So unless you have been living under a rock the last few months, you heard the rumors that Microsoft was developing a new version of Windows Mobile. Well, today at the Mobile World Congress, in BarTHelona (you just have to say it with the Catalan accent), Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.5, along with a slew of other related offerings, including most notably the My Phone cloud service and an app store. I had the privilege of getting briefed on the new operating system a little while ago, but of course could not say anything...until now.
So now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, I can share some of the ideas I have about what I saw and some thoughts I have on what Microsoft needs to do with Windows Mobile 6.5 and the forthcoming Windows Mobile 7.
Some of my thoughts were quoted in this Computerworld article. Not surprisingly, the author who was trying to combine a wide array of quotes and commentary was not able to provide all of my feedback. The short version is that I am quite happy to see where things are going with Windows Mobile. Is Windows Mobile 6.5 revolutionary? No way. Is it an evolutionary milestone that takes care of many issues that exist(ed) with Windows Mobile 6.1? Absolutely.
My sense is that Windows Mobile will NEVER be the eye candy of an iPhone experience or that of the forthcoming webOS from Palm. That's just not in the DNA over at Microsoft and that's totally OK in my opinion. It doesn't need to. It just needs to be polished. In fact, some people will actually welcome the fact that it doesn't have all that eye candy. Windows Mobile 6.5 is not flashy (although it does support Flash - get it???? - dumb joke), but name me one Microsoft product other than Silverlight that is meant to be?
What Windows Mobile 6.5 does do is significantly improve the user experience of 6.1. One of the terms often used for 6.5 was "fat finger friendly." That's great....it removes much of the need of the stylus. Overall performance also seemed snappier...and that's pretty impressive given what I saw was a pre-BETA....meaning the developers will surely try to optimize things such as boot-up time and overall responsiveness of the user experience.
So let's talk about the My Phone cloud service that provides 200 MB of storage for email, contact, SMS backup and more. For now, it's frankly nothing more than a me too service (as are many of the improvements in 6.5). But again, that's TOTALLY OK! Microsoft has frankly been falling behind competitors such as the iPhone, Palm's new webOS, and even the innovations from Nokia/Symbian and RIM. Whether you agree or not with the last statement, perception is reality...
The announcements that were made today bring Microsoft (almost) back up to parity with the competition. The good news - by the way - is that Microsoft knows this. Not that they told me this, but my point is that they have never called anything that was just annouced as "innovative." My sense is that they will try to do this with Windows Mobile 7. Of course the challenge is, how do you stay innovative, without scaring away the legacy they have in the enterprise? I think Microsoft has a pretty daunting task to ensure that their mobile platform stays relevant to the enterprise (their bread and butter) while being slick and more consumer friendly - which they need to do as even enterprise mobility becomes increasingly consumerized.
There's also other good news. LG announced they will develop 50 new Windows Mobile devices in the next few years. That's pretty impressive. So much for MSFT trying to cut back the number of devices that will be created. On the flip side, Motorola said they will pass on 6.5 and wait for Windows Mobile 7. Great way to become irrelevant in my opinion.
Regardless, my sense is that at this Mobile World Congress, Microsoft is saying as best it can right now that it's not gone and that it very much plans on being in this mobility game for the long run. In other markets, that has spelled disaster for the competition. Certainly, mobility has its own 800lb gorillas that can give Microsoft more than a run for its money, so who knows how it will play out.
I guess I can only provide two recommendations for the folks in Redmond:
- To quote a Megadeth song, "Take No Prisoners" (I told you I was a metal head back in the day)
- Listen to Dave Mustain - the lead singer of Megadeth - around the 3:00 mark
