The Guardian on Android and Windows Phone 7

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/25/android-schmidt-mobile-platform' target='_blank'>http://www.guardian.co.uk/technolog...mobile-platform</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Oh, and the company we haven't mentioned here at all, except in passing? Microsoft. If you look at what the Android and iPhone platforms are now doing, you have to ask how on earth Windows Phone - which will have a paid-for licence - is ever going to attract any handset makers. Schmidt's Android dog whistle might be loud for iPhone developers annoyed at the company's capricious treatment of their apps, but it must be loudest for developers considering whether the shrinking, forwards-incompatible pool of Windows Mobile phones is really worth bothering with."</em></p><p>I'm not at all sure I buy the analysis this article presents, at least in terms of what Eric Schmidt is saying (the article starts with a phone conference call with the Google Chairman/CEO). If you read through the whole interview transcript, Eric's basically responding to questions as they are asked, though I won't discount that there's some spin involved. But the quote above is I think spot on - WP7 starts with two disadvantages out of the box what with coming with a price tag for manufacturers, as well as incompatibility with applications developed for Windows Mobile. But have a read yourselves, and let us know if you agree with this.</p>

[vangrieg]

What MS has to do is fairly straightforward - provide better value for the price they charge. And give the current state of affairs with Android it's easy to do.

A consistent user interface that doesn't ask meaningless questions like "Do you want to install 1.41.555.21 update" and then "explains" that it's a "FOTA" update - who the hell do they expect to understand this message? Make it so that updates don't brick your phone like the latest EVO one did. Provide rich media support with video and audio codecs, Zune, XBox Live, all that stuff out of the box. Add Office and Exchange support that would be stellar, and work with OEMs on phone design best practices. Then get on Verizon so that poor folk who actually want an iPhone will be offered a choice apart from this Droid thingie. Try to make a Marketplace that won't be a garbage dump of free half-baked "apps" like the Android Market.

In other words, execute well. Google will never have the discipline and consistency to excel, in addition to political issues that come with this "Handset Alliance" idea. MS can do it.