Ballmer: No Microsoft Phone. No Windows Mobile 7 Until 2010.

[Rocco Augusto]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/msft/default.mspx' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/msft/default.mspx</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Ballmer re-affirmed his oft-repeated statement that Microsoft will not be making a Microsoft Phone, saying it was committed to the licensing model... Regarding the operating system itself, Steve Ballmer mentioned the unveiling of Windows Mobile 6.5 last week, and also clearly stated Windows Mobile 7 will be coming next year.&nbsp; He noted that he felt the continuing expansion of the smartphone segment into the whole phone segment should help Windows Mobile to continue growing despite the downturn in the economy, and that Windows Mobile is particularly well suited for low cost smartphones with many different from factors."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1234819704.usr8.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I personally felt one of the best things Microsoft could have done was to release their own handset. I completely understand that doing so would have been nothing sort of a disaster as it would have strained their relationships with Windows Mobile OEMs, but not doing so in my opinion cements Microsoft's position firmly into a slow and painful death in the mobile world. Windows Mobile 6.5, which was announced last week, is not expected to start shipping on new devices until Q4 of 2009. I wouldn't expect updates for existing handsets to start popping up until maybe Q1 or Q2 of 2010 - almost a year after the platform upgrade was announced. On top of this we won't start to see Windows Mobile 7 phones on the market until around the latter half of 2010, meaning that upgrades for Windows Mobile 7 will start to trickle out 3-6 months after this much anticipated milestone release. The process of moving to a new version of Windows Mobile takes incredibly too long and in this world of constantly updating gadgets. Microsoft's slow-and-steady take on the platform is no longer as intriguing as it was not only a few years ago as there are now way to many cooks in the Microsoft kitchen. Microsoft creating a self branded device would have drastically cut down on this. A handful of devices are a lot easier to upgrade than an army of devices. One has to wonder, when Windows Mobile 6.5 or even Windows Mobile 7 finally does make it into the mainstream, how far behind will the operating system be compared to competitors that are pushing out updates every few months?</p>

[nmcclana]

cements Microsoft's position firmly into a slow and painful death

A bit of a pessimist, Rocco? :)

[Janak Parekh]

The serious question one has to ask themselves is whether you want to buy a WM6.5 device knowing WM7 is right around the corner. The inconsistent upgrade experience on WM devices poses a huge problem in this scenario; I hope Microsoft realizes this and forces OEMs to offer a WM7 upgrade on the 6.5 devices released later this year.

--janak

[Don Tolson]

As I mentioned in the other thread about MS and the Mobile Windows O/S, I think most of the 'innovation' we see in other phones is in the UI.

I think MS would be better to focus on making the O/S as functional and small as possible, providing better and better background support for the various hardware fixtures (BT, GPS integration, CPUs, etc.) and leave the UI stuff to the vendors.

[Phillip Dyson]

The thing that I'm struggling with is the decision to buy a device now. My phone is on the morphine drip. Its battery life drains mysteriously. Sometimes wont wake up from sleep and sometimes just flat out turns off. And I mean off not sleep.

If I buy now and skip 6.5 will I miss anything? Will the marketplace support 6.1? Will I have an option to get IE6? Will 6.5 perform better?

One consolation is if I buy now, I've got at least a year of use before WM7 comes out.

[Don Tolson]

The thing that I'm struggling with is the decision to buy a device now. My phone is on the morphine drip. Its battery life drains mysteriously. Sometimes wont wake up from sleep and sometimes just flat out turns off. And I mean off not sleep.

If I buy now and skip 6.5 will I miss anything? Will the marketplace support 6.1? Will I have an option to get IE6? Will 6.5 perform better?

One consolation is if I buy now, I've got at least a year of use before WM7 comes out.
Personally, Phillip -- I'd wait for the Toshiba G2(? I think it is) or the HTC Touch 2/Touch Pro 2. Even without WM7, they are both going to be k-a machines!

[Rocco Augusto]

A bit of a pessimist, Rocco? :)

I wish this was me being a pessimist. During the MWC conference Microsoft stated they had over 100 OEM's releasing handsets with LG releasing up to 50 of these new handsets in the coming years. New devices being released left and right is great for Microsoft because they will be rolling in the dough more than they are today... unfortunately for the consumer there is no economically friendly way to garuntee our devices will be updated if they are updated at all.

As a consumer in this economy which are you going to gravitate toward? A device where chances are you will never see an update made available because the market is saturated with similar devices running the same OS and your handset can become obsolete in less than a years timeframe or will you lean more towards a device that you can keep for a several years and see timely updates every few months or several times a year giving your handset a longer lifespan and greater featureset then what was available when you purchased it?

[nmcclana]

I agree. I still think my HTC was the best phone for me, but probably not the best phone for most people. I think the strategy of '2010' for WM7, which will probably end up being a rehash like WM5 - WM6, is a losing one.

I like what htc has done, but it fragments the user experience. People like flexibility, but not at the expense of usability.

[Phillip Dyson]

Personally, Phillip -- I'd wait for the Toshiba G2(? I think it is) or the HTC Touch 2/Touch Pro 2. Even without WM7, they are both going to be k-a machines!

I agree with you about the Diamond @ and Pro 2. But waiting may be easier said than done. How long before they're released? Plus another 6 months before they come to the US?

How long would you go with an unreliable phone? Usually I have a backup but I'm sort of caught unprepared this time.