14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer was on stage for just a minute before he invited over Joe Belfiore, vice president, Windows Phone. No time was wasted, and Belfiore started demonstrating the next generation of Windows Mobile operating system and associated devices, namely Windows Phone 7. At the time of this article, the Windows Phone VP was continuing to demo Windows Phone 7, under the mantra 'your phone is not a PC.'
The promise from Microsoft is that Windows Phone 7 is positioned as hubs for the owners’ entire life, work, play, social networking, media, all in a single device. This is why there will be no less than six general focus points for Windows Phone 7 devices, namely People, Pictures, Games, Music and Video, Marketplace and Office.
“There is a unique relationship between people and their phones,” stated Senior Vice President Andy Lees of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business. “It’s the one piece of technology they have with them all the time, keeping them connected to information, family, friends and coworkers. The journey we’re starting now is about helping people connect with their mobile lives in a fresh, new way.”
Belfiore just ended his presentation with a video which took a swing at Apple. Essentially, Microsoft called on Apple for building nothing more than a phone that’s slightly better than what was already available, just as the rest of the industry, and that frustrates users by focusing on applications instead of the phone experience. In this context, Microsoft presented Windows Phone 7 Series not just as the next stage for the evolution of smartphones, but as a new beginning altogether for the mobile devices.
The company emphasized that it was not trying to mimic PCs with Windows Phone 7, but that instead it was trying to build the next generation of smartphones. However, Windows Phone 7 does take away from the desktop, particularly Windows 7. The phone features multi-touch capabilities and rich multi-touch gestures that are consistent with the Windows 7 multi-touch capabilities, and the most advanced on a Windows Phone, which is also based on the desktop version of Internet Explorer (IE), with such innovations as text sub-pixel positioning.
All the Windows Phone 7 devices will be capacitive, touch-enabled, and all will feature three buttons on the front, Start, Search (Bing) and Back. This is one aspect of the Smart Design factor Microsoft invoked, which is a combination of hardware, software, and ‘delights.’ At the same time, all Windows Phone 7 devices will feature a deep, intimate social networking integration, with Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter, etc, but also with the Office suite, with a high degree of synchronization with the PC. The connection between Windows Phone and Zune was also revealed. Belfiore noted that “every phone will be a Zune, and will work like a Zune.”
Microsoft is currently working with OEM partners to deliver the first Windows Phone 7 devices in time for the 2010 Holiday season.
