Too bad

Information Week says Windows Phone is likely headed for extinction:

Microsoft’s share of the smartphone market is plummeting at an alarming rate–so much so that the company’s last ditch effort to make an impact in mobility, Windows Phone 7, may be irrelevant by the time it manages to ship the much-anticipated Mango update and realize its partnership with Nokia later this year.

Mango’s debut should also coincide with the arrival of the first Nokia phones running Windows Phone 7, though Microsoft has yet to provide precise arrival dates for Mango or Nokia phones. Under a partnership announced last year, the Finnish phone maker is transitioning its entire smartphone line to Microsoft’s mobile OS.

Whether Windows Phone 7 is a legitimate player in the market by the time that happens remains to be seen. The current numbers suggest otherwise.

I was very proud of both my contribution and of the final product. I can’t speak for the iPhone but I have played with the Android enough to be convinced the Windows Phone has a better user interface. Barb has always said she didn’t want a fancy phone. She just wanted something really simple. I knew she wasn’t going to be very pleased when I got her one for Christmas. I was pretty sure she would eventually be happy with it but I had to get her something else to go with it or else I would be in trouble so I got her a Jeep. Now she loves the phone and she came up to speed on it really fast.

I now sometimes get a dozen or more text messages a day from her. With her previous phones the kids and I could sometimes get her to read text messages but sending them was exceedingly rare and usually accompanied with a bad mood. Now she even Tweets from her Windows Phone 7.

As I was leaving Microsoft in the middle of May I had some people inside and outside of Windows Phone who were in much better “positions to know” than I was tell me, “You are doing the right thing.” A lot of this was based upon the market acceptance of Windows Phone 7 as well as the crappy manager I had.

Microsoft might still pull it out but there are a lot of outside influences that Microsoft just doesn’t have that much control over like the number of external developers who support Windows Phone. And the carriers who might wonder why they are putting effort into supporting a smart phone with such a small percentage of the market.

It’s too bad. I think it’s a great phone and I’m look forward to the Mango update.

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6 thoughts on “Too bad

  1. Joe, while the situation isn’t ideal, I wouldnt count Windows Phone 7 out yet. Android’s in a heap of IP trouble, and although I’m an iPhone fan, Windows Phone 7’s interface has some genuinely original interaction models that are impressive. I hope that Nokia pulls it’s head out quickly and provides some good competition for all.

  2. Joe, I am confident that you did good work. Unfortunately, you can’t overcome some very bad strategic decisions that Microsoft made and is making currently. My belief is that Microsoft learned the wrong lessons in the past and may not be able to recover from its dysfunctional management structure.

  3. It looks to me like Microsoft is in roughly the same position that Apple was in at the height of the PC wars. At this point, it may not matter how good or bad the actual OS is, it’s still too little, too late. It’s about the apps and developers now – iOS and Android have already dominated that market, and I’m skeptical that Microsoft can get a foothold, no matter how much money they throw at it.

  4. I might get one if it’s not made in china. That’s one of the reasons I won’t buy an iphone. I’d write apps for it as long as it’s an open platform.

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