Microsoft’s New Mobile Phone Software Is Coming (and Its “Project Pink” Still Lives)–But Should It Just Give Up and Buy RIM?
Next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft is likely to unveil Windows Mobile 7, the new version of its mobile operating system, trying to create some excitement around its foundering mobile strategy.
“Foundering” is probably kind, given the innovative strides both Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) have made in the smartphone arena in recent years by comparison.
That’s why rumors about the various attributes of the new mobile OS escalated again after Microsoft (MSFT) CFO Peter Klein noted at the company’s most recent earnings call: “As we have been saying from a product perspective, we are working very hard on the next version of Windows Mobile…we will be talking more about that in Barcelona in a few weeks.”
The most prominent of those rumors is that the new OS morphs into a kind of “ZunePhone,” incorporating functionality from the software of Microsoft’s digital music player.
And as one hand does software, Microsoft has also been doing the smartphone equivalent of a Long March with its “Project Pink,” the long anticipated multimedia touchscreen device that has been in development for a while by its Premium Mobile Experiences group.
That team is apparently hidden away in a Seattle office–as opposed to its nearby Redmond, Wash., HQ–and still includes some employees from Danger, the iconic company that designed the once-popular Sidekick mobile phone and was bought by Microsoft in 2008 for $500 million.
There, both Microsoft-designed hardware and software are being created, with some sort of device to come out this year, sources said, despite persistent rumors that the whole project would be scotched.
The hope–when the tech giant finally does end this very long gestation–is that it can finally get some traction in the increasingly important smartphone space, which is dominated by Apple’s iPhone and, farther behind, phones using Google’s Android operating system.
While Microsoft tirelessly argues that Windows mobile software is on many more phones around the globe than that of competitors, the challenge is clear externally–and internally, if you listen carefully to the griping about the company’s mobile strategy, which one exec there recently admitted to me was an “embarrassment.”
Indeed, this is why Microsoft and its giant wallet might be better served by buying one of the big and more established telecom companies, such as Research in Motion (RIMM), Palm (PALM) or even–as another Microsoft exec said to me, “Why not?”–Nokia (NOK).
Nokia has a market cap of close to $50 billion, with RIM at close to $38 billion. And Palm? A paltry $1.74 billion. Microsoft’s current valuation is $246 billion, and the company has $40 billion in cash and marketable securities on hand.
While the purchase of Danger was pricey given how little it has yielded as yet, to do such a deal would send shock waves throughout the industry and–if it were Nokia or RIM, both of which are non-U.S.-based companies–change the game immediately.
And, in fact, many sources at Microsoft have told me that CEO Steve Ballmer has expressed interest in buying RIM many times (while also dismissing any interest in Palm).
Well, at least, Ballmer is thinking big. And he should, because mobile, which everyone knows is the key platform in the coming era of computing, will be all about getting–as the saying goes–big or getting out.
Comments
1. How can Pink possibly be so great that it crushes the iPhone and the Android phones? Not to mention Crackberries.
The answer is that it cannot. It is not in Microsoft's DNA to make that kind of breakthrough.
Therefore, Pink is doomed.
2. How can Windows Mobile 7 be so superior to every other smart phone operating system already on the market?
The answer is that it cannot.
3. Microsoft buying RIM would destroy RIM as the corporate culture clash would be brutal. Same goes for Nokia.
4. Microsoft is doomed in mobile and should give up.
Posted by davebarnes at February 8th, 2010 at 5:49 pmWhen you add a nice shell by SPB and the Opera web-browser, a Windows Mobile phone (such as the Tilt 2 by HTC) is a competitive product. “Cloud” computing on a remote Google server might be fine for general consumers, but industry is unlikely to buy into a 3rd party hosting their sensitive data. Ironically, iPhone is very dependent on its competitor's (Google) “cloud” computing concept, and consequently, is strategically vulnerable.
Windows needs to focus on cleaning up the GUI, being more stable, and running faster. They need to stay focused on the professional market and stream-lined integration with Office Suite.
Blackberry may have the lead in the professional market, but they seem to be running out of steam. When I went shopping for a smart-phone, I was not exceptionally impressed.
With a little creativity, they can paint iPhone as a kids toy, and Windows Mobile as an integrated solution for professionals.
Posted by mrrhome at February 8th, 2010 at 7:10 pmNo, it's not competitive. Huge parts of Windows Mobile are still stylus-based. The browser is years behind the mobile state of the art. Mobile browsers are HTML5, they are 2007 or better level browsers, actually ahead of most desktop browsers, while on Microsoft platforms you have a 2002 level browser on the desktop and 1998 level on the mobiles. Windows Mobile cannot run the mobile-optimized HTML5 Web apps that run on other smartphones.
> Ironically, iPhone is very dependent on its
> competitor's (Google) “cloud” computing
> concept, and consequently, is strategically
> vulnerable.
That is not true. With iTunes and MobileMe, Apple provides all of the cloud services for iPhone with the exception of Google Search and Google Maps. Users can install the OS, update the OS, install apps, remote wipe, geolocate the device, get their email, use online storage, and many other services all through Apple.
As for using a competitor's stuff, more than half of the code in Google Chrome is Apple WebKit, which also provides the Web decoder for the Android browser, and for Palm, Nokia, and soon Blackberry. In other words, Apple wrote a significant part of Chrome OS.
> Windows needs to focus on cleaning up the GUI,
> being more stable, and running faster.
They've been saying that for 20 years about every version of Windows. It has never gotten faster, not ever. It has only gotten marginally more stable, but can still go down with a virus at any time. The GUI continues to be a disaster, with stuff moving around arbitrarily and endless nested dialog boxes you have to wade through like a maze just to do simple tasks, and the core functionality of the hardware exposed again and again to the end user like they are an I-T person instead of a business or home user.
> Blackberry may have the lead in the professional
> market, but they seem to be running out of steam.
They bought a WebKit-based browser last year and are going to add much better Web browsing to all their phones. Microsoft has no plan to bring a modern browser to their mobiles. There are thousands of HTML5 mobile apps that can run on iPhone, iPod, Android, Palm, Nokia, and soon Blackberry, but cannot run on Windows Mobile.
I don't know how you can think Blackberry is running out of steam but Windows Mobile is “competitive.”
> With a little creativity, they can paint iPhone
> as a kids toy, and Windows Mobile as an
> integrated solution for professionals.
First, if Microsoft had any creativity, they would have put it into Windows Mobile years ago and they wouldn't be in this mess today.
Second, iPhone is used by 70% of the Fortune 500. In the company I'm consulting at right now, they skipped Vista and are having trouble convincing anybody to accept Windows 7 either, because of all the user training that is involved and the productivity dip that is expected while that goes on, and nobody can explain where the corresponding productivity gain is going to come from. It is like medicine that nobody wants to take. On the other hand, between 2008 and 2009 this company went from majority Blackberry to majority iPhone, with no user training, users just demanded iPhones because they themselves could see they would be more productive, and after adoption, mobile productivity soared, mainly due to the modern desktop class browser and the many native apps, which every user finds 5-10 that truly make their job easier and faster.
Notice that Word, Excel, PowerPoint are not the main apps for business now. Most people have 5 or more Web apps they run for 80% of their day. For example, some people spend more than half their day in Salesforce. You get a new iPhone, tap “App Store”, “Search”, type “Salesforce”, tap “INSTALL”, and Salesforce appears on your home screen, ready to run. It makes you immediately more productive.
It's iPhone that is the integrated solution for professionals. Windows Mobile is a toy for gadget hounds and I-T people, built by a company that has always made kits for I-T professionals. Today there is no time anymore to wait while your I-T maybe builds something useful for you out of a Microsoft kit. Corporate I-T needs to hand users a fully functional device that they themselves can adapt to the changing needs of their business day. There is a new marquee business-ready app released every day for iPhone, and the users install them themselves without any technical repercussions and are immediately more productive. This is an entirely different philosophy than what Microsoft is peddling.
As I consult at various companies, I cannot believe the animosity that users have towards their I-T departments. There is a level of actual hatred towards them because they so rarely help people who are doing the actual work of the company to do the actual work of the company. With mobiles, users are not willing to accept a second Windows machine that continues the torture on a second platform. They are ready to all use iPads from what I hear around me. The iWork demo at the recent iPad introduction went over very well with people who are about to get their Office 2003 replaced with 2010 and don't want it.
Posted by JohnDoey at February 9th, 2010 at 3:03 amAre people retarded? microsoft and RIM makes the best professional phones. apple does not. the only thing that is holding back windows mobile phones is the GUI. after that nothing. as an architect and project manager, i hate to use the iphone as the calendar app has week basic functionality when compared to others. and also week to no data mash-ups. android devices offers nothing that is already on the market, just a fresh new look. and it sucks for media.
Its obvious that people are very BIASED. because of the whole mac vs PC bit. when you look at microsoft's products like the xbox and zune, which has better intuitive interfaces than what is available (ipod etc.) you realsise people mostly talk nonsense.
Posted by jimmyq at February 9th, 2010 at 2:57 pmapple products may be easy to use but far from intuitive. i still forget that menu means back on an ipod.lol. so as far as i'm concerned dont get blinded by eye candy. its a small piece of the puzzle
Ah but windows 7 being fully multi point touch, along with Office 2010 having cloud option, with direct sync to office suite. Leaves MS in a good position to turn out a corporate level product that sucks up that whole market. Problem with Iphone is it is 100% app based, and as it is pointing out most of the apps have lots of hacking holes in them. Not the best place to have your business's CEO's phone number when you can download an Iphone app that sends that number to the app's database. Already a proof in concept app that does just that.
Iphones are greatly insecure and since you have no real OS to control settings and limit what you have downloaded on the phones, you pose a great risk to a companies information.
Android phones are a step up from Iphone security wise, but are still a huge unsafe nightmare. Once again free reign over downloading any rogue app that can / could be spread through a company sucking up data is never a good thing.
Now enter the Blackberry with a blackberry server you can actually control content and provide proper security checks and balances. But your basically running Windows Mobile setup. Which has been lacking some of the cool to be hip aspects.
Now if and this tends to be a big if. Microsoft pulls out a good OS which will be touch screen most likely multipoint and all that jazz, that basically is a subset of Windows 7, has the powershell running inside it, and has a half decent browser. They will really take off.
Also microsoft has been working hard on their WPF, WCF software. Silverlight being a subset of that. How do they play into it all. Well you take a silverlight application and style it to run mobile or “desktop” all the coding remains the same be it a mobile phone or a desktop application. Yes there are some variances and differences but for the average webapp its not a problem. Now you take the WPF aka desktop installed application guy, and go oh by the way coding a mobile phone app uses the same code, etc that you use every day. No new API to learn you already know it, just need to style / lay it out different, oh and we made tools for that as well which you have been using for a few years.
Point being Microsoft has spent the past few years building a developer base for their future products. Even before they are released. Office 2007 put the ribbon style menu system in not cause it was different cause it is designed for touch screen use. Same with Vista/Win7 explorer bar. All with touch screen in mind. Same with moving all their code base for web and desktop to the same coding language.
In closing if MS offers a secure, windows Active Directory based phone, that allows for auto synching with shared drives though office 2010 “web”/”browser” versions, tied along with Domain Connect. Corporations will buy them up left and right. In a secure / high end business security always out weighs feature list. Which is why windows mobile has / can be behind the game on features but still sell products.
Posted by mtcoder at February 9th, 2010 at 3:19 pmpeople always underestimate MSFT,
-was microsoft the first one out with a graphical OS windows)? — no
does every body think its better that the OS X(or others)? — no
but are they dominating this area? yes
was IE the first out with a significantly better JS engine? no
is IE standards compliant(IE9 will probaly be)? no
is MSFT dominating this area? yes
it does not matter if you get there late what matters is if you product is well marketed, and if your product is good enough. another example is XBOX to a lesser extend it got there late to the party and its about the same as PS3.
i own a iphone and i hate to be tide to apple's every desire, i don't like the android interface (i haven't seen the nexus one) so i'm waiting for WinMob7 and for sure i will jump.
Posted by juliosaenz at February 9th, 2010 at 3:35 pmRIM and Blackberry both suck! Microsoft should go with Nokia and release HTC phones that are available in Europe here in the US. The US is the place where computers and the internet started, yet we are the last ones to have the latest innovations.
Why did the tilt in Europe have 2 cameras (1 for video IM) and only 1 camera in the US. Maybe T-Mobile's network couldn't handle the bandwidth requirements but maybe Microsoft didn't push hard enough to make this phone available to Sprint or Verizon.
Posted by jcinla at February 9th, 2010 at 7:08 pmI doubt RIM has any interest in selling to Microsoft… Palm would be less risk for Microsoft anyway — Palm is financially unstable right now and they have a brand new, modern mobile OS. If M$ wants to be #1 purely based on sales, buying someone like Nokia or RIM would be the answer. But it would never truly be a Microsoft product. If they actually want to take the top spot as a source of pride for their company, they need to develop a truly kick ass mobile platform. Is “Project Pink” that product? Who knows. Another option for Microsoft would be a radically new approach — embrace either Android or newly open-sourced Symbian. They could provide a new UI and bring Microsoft software and services to the phone.
Posted by burrr at February 11th, 2010 at 2:32 pm“The most prominent of those rumors is that the new OS morphs into a kind of “ZunePhone,” incorporating functionality from the software of Microsoft’s digital music player.”
Fabulous. Two half-assed implementations kitbashed into another desperate attempt to almost-but-not-quite be a wildly successful Apple product.
There are scads of issues with an all-Apple approach, not the least of which is the nonreplaceability or upgradeability of hardware. (Good luck swapping out an iPod or iPhone battery.) But that doesn't change the success of their products, and most of that is down to absolutely superior ergonomics.
MS has *never* produced *anything* with good ergonomics. Until they do, they will continue to lose traction.
Posted by wockrassa at February 11th, 2010 at 7:52 pm“Not the best place to have your business's CEO's phone number when you can download an Iphone app that sends that number to the app's database. Already a proof in concept app that does just that.”
You just pointed out the main reason all apps have to go through Apple's evaluation & approval process. Try getting that “proof of concept” app into the app store. You could probably get it into the Android store or the WinMo store, since they're proponents of anything-goes apps, but highly unlikely to sneak it past Apple's guardians.
Posted by wingsy at February 11th, 2010 at 9:01 pmIt did pass and was approved. Don't think they hold any real testing of apps on the store. They more worried that it won't blatantly bring the network down, and that it isn't a full on instant hack. But with having a small group and literally billions of apps to approve or not. They don't really check them all out. With the size apple states they have of reviewers, compared to the number of apps they approve each month, they are on average spending 10 minutes per app. Kinda hard to reverse engineer a complex app in 10 minutes.
Posted by mtcoder at February 12th, 2010 at 3:47 amI think Palm would actually be a great acquisition for Microsoft and could lay the groundwork for Microsoft to actually get back in the game. MSFT desperately needs to lose the “Windows everywhere” approach to everything. Mobile demands a different approach. Palm's products are actually quite good but need the type of muscle that MSFT could provide.
Posted by pwb at February 12th, 2010 at 12:22 pmdoes microsoft offer any other features to it like reverse cell phone lookup or any thing like that.
Posted by iptoolz at April 30th, 2010 at 9:56 pm