09-28-2010, 09:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Windows Phone 7: No Tethering at Start
The headline says it all folks. A couple of weeks ago the question about tethering was up in the air, but it seems this is another casualty of Microsoft starting over from scratch: they haven't enabled tethering functionality in Windows Phone 7. Here's where it gets a bit confusing though: when a guy like Bradon Watson, a Director on Windows Phone 7, says the OS can do tethering, you'd think he'd know what he's talking about. So is this feature ready to go, but no carriers are going to allow it, and Microsoft is playing the role of a good partner by saying it doesn't support it? I don't know Watson, but I'd be shocked if he got such a core detail about the OS wrong. My hunch is that Windows Phone 7 can indeed do tethering, but no carrier wants to enable it right out of the gate. When the final devices ship, I'm sure some enterprising code-spelunker will get to the bottom of this. Does this announcement change your desire to purchase a Windows Phone 7 device?
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09-28-2010, 10:36 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 740
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"no carrier wants to enable it"....
And what about people, the minority in the US but quite the opposite in the rest of the World, that buy non crippled, SIM free phones?
When the G3 iPhone launched the ones sold in the US were unable to send and receive MMS, I bought mine in Europe and the functionality was enabled by default.
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09-29-2010, 12:44 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 92
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iPhone started with no tethering. Let's copy that, since it copied the no multitasking and no copy&paste already...
Who's in charge of this? Innovation by copying someone else's 3yrs ago?
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09-29-2010, 12:55 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by V-iPAQ
iPhone started with no tethering. Let's copy that, since it copied the no multitasking and no copy&paste already...Who's in charge of this? Innovation by copying someone else's 3yrs ago?
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On the other hand, the lack of tethering - and even copy/paste - didn't exactly slow down the sales, did it? I think there are things that the phone needs to nail right out of the gate...tethering isn't one of those things, even though it's something I'd like to see on the product.
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09-29-2010, 01:32 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 740
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
On the other hand, the lack of tethering - and even copy/paste - didn't exactly slow down the sales, did it? I think there are things that the phone needs to nail right out of the gate...tethering isn't one of those things, even though it's something I'd like to see on the product.
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True, the lack of those features did not slow down the iPhone whe it launched but.......
the iPhone was a "Copernican revolution"; it completely change the paradigm of how to interact with a smartphone. Arriving years later with the same shortcomings.................. does not seem a receipt for an assured success.
Besides, while I am not a heavy user of tethering, I know a lot of people that would consider it a primary feature.
Bottom line is that the lack of one feature would alienate a certain percentage of potential buyers and you could, at least temporarily, handle it but when the list become longer and longer the effect increase exponentially.
I am a perfect example of it: I will surely skip WP7.00 and wait to see as it evolves
Last edited by Fritzly; 09-29-2010 at 03:45 AM..
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09-29-2010, 02:43 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 9
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No tethering no windows phone 7 for me thanks, i was a long wm user since the beloved iPAQ 3630, i waited and waited but no cdma at launch and now this, thanks i think im gonna give a chance to Android
Last edited by GuSo; 09-29-2010 at 02:46 AM..
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09-29-2010, 08:18 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 62
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clearly we are not their customers, are we...
I'll be keeping my HD2 until the lack of software development for the platform bugs me too much. Then I'll either migrate it over to Android or possibly go over to the White Side and get an iPhone - jailbreak it and customize it. By the time I've had the opportunity and motivation to sample the Competition, perhaps WM7.5 will have caught up - to WM 6.5 - and be worth my attention. But unless it can blow the others away, why would I bother?
Loyalty? - to Microsoft? C'mon, these guys are not Apple, even if they are copying all of the iPhone's deficiencies at launch!
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09-29-2010, 08:12 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,043
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
On the other hand, the lack of tethering - and even copy/paste - didn't exactly slow down the sales, did it?
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While on a level playing field this might be true for impending WP7 sales, and Microsoft could theoretically compete for sales with Apple given similar deficiencies of functionality, the field in real life is anything but level. Apple has a) a huge head start in this game of GUI-focused marketing, b) the lion's share of 'cool factor' which is hardly about to change, and c) more devices with cooler features coming out all the time, retaining their several years head start.
While of course you know from my past comments that my personal take on WP7 is rather negative (a betrayal, to put it bluntly), I do appreciate that the iPhone has sold well and continues to gain market share, and if Microsoft cannot come up with its own radically improved set of features and stability, the next best thing is to copy a winner. And yes, many companies have made their millions, perhaps billions, by ripping off ideas from front-runners. It just seems sad that these various failings all add up to a second-rate copycat device. A sort of Radio Shack version of the iPhone.
Specifically to todays news - that something as basic as modem functionality is being held back from consumers deliberately - I am again not surprised. The North American cellular corporate mindset is married to the notion that stealing vastly excessive profits from consumers is acceptable behavior, where in many other markets it is understood that providing better service assures customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising. North America, the US in particular, is an ad-driven culture. Sell sell sell, and that's where profit comes from. Not service as a priority, just sales, raw numbers. The customer's interests are way down the list from that perspective.
So if Verizon or whoever wants to maximize profits on the first wave of WP7 devices, what recourse does the average consumer have? The choice is obvious. Pick an Android phone or an iPhone or a Blackberry. Find a device and a plan which offers reasonable use, including tethering, including copy and paste functions, and preferably including a card slot for memory expansion (nix the ridiculous iPhone with their $100 per memory doubling nonsense).
In the past few years I've seen a lot of iPhone-clone devices popping up on craigslist, and almost from the start these much cheaper devices have offered more features than an iPhone possesses. This continues, with dual-SIM slots and advanced video functionality, memory expansion slots, unlocked radios, and numerous other extras included, usually $100 or more discounted compared to 'equivalent' model iPhones. These things sell like crazy! Why? Because they're not just copies, they offer more. Sure, average Joe consumer might go for the iPhone because it's advertised massively, but savvy consumers dig a little deeper and find better devices, often made using the same components as the top dog. For Microsoft to compete with the iPhone's huge popularity they will have to do more than just copy, and especially do more than copying failings of the iPhone. I'm not seeing that so far. Seems with this lack of tethering thing that they're trying to push the Bing button, for on-device browsing rather than modem use of the phone.
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Gerard Ivan Samija
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09-30-2010, 02:26 AM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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To say that yet another feature is missing from WP7 is ok because the iPhone didn't have it at launch is rather flawed. First, the iPhone launched about 4 years ago. That is about half the lifetime of Smartphones. What was acceptable then and what is acceptable today are entirely different. Secondly, with WP7 launching with so many missing features, regardless of whether they are deemed as important or not, means that WP7 will be seen as always trying to play catch up. Not a great confidence builder when you are trying to build market share.
If this is the best that 1000 people can come up with after 2 years of effort I think WP7 has hard time ahead of it.
I'm sorry, I've been a longtime supporter and evangelist of Windows Mobile, I just can find much here worth supporting.....
Dave
Last edited by Paragon; 09-30-2010 at 02:31 AM..
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09-30-2010, 04:59 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,503
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I do think this is an option that most people will not care about. Seriously. The iPhone was a huge paradigm shift in the way phones operate. I think MS is trying to do that here as well. I do think analysing the features on a paper spec sheet alone will not be enough to determine the success or failure of this platform.
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Baka. Soku. Zan. - The justice behind the dysORDer.
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