Windows Mobile Lost a 'Whole Generation' Says Ballmer

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/12/ballmer_windows_phone_table_apology/' target='_blank'>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/0..._table_apology/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Steve Ballmer has delivered a mea culpa to Microsoft's partners for its slip-ups against Apple and Google on tablets and smart phones. Ballmer told Microsoft's annual Worldwide Partner Conference that Windows Mobile missed a "whole generation of users" and promised Windows Phone 7 will set things right."</em></p><p>Dear Microsoft,</p><p>I generally feel a lot of love for you as a company, but it's sure frustrating watching you miss the boat again and again. Remember when you laughed at the iPhone? Yeah, exactly, no one is laughing now. The hype around the iPad had been building for years - didn't someone in your organization (other than the Courier team) realize that this whole slate computing thing wasn't going to just be empty hype? <MORE /></p><p>Two years ago you should have been working on some form of operating system that's optimized for touch computing. I know you don't share this opinion Mr. Ballmer, but if you've ever used Windows 7 on a touch-based computer, you'll know that it's really not well-suited for touch...especially when you take away the high-power CPUs and GPUs needed to make the experience even remotely decent. And taking away those things is exactly what you need to do in order to get decent battery life. You need to think of hardware appropriate for <em>phones</em>, not <em>laptops</em>, when you talk about slate computers. You can't rely on Moore's Law to make Windows work well on a slate device - because Moore's Law can't fix the broken user interface paradigm that Windows 7 is based upon.</p><p>Mark my words: it's a <strong>huge mistake</strong>&nbsp;for you to to use an operating system designed for a mouse and a keyboard on a device where touch is the primary method of input. The only hope you have in this space is to use Windows Phone 7 (or even the Zune OS) and design a new custom UI shell on top of it. There's no other option for you that will allow you to bring slates to market to compete against Apple, Google, and HP (via Palm's Web OS) in a reasonable time frame.</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>Someone Trying to Help</p>

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Then they will bring in 10" slates that weigh more than the iPad...

[caywen]

It's basically an internal war between the people who get it and the blathering idiots. It's unfortunate that it's usually the blathering idiots who seem the most persuasive.

I'd imagine the planning something like this:

(inhales crack)

"Once this iPhone thing blows over like the iPod did, we'll decapitate the iPhone by first launching our hexagonal icon shell thingamajig. This will prevent loss of market share while we follow up with our The Spot whatsit aimed at teenagers with $150 to blow, and who don't want to IM or play games. This will send the iPhone's growth market reeling. Finally, Windows 7 will shore up our tablet strategy as we think there's no way iPhone OS could ever work on a 10" screen. It's obviously far better to run Windows 7 on a first gen Atom."

(crack finally starts to wear off)

"And finally, when we've completely discredited ourselves, screwed our partners, irritated our developer base, and alienated the consumers, we'll ship Windows Phone 7."

[after_forever]

"Windows Mobile missed a "whole generation of users""

I couldn't agree more. Plus the countless number of users that just finally got feed-up with MS piss poor attitude and switched to apple.
It is going to take more than this fan flair advertising of windows 7 to get users to switch back. From what I have been reading, it sure isn't sending a tingle up my leg.

[Craig Horlacher]

Unfortunately, I think Microsoft lost far more than a generation. Loosing a generation, to me at least, only implies loosing people who didn't have smartphones and were looking to purchase one. The fact that he missed is that countless people have moved from WinMo to either iPhones or Android based devices.

Android had a great chance and is doing well because the iPhone is so restrictive, limited, and locked down. WinPho7 will have a hard time getting any converts because it's just like the iPhone to the Android crowd and the iPhone crowd is for the most part very happy and already has a ton of apps they know and love. I think Microsoft's best chance is to convince people looking to buy smart phones for the first time that WinPho7 is a better option for them then either the iPhone or an Android phone. I think that's going to be an uphill battle.

[crdiddle]

And dumping the loyal following of WM users just makes it harder. MS would need to develop a phone that is ahead of anything currently on the drawing board and I don't see the Windows Phone7 fulfilling this goal.


Unfortunately, I think Microsoft lost far more than a generation. Loosing a generation, to me at least, only implies loosing people who didn't have smartphones and were looking to purchase one. The fact that he missed is that countless people have moved from WinMo to either iPhones or Android based devices.

Android had a great chance and is doing well because the iPhone is so restrictive, limited, and locked down. WinPho7 will have a hard time getting any converts because it's just like the iPhone to the Android crowd and the iPhone crowd is for the most part very happy and already has a ton of apps they know and love. I think Microsoft's best chance is to convince people looking to buy smart phones for the first time that WinPho7 is a better option for them then either the iPhone or an Android phone. I think that's going to be an uphill battle.

[doogald]

I know that Verizon lets me update my phone subsidized every 20 months. It has been 36 months since the iPhone was released. I think that Microsoft is very close to their second lost generation.

[Perry Reed]

I agree completely that trying to put Windows 7 on anything but the most powerful slate devices is a mistake, but I don't think Microsoft gets it, even after seeing the success (so far) of the iPad. The evidence? Their statements that they won't support Windows Phone 7 on tablets and are instead pushing Windows Compact Embedded 7 (basically Windows CE) for tablets, which will require vendors to implement their own shell on top of it. This is just absurd and no such device has a prayer to gain any sort of meaningful market share (or apps built for it).

The Metro UI being used on the Windows Phone 7 devices has the ability to make for a very good touch interface across all sorts of devices and Microsoft should be pushing to make it available on lower-end slates (based on WP7) as well as higher end devices based on Windows 7. To avoid market confusion between devices on which the UI may look alike, but would be based on different underlying OSs, Microsoft should develop a compatibility layer that lets Windows devices run Windows Phone apps; something Apple could have done with OSX and iOS, but have not. That, along with the more advance UI concepts that Metro offers (as opposed to the iOS focus on discrete apps) would make for a very compelling platform across all levels of devices.

I've heard rumors that Windows 8 may also incorporate more advanced UI concepts "borrowed" from Metro as well as virtualization that better leverages cloud computing. This is also a great step in the right direction, but it all needs to be coordinated and integrated across desktops, laptops, slates, phones, everything.

Microsoft has all the pieces already, they just need to put them all together.