The more I hold a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) phone in my hand the more I have to admit that the OS has a certain charm to it. I find it hard to explain why the turning tiles and the quirky and at times erratic navigational paradigms do lend it a charm that is by now lost on me on the iPhone and the iPad.
The question is what would it take to make it a serious contender on the market. Fact is that we now know that Microsoft is seriously supporting and even sponsoring the development of relevant apps for Windows Phone. They are specifically searching for apps that can be ported to the WP platform. Of course having apps in the Windows equivalent of the AppStore is important. But is it enough? As I've pointed out on a few occasions before Apple is not doing itself a great favor with its black box certification process with hardly a chance of parole if your app gets refused. As much as it contributes to a certain quality level of the Apps in the store it also stalls all attempts to create innovative apps that push the envelope of the iPhone or iPad.
Still though if you ask me today I think that the constraints imposed by Apple drive innovation on the other platforms. Whatever doesn't pass or is hard to achieve via iOS will certainly fly on Android, WP and maybe even Symbian 3.
Now going back to WP, why would this OS actually work? Here are 4 reasons:
1. Windows Phone is closely governed by Microsoft which should guarantee inter-device compatibility
2. There are 25 Million Xbox users out there that Microsoft seems to target
3. Microsoft is still king in the B2B market
4. There will always be consumers that want something seriously different (and maybe less expensive if you insist)
Let me elaborate each point a bit more in detail:
1. Google's bet on Android as an open and freely available standard has helped delivering an impressive growth. But they're now about to receive the consequences of this back in the form of a boomerang that has grown by the same proportion as their market share. What we tend to forget is that open means fragmentation, which means head-aches for developers when it comes to compatibility.
Apple is at the total other side of the spectrum with its closely controlled iOS. WP7 sits somewhere in the middle. The OS versions are neatly governed. The use is subject to a license that imposes compatibility. It might be a while till we see more WP7 phones coming to market and specifically for Nokia to catch up but I predict that the ease of app distribution on this platform will be a big plus. This in turn will help consumer acceptance and cross device UX alignment a lot which will make it look and feel much more like a unified brand experience, which is one of the strong points of Apple.
2. The Xbox community has not been served very well when it comes to mobile use of Xbox apps, till WP7 appeared that is. There are now signs that Microsoft will try to use the potential power of this community to push WP7 upwards. 50 games were available at launch and more are coming. Can we expect mobile phones that double as controllers or input devices for Xbox much like the recent Sony Xperia Play? Who knows.
3. Microsoft is still the reference when it comes to business software. Outlook, Exchange Server and even Excel or Word are widely used and can be easily integrated with B2B mobile use. Although specific mobile versions of these apps are still not superbly optimized, the pure integration from a platform and connectivity perspective mostly under existing software licenses are seductive. This might be a big driver for decision makers controlling the mobile phone fleet of big corporates. Imagine the upside of a CityBank not going for iPhone as announced but WP7...
4. Last but not least there's always a group of consumers who want to be different while still having access to the majority of the features that turn a smartphones into such desirable items. The turning tiles are eye catching and some of the form factors of WP7 phones out there could pass as fashion statements. Think of WP7 as the Saab of mobile but then with much better financial back-up.
But what is the real challenge?
As much as WP7 is fairly well put together the eco-system of Microsoft is still a mess. Confusing branding of services and the hotchpotch of channels and touch points have yet to be sorted. From Windows Live to Hotmail, from MSN to msnbc via Windows Market Place, Maps and the Microsoft Store, it is nowhere near the slick Apple iTunes and AppStore system and much more pretentious than Googles all-white and no-frills offerings.
The announcement of Nokia partnering with Microsoft only raises more questions around their Ovi eco-system, not to mention all the other services, channels and platform that Nokia still features today...
Yet a proper well functioning eco-system is very important to keep users interested in your platform and build a true, long-lasting relationship. Unless of course this is not what you're after.
Is there light in all of this? Well, one thing that Microsoft has superbly well sorted for years already is their single sign-on or Passport - or Windows Live ID as its currently called - that they consistently use across their channels. Once you have your login you can pretty much access any Microsoft related service with the same login and password. Google has this too but it is almost no surprise since they've always marketed their services under one brand and from (seemingly) one platform.
Although I am not sure if they are using this to the full extent they could potentially leverage if they finally decide to axe all those different services and pull all of it together under one brand name.
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