Windows Phone 7 Poised for Growth, Needs Key Features

Windows Phone 7, the latest mobile operating system flavor that Redmond-based software giant Microsoft brought to the market in 2010, is expected to enjoy steady growth during the ongoing year and beyond, though it would require for some key features to be included into the mix to guarantee its success.

In 2011, Microsoft is expected to expand the reach of Windows Phone 7 to CDMA users as well, which would help its growth in certain markets, and should also deliver some new, highly appealing features for Windows Phone 7 devices out there.

“CDMA phones are expected to arrive in early 2011, ensuring that WP7 devices are available on all four U.S. carriers, thus helping increase device shipments,” Al Hilwa, an analyst with IDC, wrote in a Dec. 29 research note, a recent article on eWeek reads.

“To bring the platform rapidly to a level of parity with other major mobile platforms, Microsoft will need to deliver several key features in the first quarter of 2011.”

Among these enhancements, we can count copy-and-paste or multitasking, as well as support for augmented reality apps through optimizing the hardware and through offering access to the necessary APIs to developers.

Some of these features might be included in the software update that Microsoft is reportedly preparing for the first quarter of the ongoing year, while others might arrive in a second update, a major one, set to land sometime during fall.

In case Microsoft manages to support the Windows Phone 7 platform as it should, there are great chances that it would turn it into one of the top two or three mobile OSes in the world in the next few years, at least this is what IDC believes.

“Down the road, Microsoft’s success will be measured by the speed at which it can broaden its country, carrier and device portfolios, and the pace of delivery of new capabilities in its software,” Hilwa stated.

During the first six weeks of availability on the market, Windows phone 7 managed to sell a number of around 1.5 million devices, though it seems that those were sales from manufacturers to mobile operators and retailers.

However, all points towards a fast growth of the platform. It already managed to reach a number of 5,000 applications in the Windows Phone Marketplace, enjoys a developer community that is 18,000+ strong, and has an increasing number of handset vendors sustaining it.

Windows Phone 7 is expected to prove successful on the long term, even if its current performance is shadowed by the large number off activations Android and iOS enjoy daily.

“It is precisely the broad launch and sure-footed execution that allows us to predict long-term success for WP7 at this early stage,” Hilwa added. “Microsoft’s aggressive developer management behind the scenes has been visibly effective in producing a compelling smartphone alternative platform in an otherwise crowded space.”