Windows Phone 7 Wishlist #3

There are two things I am looking forward to in a big way, but not on my wish list (because these will be realized for sure):

1. The upgrade to HSPA+ in my area, and,
2. The Windows Phone 7 first update.

I’ll get to my wish list in a moment.

I am stuck on the Edge service network because of my locale. The towers were upgraded months ago, but one of the partners in the carrier network (not mine) have equipment and services and software older than bunk and they can’t flip the switch until everyone’s ready. This is going to happen in days and I can’t wait until I’m pulling down 7Mbps on my phone.

I have a Samsung device and have not yet received the update. I’m not sure if it’s a candidate thing, or a rolling update thing, or even if my carrier is blocking it (I’ve heard all three) but I am looking forward to the pre-update update that is currently in the works, especially as it paves the way for The-Big-One in the next few weeks.

I wondered here if my carrier might be blocking the update, but I don't think that could really be the case. The phone checks for updates, likely directly to a WP7 service, and the device itself is updated through the Zune software on PC.

Here’s My List

• I would like a way to search my text messages. This is present in mail, so it seems like it’s not too far fetched in texts. I had someone text me the phone number of my friend ‘Mike’, but I couldn’t remember who sent it to me. The text was something like “Hey Mike’s new cell is…” so I should have been able to find it fairly easily.
• I would like an editor for my alarms and ring tones. Build it into Zune, or make a Windows Live ZuneTone application that you can download and make your own ringtones and alarms. Let me set cues for vibration. Let me shift pitch and even layer multiple audio tracks. Let me share it through Zune or Live or something with my friends.
• A first-party, no frills sound recorder. The same level of function as the one built in to Windows 7. In fact, I would love it if I could also use the audio jack as a line in to record. I volunteer on a regular basis and work the sound board (or at least help) and I hate lugging around a laptop to record the audio.
• Because I feel as strongly as I do about this, I’m going to say it again: Canadians want to pay for their content. Please make Zune Pass available in Canada. If this plea doesn’t work, I’m going to track down folks at MIX11 and talk to them in person! ;o)

I have a couple of other items on my list, as mentioned previously:

• Windows Phone Wishlist #1
• Windows Phone Wishlist #2
• Dear Microsoft: Give us Zune

How Microsoft Will Win in the Mobile Phone Space

It’s no joke. Microsoft is finally in a place where they can and will compete hard with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform. As possibly the first company to figure out what it means to compete in this space – and certainly the first with real dollars to back their game – Microsoft has a big chance to win with Series 7.

Lessons from Xbox

Microsoft came to the table with a gaming system in 2001 with some good juice. More than anything, they wanted to focus on making the developer story better than what was out there. They faced criticism on the size of the console, on the noise, on the size of the controller (which I loved, btw), on pretty much everything…but slowly they won developers over.

By the time the Xbox 360 hit the streets, developers were singing the praises of development on the platform while Sony executives were just waiting for “smarter” developers who actually understood their technology to come along. In the first months of the Xbox 360 release, it became apparent that Microsoft was going to be the console that catered to the people who made games.

Interestingly enough, it seems as though Sony’s going to abandon the technology of the PS3 on their next console because we developers just ain’ts gots the smarts.

The biggest win was differentiation with the 360, not from other players, but from themselves. They reinvented what a product could like coming out of Redmond and it paid off in droves. It was rumoured that early designs were tested against focus groups without the branding, and almost no one was able to identify the manufacturer as Microsoft.

Lessons from Windows Mobile

You can can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Especially if the water is acid and no one in the world wants to ride the horse anyways. And even more so because if you did want anyone to ride the horse, you had to make your own saddle and figure out a way to distribute the saddle on your own. And don’t expect any revenue.

RIP, Windows Mobile.

The development story was crap. Web service (cloud) integration was turd. Some level of expectation for hardware was non-existent, and you were just short of a demi-god if you could figure out how to get your app found. And unless you were a wizard-code-ninja working at HTC, good luck at making anything look good.

While Apple was making millionaires out of fart-generator authors, there were very few success stories in the fragmented, challenged development story on the Windows Mobile platform. Too many devices. Not enough support for developers. Little to no ‘dogfooding’ of the devices and content. Limited interim builds. Late and abandoned features and release dates. Inconsistent programming libraries.

And they’re leaving it all behind. I hope.

Where the Winner Is

I give it two years. In two years Microsoft will be shipping as many units as Apple. I am pretty confident in that number because of the lessons Microsoft should have learned from above.

That sentiment is furthered because of how they came through with Windows 7.

The argument is strengthened even more with the working prototype they put forward at Mobile World Congress.

Hubs are the new pages and clean is the new UI. Apps will be alive and the touch will be a productivity feature and user benefit rather than a scrolling gimmick.

What most people don’t realize is how much work Microsoft has actually done in this space. Apple didn’t invent the wheel here (I’m not say MS did, by the way). Tablets, touch screens, mobile devices…Microsoft has done so much wrong in this space for over a decade that they’ve learned everything you’re not supposed to do, and the very few, straight-forward things you need to do in order to compete.

But where they will really shine is in supporting developers.

By moving to XAML and enabling millions of developers already on the .NET platform to develop media-rich, touch-rich, dynamic applications from within the world’s number one IDE, Microsoft is set to roll a new story for what mobile applications can be (hint: not just fart generators).

Oh yes, if you want to develop applications that will run on millions of phones with an incredible user experience, standardized hardware and an open development platform, there’s an app for that.

It’s called Visual Studio 2010, and it will be the Achilles heel of the iPhone development story.

Microsoft Just Seriously Kicked Apple in the Nads

I am not joking.

If you’ve used a Zune HD – not just mocked it because it’s from Microsoft and because you love your iPod and have never actually used a Zune HD but it must suck because it’s not from Apple (all hail Steve) – then you know that they (Microsoft’s Zune HD team) have seriously got a pulse for how things should look and feel and work.

Well, that’s what they are bringing to Series 7, the new name and face of Windows Phone. It is freeking nuts.

The concept is a paradigm shift for anyone…well, anyone who uses a phone. We’re talking multiple pages of any-direction scrolling that actually makes sense and gives you a complete sense of being awesome.

Plus, it’s awesome.

The user interface is arranged as a series of canvases that allow you to finger your way around them. The canvas is bigger than the screen, and you just push it around to get where you’re going.

It is elegant, modern and by all early signs it is also fast, responsive and built to compete. Hard.

Another way to think of the user interface is the Xbox Live dashboard, optimized for touch. Heck, why stop there? IT HAS XBOX LIVE BUILT THE FREEK IN.

A good review of the upcoming game-changer is here:

http://gizmodo.com/5471805/windows-phone-7-series-everything-is-different-now?skyline=true&s=i

Here’s a snip:

The result is a feat no phone has performed before: Making the iPhone's interface feel staid.