Windows Mobile Shakes with Fear: Microsoft Hints at Office and Voice Recognition Applications on the iPhone and iPod touch

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/25/microsoft_hints_at_office_voice_recognition_iphone_apps.html' target='_blank'>http://www.appleinsider.com/article...phone_apps.html</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is already the largest software developer for Apple's Mac platform outside of the Mac maker itself, with Fortune's Big Tech blog estimating that its Mac Business Unit generates revenues in excess of $350 million and profits of over $200 million each year. Add to that the firm's expertise in its proprietary Exchange email protocols and business email systems, and it's almost a certainty that Microsoft will be among those bearing fresh wares for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch a bit later this year, Tom Gibbons, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Specialized Devices and Applications Group, told the business publication. &quot;We do have experience with that environment, and that gives us confidence to be able to do something,&quot; he said. &quot;The key question is, what is the value that we need to bring?&quot; Gibbons' team of Mac developers, which actually resides in Mountain View, Calif., just a few miles from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, is reportedly weighing its most viable options for an initial native iPhone application, which appears as if it will fall within the Office family of productivity applications.&quot;</em><br /><br /><img alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//spt/auto/1206601867.usr2.png" /><br /><br />It wasn't too long ago that Apple announced Exchange support for the iPhone and iPod touch. The implications here have yet to be seen, but come June, we'll likely see the two devices consume a reasonable chunk of Windows Mobile's market share. What about Office? It's always been one of Windows Mobile's biggest selling points. The iPhone and iPod touch lack it, but that may soon change, and if it does, it has the potential to be huge. Add in Tellme and a host of other applications and Microsoft will need to find new ways to make Windows Mobile as popular as it once was.

[martin_ayton]

If they get that lot in place, I think I'm probably holding the last Windows Mobile device I'll own - assuming Apple doesn't drop the ball in the spectacular fashion that MS has done. Still, we're all subject to a little hubris now and then: MS looked at Palm and thought it could never happen to them, will Apple do the same?

[DaleReeck]

I'm not so sure I'd ring the death nell for Windows Mobile just yet. I own both an AT&T Tilt and a 16gb iPhone. I needed an iPod, so I figured "what the heck". And while the iPhone is nice and has some good stuff coming, there are still a lot of PPC apps I collected over the years that I use that will take years to replace on iPhone, if ever.

On a side note, it would be good to see voice activation possibly coming. It was a shocking omission for Apple to leave it off iPhone to begin with.

[alese]

Just last week I was looking at what I use on my WM phone and with latest "downsizing" in my applications I only need:
- EWallet
- ListPro
- PocketInformant
- Exchange synchronization
- Notes2Self
- PhatPad
- ocassional office program (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
- PDF viewer
- GPS navigation

If the mentioned article is true, the only application that would be missing on the iPhone is PhatPad (or some other notetaker with inking) and GPS SW. I'm pretty sure something similar that will exist on the iPhone, so from SW side I'm all set and the only question now is who will be first Apple with 3G iPhone or SonyEricsson with Experia (provided that is not a buggy mess...)

[efjay]

So once again MS focuses on its biggest competitor's platform while continuing to ignore its own? MS once again have confirmed that they DO NOT care one iota about Windows Mobile but are now apparently eager to hop on the iphone $$$ gravy train. What an insult to WM owners who have have suffered with MS's lack of support for Voice Command. The sooner they are out of the business the better.

[tal]

If the mentioned article is true, the only application that would be missing on the iPhone is PhatPad (or some other notetaker with inking) and GPS SW. I'm pretty sure something similar that will exist on the iPhone
GPS: As long as Apple doesn't add GPS support that there won't be a GPS solution since the current SDK doesn't allow coding something like that.

Notetaker with inking: I don't think that's feasable if you don't have a pen (and given the nature of the iPhones touch technologie a pen is something that's probably very difficult to add)

Thorsten

[Birdsoft]

I have to ask. Does everyone forget the size of Microsoft. We arent talking one or two developers that decided to focus their attention elsewhere. And they are not costing themselves development on the WM OS by also converting their other products to other platforms. It just boggles my mind that people make that assumption because of this news.

And iPhone really isnt as big as everyone seems to think it is (think globally), just because the Apple hype machine has convinced you it has taken over the world.... But it has gotten big enough that Microsoft sees potential to use a different development team to capitalize on it with their software as well. It really has nothing to do with abandoning WM?!?! They are a monster and have a LOT of Tentacles!!

[Rocco Augusto]

So once again MS focuses on its biggest competitor's platform while continuing to ignore its own? MS once again have confirmed that they DO NOT care one iota about Windows Mobile but are now apparently eager to hop on the iphone $$$ gravy train.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that. Microsoft's Apple development team, the same team that brings the Microsoft Office suite to the Apple platform, and the Windows Mobile team are completely separate teams. Like most incredibly large companies such as Microsoft, I doubt these two teams are sitting around and discussing this recent development. Actually if I'm not mistaken, I doubt these two teams are even in the same state. Isn't the Microsoft Apple development crew located down in California somewhere by Apple's campus?

As much as it pains me to say this - this is a smart move for Microsoft. They happen to be the largest developer on the Apple platform besides Apple themselves. For that team to just ignore the opportunity, and the irony, or releasing some almost guaranteed high profile money making technologies such as this would just be hurtful to Microsoft's pockets.

This isn't to say I'm not incredibly annoyed though. I mean how long did it take to get Office Mobile on our the Smartphone/Standard platform :mad:

[efjay]

Here's my point: in the face of the iphone and Google's Android are we seeing MS focusing more on improving its own OS? No, we still have crappy PIE, poor memory management, crappy battery life, STILL NO NATIVE CLOSE BUTTON, basic phone functions missing (no redial on busy), incomplete IMAP support. And I'll mention this again, a few days ago I plugged my Artemis into my pc and tried to sync some music with WMP11, my storage card is STILL not recognised.

Having separate development teams is no excuse - there should be tighter intergration within MS in mobile development. Windows Mobile is a MS product and should be the focus for all their mobile dev teams FIRST - then they can obviously expand to other platforms. MS has shown, time and time again that Windows Mobile is an afterthought and is usually the last platform to see any improvements. As Rocco Augusto says, how long was it before Office came to the Smartphone?

Here's one item to look for - Voice Command on my Artemis works - apart from announcing the caller name over BT. Who wants to bet that when its released for the iphone everything will work properly but the WM version will still have the same limitation?

Windows Mobile should be standing head and shoulders above all other mobile OS'es after so many years on the market, and MS should be giving it every advantage they can. IMO that doesnt seem to be the case.

@Birdsoft - the iphone may not have taken over the world (yet) but here's a quick question - if anyone sees you using a PPC device what are the odds they ask you "is that an iphone?" :)

[Birdsoft]

Surprisingly I think we are still in a world where the question is either is that an iPhone, is that a Blackberry, or is that a Palm Pilot, or a small majority that know its a WM device.... I dont think iPhone with all of its advertising has made the type of impression to take over excluvisivity in that little example...They definitely moved up though...

But like Rocco and I both conveyed, there is no way that Microsoft's Apple Developers should have been reallocated to WM as a FIRST priority , just because they are working on phone software. I really dont think they'd be any help at all (they really dont work in the same development environments or thinking, so it would be more of a mess than anything). Im sure WM7 is further than you think...

And I know iPhone turned out an OS (well converted one) in about a year. But they had full control of the single device to add enough space for the monsterous size that is the iPhone OS and locked down everything until they could get to it. And they hardcoded the device to the OS and vice versa to make it work.

But Microsoft has many many other variables involved and is obviously working very very hard on WM7. I just dont want to see it if they could chug it out in 6-9 months, they dont have the advantage of starting fresh and cutting the same corners...

And WM6.1 isnt even out for a few more days(which starts to address some of the things)...

Yeah, we know that Mobile Phone updates should work like PCs and we all agree, but Apple is the only one pulling the strings over carriers, most of the rest of the industry isnt going to go for that very quickly if at all, so we look like we are at a snails pace compared to them and we will for a while...

And some of your gripes are probably due to the phone manufacturer not writing drivers correctly or their choice of hardware and not Microsoft. But Microsoft gets the blame for not focusing on WM....

--------------------------------------------

What I think will be interesting is when the iPhone 2.0 or Pro or whatever comes out, what a lot of the iPhone users that have not fully gone "Apple Blind" think, once they have to shell out another 400++ bucks to get the high speed version and video calling and.....

You mean they can't just do that with a software update from iTunes? I have to do what with my contract?

I wonder if it will happen at about the same time as the 2.0 software update comes out to really confuse people?? And do you think data rates will go up once they all arent just on the Edge network?

[dh]

I'm sure I'm going to end up an iPhone owner by the end of this year. I've had my HP 6940 phone for a couple of years now and I've never been totally thrilled but haven't found anything that would be better for me.

My wife uses an iPhone and I've never been tempted to get my own because of the lack of good apps. However, with WebIS making PI for iP and now MS looking to get in, things could change quickly. All I'll need is a good eBook reader (can't wait to use that great screen for reading instead of the crappy low res square HP screen), an RSS Reader and a good notes app and I'll have everything I need.

So as much as I hate the Apple BS, iPhone is really looking to be the way to go.

Cheers!
David

[Pete Paxton]

I can honestly say this: I've owned an Ipaq 3650, Audiovox Maestro, Casseopeia EM500, Dell Axim X5, Dell Axim X30, Tmobile SDA, and a Tmobile Dash. Now I own an iPhone and I can say that without a doubt that my iPhone is by far the coolest most innovative electronic device I have ever owned and that includes any PC or Mac laptop I've had or currently have. I use it with Box.net to view Word and Excel docs, it's my alarm clock (and it actually works!), photos, videos, and music are the best on it, surfing the web is like being on a mini laptop, the calendar and the way it syncs with my mac are awesome, email works great, there are many iphone web apps (bible, wikipedia, dictionary, iGoogle RSS etc.) and they work great when in WiFi range. I know it's lacking features, but what it does have, it does better than any device I've had. When the Apple app store opens this June, I'll have just about everything. I love it. I have wifi at home and at work so even though I'd love 3G, I can live without it. I heard the iPhone 2 may have video calling but so does my mac and I virtually never use it. Anyway, just my 2 cents!

[lanwarrior]

You know what's great about the iPhone / iPod Touch OS? The implementation of the OS is so smooth and intuitive. 2 things I really like:

- The use of gesture is really intuitive
- Everything is so smooth, even when running Safari I hardly experienced any slowdown.

With WM OS, everything seems slow. BTW, I have owned a Windows CE devices since the first Cassiopeia, so I am and still pro WM.

However, after acquiring an iPod Touch, I was floored with the OS (see above reasons). When Apple announced the SDK, I went out and bought a Macbook just so that I can develop an app for the iPhone OS! Yeah, there are still limitation (no native multi-tasking support), but it's the 1st generation OS. Remember how Windows Mobile was still called Palm-Size PC? :)

[DaleReeck]

I can honestly say this: I've owned an Ipaq 3650, Audiovox Maestro, Casseopeia EM500, Dell Axim X5, Dell Axim X30, Tmobile SDA, and a Tmobile Dash. Now I own an iPhone and I can say that without a doubt that my iPhone is by far the coolest most innovative electronic device I have ever owned and that includes any PC or Mac laptop I've had or currently have. I use it with Box.net to view Word and Excel docs, it's my alarm clock (and it actually works!), photos, videos, and music are the best on it, surfing the web is like being on a mini laptop, the calendar and the way it syncs with my mac are awesome, email works great, there are many iphone web apps (bible, wikipedia, dictionary, iGoogle RSS etc.) and they work great when in WiFi range. I know it's lacking features, but what it does have, it does better than any device I've had. When the Apple app store opens this June, I'll have just about everything. I love it. I have wifi at home and at work so even though I'd love 3G, I can live without it. I heard the iPhone 2 may have video calling but so does my mac and I virtually never use it. Anyway, just my 2 cents!

As I mentioned earlier, I have both a Tilt and a 16gb iPhone and I can see where you are coming from. The Tilt is far more capable (right now) but, I don't know, maybe because it's new, but there's a "cool" feeling about the iPhone. It obviously handles media (and a small part of my 500gb video collection) well and I prefer it's Audible.com experience over the PPC software. Plus, the Safari browser is light years ahead of PIE. Also, I never used to be into You Tube that much, but I even occasionally play with that now because of iPhone. The interface on iPhone seems to be better thought out than PPC as a whole and it just makes you want to "use stuff".

I think once the email push comes in June, the software list begins to grow for iPhone and larger memory versions appear, PPC could start looking at the fate of Palm more and more. Come this time next year, imagine a 64gb 3G version of iPhone with Exchange push email and a few thousand good quality software titles. Hmmmmm :D