Microsoft bashing is a sport, and criticism of the company will always ring out louder than praise, but the firm also has an uncanny knack for throwing cold water even on its own best efforts. This is particularly true in the mobile market, where it has always been on the back foot, and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 shows few signs of reversing its fortunes, despite its acknowledged technical progress. From the oft-delayed launch date to the oddly anachronistic renaming, the unveiling of the OS on which Microsoft’s wireless future relies has been mishandled, and these mistakes have obscured the fact that it takes the Windows mobile experience many steps ahead. Now that partners like LG are starting to offer insights into what Windows Phone 7 could offer in the real world, Microsoft has thrown a spanner in its own works again, by confining its new OS to just three core hardware designs, in the process ensuring that current Windows Mobile devices will not be able to upgrade.
Microsoft will not support upgrades from the current Windows Mobile 6.5, which has only been on commercially available devices for a matter of weeks. This means that users and carriers investing in flagship WinMo phones like the HTC HD2 this year will not be able to move to the new OS when it appears later this year ‘ which could deter some from upgrading at an early stage, further denting Microsoft’s market share. The main reason is that virtually no current Windows phones conform to the strict chassis guidelines that Microsoft is laying down for its new OS, to reduce time and cost to market, and deliver a consistent experience.
Incompatible releases are not a specific Windows problem. Phones running earlier Android releases are not upgradeable to the newer versions such as 2.1, and the quickfire issuing of new Android upgrades is causing developer and user confusion. But Android is on the up, while Microsoft is defending a dwindling platform, so its decision looks dangerous ‘ even though it argues that it has sacrificed over-the-air upgrades for a more dramatic leap forward in functionality terms with Windows Phone 7. ‘This really is a brand new OS,’ said one insider ‘ a judgement shared by many with early access to the platform.
But the fact is, however strong Windows Phone 7 is as a mobile OS, its improvements will be too little too late in the open source world, and in addition, the focus on three chassis designs is seen by many as over-prescriptive, at a time when Android is targeting every device format under the sun. Hardware partners, the most important being HTC and LG, will release their Windows handsets based on one or more of the reference designs, and the OS will not support alternatives. The advantages will be more consistency in the Windows Phone experience, creating brand identity; and reduced development cost for licensees. Downsides will be excessive restriction on vendors’ ability to differentiate.
The most important of the three chassis designs will certainly be the first, the unimaginatively named Chassis-1, as this will target top end phones and emerging new classes of mobile internet devices and smartbooks. This will be particularly important in the quest to gain niches for Windows that draw on its PC heritage rather than being crippled by it; and will be significant to LG, which has pledged about 50 Windows devices over two years and is particularly interested in the hybrid tablet/phone space.
According to details let slip by Microsoft Australia executives, Chassis-1 will be a reference design for smartphones and smartbooks with large touchscreens and fast processors. It is likely to specify the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, currently running at 1GHz and targeting a 1.5GHz release by year end, when Windows Phone 7 will also appear. Despite Microsoft’s declining mobile share and Qualcomm’s commitment to Symbian, Android and its own Brew, the partnership between the San Diego chip giant and Microsoft remains very close, and Qualcomm was the first to pledge support for the new Windows release in Barcelona last week.
Microsoft confirmed to APCmag.com that devices such as the HD2 will not be able to upgrade, even though that phone meets many of the design criteria set out in Chassis-1, such as the Snapdragon and 5-megapixel camera. However, as The Register points out, Chassis 1 has three physical buttons mandated, while HD2 has five. In addition, the HD2 lacks the dedicated search button that is specified in the Chassis 1 design. Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific mobile general manager, Natasha Kwan, said: ‘Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradeable.’
Coming after this design, Chassis-2 will be somewhat lower end, supporting a smartphone with a slide-out keyboard under the touchscreen display; while Chassis-3 will be a candybar design with Qwerty. These two mean Windows Phone 7 will cover all the main design formats dominating the smartphone high end, but the first will be the only one that really gives OEMs the opportunity to create differentiated products and steal a march on Android and Symbian, whose supporters are also moving quickly towards tablet designs and gigahertz-plus processors.
The decision to limit the chassis options and so guarantee a consistent level of performance and user experience is logical given Microsoft’s statements throughout 2009 that it would restrict the number of partners for Windows Mobile, presumably to those who regard the OS as sufficiently strategic to justify the licensing fees in an open source world. Quality not quantity is clearly the message for 2011, when release 7 will appear in products ‘ but it will face fierce competition from other platforms geared to the high end and reaching maturity at that time, notably MeeGo. Most importantly, all the phone systems will be seeking to achieve growth by crossing the void into the cutdown PC space – Symbian^4, future releases of the versatile Android, and of course iPhone OS, reaching upmarket via the iPad.
This will make it vital that some new and desirable devices appear with Windows, not just marginally differentiated handsets. LG will be the key partner here, with its program to release about 50 Windows Mobile products in the space of two years. Some of these will be in the emerging devices market, with plans for tablets and ereaders.
The Korean vendor has shown its first Windows Phone 7 smartphone prototype to product blog Engadget, which reported a high end handset with slide-out Qwerty keyboard, widescreen viewing and a slightly thicker shape than the Nexus One, made by HTC ‘ the other primary Windows phonemaker. Photos look somewhat like LG’s other trailblazing handset, the GW990, the first to run Intel’s Atom chip and the new MeeGo operating system from Intel/Nokia, though with mandated Microsoft features like the four buttons.
In its quest to have a greater share of the open OS smartphone market, LG is certainly keeping all its options open in platform terms, focusing on its strong credentials in multimedia, especially video, even if this means somewhat bulky form factors; and working closely with emerging options like Windows Phone 7 and MeeGo.
Meanwhile, LG will help propel the new Microsoft OS into other device categories, such as ereaders. When Microsoft announced a pre-emptive patent licensing deal with Amazon recently ‘ one that specifically referred to the latter’s Kindle ereader ‘ it sparked a wave of speculation that the software giant would create reference designs in this sector soon, to expand the remit of Windows Phone 7 (and make its name even more outdated).
LG could well be an early partner. It said last month that it was developing an ereader, and eventually a tablet, to challenge the Kindle and Apple iPad, and insiders indicate there will be Windows and Android versions. The first product should ship in April. LG will exploit its leadership in displays, and has been conducting extensive R&D in electronic paper and other screen technologies.