Many pundits have written Microsoft off in the mobile platform wars, but based on what I heard during a Windows Phone 7 session at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat 2010 conference in San Francisco at the beginning of the week, I am here to tell you that Windows Phone looks promising.

First and most importantly, Microsoft has learned lessons from its Windows Mobile strategy. In allowing several device makers to develop devices for Windows Mobile, it made the platform more widespread but also made it fragmented and hard to control (by the way, Android is following a similar strategy with a few differences today). Going forward, Microsoft says, it will work with device makers to design phones around a certain hardware specification. This will make the Windows Phone operating system tightly integrated with the hardware – akin to Apple’s iPhone, although the difference in this case is that the phone will not be manufactured by Microsoft itself.

The user interface looks interesting — Microsoft has done a number of innovations to differentiate itself from the crowd. Most noteworthy are its “Metro” theme (font that looks similar to signs on a train station or an airport) and its concept of tiles. A tile can be an application, a group of applications, or even a favorite contact — with additional information such as notifications and messages. For example, someone who likes to follow where their friends are through Foursquare’s mobile check-in app could designate a Foursquare tile that would show recent friends’ check-ins without the need to launch the application. The platform also lets developers choose between “panoramic” or “pipe” interfaces. In a panoramic interface, a user can swipe the window to see additional information. For example, in the People application, a swipe to the right could show recent activity with people you’ve marked as your favorites.

Windows Phone’s capability to offer a mobile version of Microsoft’s Office can be one of its most powerful weapons. Despite efforts by several companies to offer Office-like tools, Microsoft Office is still the most dominant productivity suite on the planet, and while web apps such as Google Docs can be a potential replacement, they haven’t caught up yet.

Then there are the games. If you think Android can catch up with iPhone on gaming, wait until you see Xbox Live on the Windows Phone. Based on one of Microsoft’s most successful product launches in recent history, the XBox Live capability would instantly enable Windows Phone users to play games with Xbox Live users across devices, and thus could attract a huge XBox fan base.

To double as a music player, Windows Phone will act as Zune — a product that never caught up with Apple’s iPod, but is nevertheless a welcome addition to the device. It’s worth mentioning that Android devices have no decent solution to organize and sync music, so Zune should give Windows Phone a significant edge over Android in this respect.

To help users discover applications, Windows Phone will offer high-visibility spots to certain apps – although it’s not clear whether app developers will have to pay for the placement or if it will be based on other factors. Microsoft could possibly offer a few sponsored spots – but that could end up hurting the developer ecosystem. The app store will also display a featured app as a wallpaper, which is a unique way of promoting an app and also looked cool in the demo.

So far so good for Windows Phone 7. But there are a number of things that could go wrong.

In contrast to what GogaOM reported, the Windows Phone’s senior product manager told me that the cloud syncing capability — a feature that I was most looking forward to — is only rudimentary when compared to Kin’s Studio, which allows seamless over-the-air syncing of photos, music and video, contacts, and other content. Studio is a powerful concept — and truly could give an edge to Windows Phone. Android, although very good at syncing contacts with Google address book, has little support for syncing media, and iPhone only offers such support with its paid MobileMe subscription. It’s difficult to see why Microsoft would let go of such a powerful feature. Could this be a sign of persisting organizational problems that killed the Kin?

Speaking of organizational problems, they could be the one of biggest hurdles in Windows Phone’s success. The launch has already hit several delays and any further delays could be fatal. Moreover, several device makers, such as Motorola and HTC, have declared strong support for Android, and it’s doubtful they’ll dedicate enough resources for Windows Phone anytime soon. Samsung, which has been relatively slow on Android, seems like the right choice for Microsoft. It is also not clear at this point how different manufacturers will differentiate their devices given that they would all have to follow strict hardware specifications provided by Microsoft.

On to the app front, since Microsoft is so late in the “superphone” and mobile apps game, it will have to launch with compelling preloaded apps, either developed internally or via close partnerships with players like Facebook and Foursquare (which it is already doing). Only then could it attract a substantial base of users, in turn enticing developers to build more apps for the platform. Some developers might even turn to Windows Phone to get early lead as they see little chance of breaking through all the noise in the overcrowded app stores on Android and iPhone platforms. And of course, Microsoft’s intention to pay cash incentives to developers to develop for its platform, could make developers switch — but it’s again not clear how sustainable such strategy could be.

Microsoft has proven time and again that it can come back strong, and if there was ever a time to come back strong in the mobile market, it’s now. The platform has several real strengths, but the company will have to avoid organizational and strategic missteps, hit the target dates (expected to be this holiday season), and fully execute on the vision if it’s going to get itself squarely in the game.

Tags: Windows Phone 7

Companies: microsoft

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Filed under: Gaming, iPhone

TUAWGame Center gets a new look originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

For all of his exceptional qualities, part of Woz’ popularity these days lies in the fact that he is really the prototypical Apple fan — he stands in line like everyone else, he postulates about Steve Jobs’ condition, and he loves the products just as much as we do. So when even Woz admits to having reception issues with his iPhone 4, then you know it’s a real problem. In an interview with a Dutch journalist, Woz says that he’s been experimenting with the death grip and reception along with the rest of us. “I concluded that the effect only occurs in some places,” he says, “It’s like the AT&T dead zone has been extended with this new phone.”

Of course, unlike most of us, Woz usually always carries a backup phone or, you know, three. And even though he’s experiencing the dropouts and the issues, he’s still impressed enough with the hardware that the device in general “is worth the care in holding it.”

Still, Woz is the prototype for most of us Apple fans, and if even he is having the same issues that we all are, it must be time to hold a press conference. I’m sure Woz will be waiting and watching along with the rest of us tomorrow morning.

[via TechCrunch]

TUAWWoz having reception problems, too originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

Upgraded your iPhone and iPad to 4.0.1 and 3.2.1? You will not be able to develop for those devices until you download the newly posted 4.0.1 SDK from Apple’s developer website. This is a production version of the SDK and should be installed separately from the beta 4.1 SDK that was announced yesterday. Instructions for installing SDKs in multiple folders can be found here.

Thanks, Erik Madsen

TUAW4.0.1 SDK ready for download originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPad

On the heels of the iOS 4.0.1 update, the iPad software has been updated to version 3.2.1. The update notes:

• Improved Wi-Fi connectivity
• Fixed an issue that stops the copy/paste of single-page PDFs in Mail
• Addressed issues that causes video playback to freeze
• Improved reliability involving the video-out using the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
• Added Bing to Safari’s search options

The update is compatible with both iPad Wi-Fi and 3G, and is now available through iTunes. Hook up your iPad, then click the Update button on the Summary tab to update the software. Enjoy!

TUAWiPad 3.2.1 update released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software Update, iPhone

Within the last few minutes, iOS 4.0.1 has become available for download. According to the release notes, the software “improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display.”

The update works with iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4. To install, simply sync your iPhone to iTunes and click the Update button on the Summary tab for your device. The download took about 7 minutes on my broadband connection, with further time required for the installation. TUAW will be posting further information about the efficacy of the update as soon as possible.

Update – After installing 4.0.1 on my iPhone 4, this blogger saw his maximum signal strength at his location peak at 4 bars, as opposed to 5 bars previously. Applying the “grip of death,” the signal strength dropped to 1 bar but a call to a fellow blogger never dropped. Further tests coming.

TUAWiOS 4.0.1 Software Update is available for download originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s time once again for the Federal Communications Commission to consider its broadcast ownership rules. That means another huge petition from Clear Channel Communications calling for the elimination of any restrictions on the number of radio stations that the company can buy.

Why? The Internet.

“Today, terrestrial radio stations compete not only with their local peers but also with the growing panoply of regulated and unregulated competitors at the local, regional, and global levels,” Clear Channel writes. “These competitors use new technologies and services to deliver music, entertainment, and news in formats and on platforms that today’s audiences demand. Many of these outlets did not exist in 1996, and several were in nascent stages in 2006; today, satellite radio and internet-based services are robust competitors to terrestrial radio stations.”

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Well, it may not come as a huge surprise considering all the steam Android’s picked up over the past few years, but it’s a landmark nonetheless: according to AndroLib’s data, the Market now has 100,000 apps available for download. It’s also interesting to note that it took just under three months to get from 50,000 to the 100,000 mark. An even more impressive number, however, is the fact that over one billion applications have been downloaded. While it’s not clear if this number includes app updates or not, the number is massive either way, and they’re growing pretty steeply each month. AndroLib’s data also notes that over 14,000 applications became available during the month of June, and over 10,000 have appeared already in July. Hit up the source links for more stats, and a chance to see the numbers update in real time.

[Thanks, Eggo]

Android Market now has 100,000 apps, passes 1 billion download mark originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ericsson — one of the world’s top-tier infrastructure suppliers for mobile networks — has crunched some numbers recently, figuring the five billionth cellphone line came into existence last Wednesday, July 8, largely from major surges in uptake in emerging markets like China and India. Mobile broadband access (which we take to mean access to 3G speeds and beyond) still trails significantly at just 360 million in 2009, though they’re predicting a cool 3.4 billion users by 2015. To put things in perspective, Ericsson points out that we were at 720 million mobile lines in 2000 (and about 2.7 billion in 2007), so that’s some pretty spectacular growth over the decade — particularly considering that we’re coming up on the Earth’s population now. Of course, we don’t know what happens when the world finally has more mobile subscriptions than it has humans — but need we remind you that 2012 is drawing near? Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Ericsson estimates mobile lines have hit 5 billion, gives shout out to China and India for the help

Ericsson estimates mobile lines have hit 5 billion, gives shout out to China and India for the help originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, we get it. There’s a problem with the iPhone’s antenna. But was the open letter to Jobs calling for a “clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem” and a “public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge” really necessary? What, you don’t have better things to do? The full press release (and the Senator’s letter) is after the break.

Continue reading Senator Chuck Schumer writes open letter to Steve Jobs, world is officially doomed

Senator Chuck Schumer writes open letter to Steve Jobs, world is officially doomed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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