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Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 is chasing "Apple’s line"

updated 12:35 pm EDT, Mon April 12, 2010

 

MS admits WP7 will follow iPhone strategy


Microsoft's Charlie Kindel in a Dutch speech Sunday acknowledged that Windows Phone 7's development was similar to that of the iPhone. He was quick to acknowledge that the new mobile OS was often pursuing "Apple's line." While he tried to cast the decisions as coincidences, Kindel said that many of the tough choices in OS policy ended up mirroring those made for the iPhone and App Store.

Among the decisions so far have included dropping multitasking, a refusal to allow custom interfaces like HTC's Sense UI, and a requirement that all apps get approval before they reach the Windows Phone Marketplace. While introducing some of the most frequently cited drawbacks, they also carry side benefits such as fast, consistently available firmware updates.

Kindel added that Microsoft's feature addition strategy would, if unintentionally, also follow Apple. Windows Phone 7 will get copy-and-paste text soon after launch and multitasking in unspecified future updates. iPhone 4.0 will add multitasking this summer and will ironically support multitasking for months before Microsoft's latest platform.

In spite of the similarities, Microsoft still expects to have some advantages over the iPhone. Updates will come over the air rather than require a client download, Kindel said. He added that the app greenlighting process will be more transparent and set ground rules in advance rather than follow Apple's approach, where some developers have had apps posted to the App Store only to see them pulled after a sudden rule change.

Windows Phone 7 is a major gamble for Microsoft that Apple's approach of tight hardware and software integration can work in a device-independent OS strategy. Many have contended that the decline of Windows Mobile has stemmed from an overly strong dependence on carriers and phone makers, many of which either couldn't take advantage of features or else would never get updates as carriers and designers decided that the upgrade wouldn't be worth the effort. [via WMPowerUser]


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By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, industry, Microsoft, htc, Windows Mobile, App Store, mobile phones, Apple, Windows Phone, Windows Phone Marketplace

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Previous Comments

  1. Flying Meat

    Junior Member

    Joined: Jan 2007

    +6
    04/12, 12:45pm | report spam | reply

    What a happy

    coincidence!

    or

    I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell ya!


  1. climacs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

    +7
    04/12, 01:01pm | report spam | reply

    SSDD

    I think by this time, snark is superfluous. There's simply nothing one can say about Redmond's (crappy) copy machine that hasn't been said 100 times before and re-confirmed 1000 times before.


  1. kdogg73

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Dec 2002

    +7
    04/12, 01:02pm | report spam | reply

    It's Okay MS

    Google is doing it, too.


  1. spyintheskyuk

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2009

    +3
    04/12, 01:12pm | report spam | reply

    Ping!

    Maybe they have discovered irony... though I doubt it.


  1. jdsonice@gmail.com

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2009

    +5
    04/12, 01:35pm | report spam | reply

    Coincidence? No such thing

    There is no such thing as a coincidence. microCrap is copying the iTunes, iPhone model to a T. Funny their guy is named Kindel, sounds like Kindle, they cannot even get a blowhorn with an original name.

    What are they gonna call iWindows or iSuckBigTime?


  1. qazwart

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2001

    -8
    04/12, 01:52pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    Windows 7 Mobile IS a Strong Contender

    I predict that the big challenge to the iPhone isn't Android, but Windows 7 Mobile.

    Android has many issues that need to be resolved. First of all, although Google is pushing it, yet doesn't have a visible way to make money off the platform. Open Handset Alliance members may or may not allow Google that option. We've seen from the AT&T Backflip the willingness of the carriers to remove Google search and apps when other companies like Yahoo and Microsoft are willing to pay better. Ironically, Google is now competing for its own platform. That's gotta hurt.

    Second, mismanagement by Google has upset many of the members of the Open Handset Alliance. Each version of Android takes four to six months of development to get working on each handset. The advantage is that each handset is unique and you don't have what is happened on the PC platform where each PC was just a clone of all other PCs. Unfortunately, Google's practice of continuous updates means that by the time your handset comes out, there's another OS update you have to work with. Even worse, Google usually works with a single handset maker to help "showcase" the new release which results in your competitor having a four to six month advantage over you.

    Windows 7 Phone is beginning to entice many of the Open Handset Alliance membership back into the Windows camp. Most went into the Open Handset Alliance because Microsoft lacked any OS that could compete against the iPhone, and Google looked like it did. With Windows 7 Phone, Microsoft has a compelling OS to offer.

    Windows 7 Phone has also watched Apple's playbook very carefully, and will take what works and leave behind everything else. Although there are no Windows 7 Phone apps (and no Windows 7 Phones), Microsoft has a lot of developers familiar with the XNA/Silverlight development platform already. With XBox game integration, expect a lot of XBox games ported over to the W7P platform on the day one.

    Windows 7 Phone does distinguish itself from the iPhone since it is trying to integrate social services instead of being a plain App Phone. This is a page from Palm's WebOS, and was suppose to be one of the reasons WebOS was a strong competitor to the iPhone.

    I am not a MS Fanboy. I have four Macs, and two Linux computers. My only Windows computer is my TV and only because Linux didn't work out as an OS in that instance. I have an iPod Touch and plan to upgrade to an iPhone if T-Mobile ever able to provide one.

    However, I do appreciate what Microsoft has done with W7P and see where they are heading. It won't be Android that pushes the iPhone, but W7P. The only way W7P will fail is if Microsoft completely screws up with utter lack of focus and corporate politicking. Unfortunately, that's a possibility. Microsoft has Windows Mobile 6.5 refusing to die and now Project Pink coming out with its own platform. Each of these projects are in different departments that have spent more time attacking each other than building a viable iPhone alternative.


  1. facebook_Tom

    Via Facebook

    Joined: Apr 2010

    +2
    04/12, 02:21pm | report spam | reply

    OTA ETA maybe delayed

    How is OTA updates useful? Surely most might want their phone backed up before getting an update? It's not like that's going to happen too often.
    Wireless syncing maybe, but we need 802.11n in phones at least to make that feasible.


  1. facebook_Devin

    Via Facebook

    Joined: Apr 2010

    -3
    04/12, 09:21pm | report spam | reply

    Get your multitasking story straight

    The main difference between multitasking on iPhone 4.0 and WP7 is the fact that Apple actually calls it multitasking, while Microsoft decides to be honest about it. They are functionally the same save-state/resume app system.


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