[mar2k]

I'd like to think WM7 is really going to be something great, but 2009 is so far away! I mean, 30 days from now we are going to see an onslight of mobile apps (many of them actually worth paying money for) the likes of which we have never seen before when the iPhone app store opens its doors. The current WM apps are going to look pretty sad next to a lot of those apps until WM7 arrives and unless its a head turner, I can't see it making up a lot of ground.

Plus Apple's control over the iPhone hardware gives it the ability to continually upgrade the software over time. MS and its OEM partners have to do a much better job of keeping the platform fresh. Having to buy a new phone to get a 6.1 release versus a 6.0 is just ridiculous. I recently installed one of the cooked WM 6.1 ROMS on my Cingular 3125 flip smartphone (STARTREK) and it works like a champ. I was bored with WM5 and there was no official upgrade path. The hardware has no problems with 6.1 at all, sliding windows and everything. There is zero reason this could not have been released officially - I would have no problem paying a small amount for an official supported upgrade. There is money to be made here for software upgrades but instead most of the WM phones are pretty dead end platforms after a year or so.

I mean, by the time WM7 comes out Apple will be talking iPhone 3.0 or at the very least 2.5, and becoming a very mature, entrenched platform and starting to offer other form factors. If the Android phones beat WM7 to market and impress, its going to be awful tough.... The WM team has its work cut out for them and I wish them luck.