easier to use/implement. No specifics here, but it will likely be tweaked to provide the seamless transitions emphasized by the next scenario.
• Working on Demand emphasizes simultaneous access to the internet, local, work, and home resources without interruption for more time spent working and playing as opposed to preparing to work and play. Heavy use of wireless connections such as WiMAX and 3G while roaming and Wi-Fi while local serve as a reasonable expectation, so expect your mobile carriers to start jacking up their prices to match!
• Power Management is perhaps the toughest task for the Windows 7 team, as it encompasses all of the pillars with a focus on maximizing hardware efficiency. This will likely be implemented in conjunction with energy efficient hardware specifically designed for Laptops or mobile usage, such as the low voltage processor lines from Intel.

Tomorrow’s pillar will be less localized to the client machine itself than this first pillar. Keep an eye out for the second in this series at around the same time.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Next>>