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Microsoft moves away from PC roots with Windows Phone 7 Series
Added : 22nd February 2010
Devices featuring new OS to be commercially available by Christmas; Orange, AT&T show support.
Microsoft on Monday unveiled the latest incarnation of its mobile phone operating system, Windows Mobile 7 Series, in what was a clear attempt to put previous, PC-like versions of the OS behind it.
The crowds gathered at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on to witness Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveil the new OS.
Windows Mobile 7 Series "is clearly differentiated from our past," Ballmer bellowed in characteristic style.
"Our plan is to have [the new] Windows Phone in the market by the end of this year, for holiday season 2010," he pledged.
The new system, which centres on "hubs" designed for specific tasks, was demonstrated on a prototype device by Joe Belfiore, VP at Windows Phone, who took great pains to explain that while certain ways of interacting and using content work well on a PC, that is not necessarily the case in the mobile space.
For example, Windows Mobile 7 Series' People Hub aggregates social networking and email contacts, from Facebook, Windows Live, webmail accounts and the like, enabling the user to interact with their friends across multiple media through a single application.
Belfiore also walked his audience through the Pictures Hub, the Office Hub, the Music & Video Hub, and the Games Hub.
"We're bringing the XBox Live services and XBox Live games to Windows 7," Belfiore said, explaining that the software giant's gaming platform is incorporated into the Games Hub.
Similarly, the Music & Video hub incorporates Microsoft's Zune music player. "[Every Windows 7 phone] will be a Zune," as well as being capable of running third-party applications and services, said Belfiore.
7 Series also extends into the handset's hardware. Every Windows 7 mobile phone will have a touch-screen plus three physical buttons on the front: 'start', 'search', and 'back'.
"[The goal is to] make the hardware and software work in unison," Belfiore said.
Although Microsoft has no Windows 7 devices to show at present, Ballmer took care to highlight Microsoft's need for vendor and operator partners, insisting that the new OS is a step forward in the way it works with its partners.
"We want to see lots of different form factors in Windows Mobile phones," the CEO said, a comment which, given Microsoft's recent performance in the smartphone space, could have sounded slightly desperate... particularly when he followed it up by pointing out that Microsoft is keen to "step back a couple of years," and "recast and reform".
Nonetheless, the company made sure it had the support of the operator community at the event.
"With Windows 7 we will be able to democratise the smartphone," said Olaf Swantee, head of Orange's global mobile business. "Together we can get more and more people to the mobile Internet."
Similarly, David Christopher, CMO for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, added his support.
AT&T is looking to provide the broadest range of smartphones to its customers, he said. "Windows Phone will be a significant part of that strategy."
The reaction from within the auditorium was less enthusiastic: the cheers and whistles felt more than slightly forced - particularly when compared with something like an Apple event, say – and by the time Ballmer got to Q&A the room was half empty. But then again it has been a long day here in Barcelona.
By reinventing Windows Mobile, Microsoft has done what it needed to do to stand a chance of competing in the smartphone space. But it is too early to tell whether it has done enough, soon enough.
By Mary Lennighan, Total Telecom, in Barcelona
Monday 15 February 2010
