Motorola CEO Says Windows Mobile 7 Coming in 2010

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.appscout.com/2009/02/motorola_windows_mobile_7_comi.php' target='_blank'>http://www.appscout.com/2009/02/mot...bile_7_comi.php</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"As you know, Windows 6 series is available in 2009 and as compared to Android, we believe in 2009 Android is more competitive; more of our effort and focus in 2009 is going to Android, but in 2010 when Windows 7 will become available, we will then participate in a more focused way in Windows Mobile 7 in 2010." </em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1233686260.usr1.gif" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>If I were Microsoft, I'd be more than a little ticked off that my partners were blabbing to the media about the release dates of my products. On the other hand, I guess now we know that we won't see Windows Mobile 7 for at least a year - not surprising given than Windows Mobile 6.5 has yet to be officially announced.</p>

[RogueSpear]

I hope Microsoft uses the time wisely. One year for Microsoft, with the resources that they have, should be like 5 years for almost anybody else. One year from now I suspect that the iPhone and Android will be even better than they are today.

[doogald]

One year for Microsoft, with the resources that they have, should be like 5 years for almost anybody else.

You just made me spit my milk!

[Jason Dunn]

One year for Microsoft, with the resources that they have, should be like 5 years for almost anybody else.

I'm curious, what do you base this on? The amount of money they have in the bank? What makes you think they have more, or better, developers working on Windows Mobile than Apple has working on the iPhone? I wish that money in the bank equalled great software products, but that's never been the case in my opinion...:)

[Rocco Augusto]

Hopefully Microsoft is taking this extra time to put as much user friendly UI features into Windows Mobile 7 as they have with Windows 7. :)

[nmcclana]

Well, if you have 1,000 developers working on something for a year, that's twice as many man-hours as if you had 500 developers. Of course, you need more overhead coordinating things, but still. MSFT has almost 100,000 employees while AAPL has 35,000.

[Ed Hansberry]

Well, if you have 1,000 developers working on something for a year, that's twice as many man-hours as if you had 500 developers. Of course, you need more overhead coordinating things, but still. MSFT has almost 100,000 employees while AAPL has 35,000.

Doesn't work exactly like that. If Windows Vista has a feature that needs 1,000 manhours of coding, and it is a team of 5 people, that will take roughly 25 workdays to accomplish. You can't finish it in a day by throwing 125 people at it, or in an hour by throwing 1,000 people at it. There are diminishing returns and at a point, where no matter how many you throw at it, it doesn't help speed it up one bit and may even slow it down.

[Pony99CA]

If I were Microsoft, I'd be more than a little ticked off that my partners were blabbing to the media about the release dates of my products.
And it's not the first time Jha has done this. He spilled the beans about WM 6.5, too.

On the other hand, I guess now we know that we won't see Windows Mobile 7 for at least a year - not surprising given than Windows Mobile 6.5 has yet to be officially announced.
Unless Microsoft started feeding Jha disinformation after the last time. :D

Of course, I'm not sure Jha has his facts straight. Saying "Windows 6 series is available in 2009" is simply wrong. Windows Mobile 6 has been available for over a year now (maybe back in 2007). WM 6.5 will probably come out this year, but that's not what he said.

But, after reading that horribly redundant and fractured sentence, maybe it's just his poor speaking ability. :rolleyes:

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Doesn't work exactly like that. If Windows Vista has a feature that needs 1,000 manhours of coding, and it is a team of 5 people, that will take roughly 25 workdays to accomplish. You can't finish it in a day by throwing 125 people at it, or in an hour by throwing 1,000 people at it. There are diminishing returns and at a point, where no matter how many you throw at it, it doesn't help speed it up one bit and may even slow it down.
Or, as they say, nine women won't make a baby in a month. ;)

People who are interested in this effect should read The Mythical Man-Month (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month).

Steve

[doogald]

Of course, I'm not sure Jha has his facts straight. Saying "Windows 6 series is available in 2009" is simply wrong.

At the risk of being pedantic, what he said is quite right - the version of WM available in 2009 is still series 6. He did not say that it was being released in 2009; he said that it was available in 2009.

You can hardly blame him. The company is struggling, WM is not expecting an exciting new update for a while, and Android is being actively developed. When your company faces financial troubles, you sometimes choose to take risks, and betting on Android could be a better bet for Motorola this year than trying to compete with new WM devices.

[Pony99CA]

At the risk of being pedantic, what he said is quite right - the version of WM available in 2009 is still series 6. He did not say that it was being released in 2009; he said that it was available in 2009.
OK, then it's a "who cares" statement. It's like the old trick question -- "Which month has 28 days?" (All of them!)

You can hardly blame him. The company is struggling, WM is not expecting an exciting new update for a while, and Android is being actively developed. When your company faces financial troubles, you sometimes choose to take risks, and betting on Android could be a better bet for Motorola this year than trying to compete with new WM devices.
I don't think anybody is blaming him for developing Android phones. We're criticizing him for leaking information that is probably considered proprietary by Microsoft (typically release dates would be covered by NDAs, I think).

For example, he could have said basically the same thing like this: "In 2009, we think Android is more capable than Windows Mobile, so we'll be focusing more on developing new Android phones this year. When Microsoft releases a great new version of Windows Mobile, we'll focus on developing for that, too." Notice how I didn't need to mention any dates for Windows Mobile (or mention a year five times in one run-on sentence -- 2009 three times and 2010 twice). It's not rocket science. :)

Steve