Marie's blog: Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 7

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 7

Note to Apple and Google: You really do have some competition now. I mean, aside from each other.

Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7, its latest attempt to regain market share in smartphones, with a colorful New York City event Oct. 11. As with the Windows 7 launch last year, Microsoft chose to host the event in one of those West Side lofts where everything's white and angular and tastefully lit. Evidently, they're hoping some of the Windows 7 sales magic will rub off on Windows Phone 7.

A little magic (or luck) is probably what Microsoft needs at this moment. As I've written about ad nauseum on this blog, Microsoft's been faced with steadily falling market share in the mobile space. Windows Mobile 6.5, released this time last year, was meant to slow that decline until Microsoft could push Windows Phone 7 into the marketplace. It failed.

("We were ahead of the game, and now we find ourselves No. 5 in the market," Ballmer told an audience during the D8 conference in June. That came weeks after a major shake-up in Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices division, formerly responsible for mobile device software.)

Now there's Windows 7, due within the next few months on nine devices from a variety of manufacturers. The interface is shiny, with six colorful "Hubs" that connect to different subject-categories of apps and Web content.

"I've been looking forward to this day for some time," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the audience at the New York City event. "We focused in on the way real people really want to use their phones when they're on the go. We want you to get in, out and back to life."

I played around with a variety of Windows Phone 7 devices today. At the main event, I spent a few minutes with three AT&T smartphones: the LG Quantum ($199), which features a physical QWERTY keyboard; the HTC Surround ($199), with a slide-out speaker and a kickstand; and the Samsung Focus ($199), which AT&T claims will be the thinnest of the initial Windows Phone 7 devices.

Then, at a secondary event a few blocks away, I fiddled with a few more: the HTC HD7, HTC Mozart, HTC 7 Surround, HTC 7 Trophy, Dell Venue Pro, Samsung Omnia 7 and the LG Optimus 7.

Microsoft has imposed strict hardware requirements on its manufacturing partners: All devices feature three mechanical buttons and a "pane of glass" form factor, along with a 1GHz processor. However, some of those OEMs evidently pushed back: The Dell Venue Pro and LG Quantum feature slide-out keyboards, while the HTC Surround boasts the aforementioned speakers. Both the HTC Surround and the HTC HD7 include kickstands, for hands-free listening/viewing.

I didn't get nearly enough time with any of the devices to review them responsibly, but the first impressions were definitely good. The user interface was responsive, applications and features seemed speedy, and the hardware felt current. In other words, most of the smartphones on display seemed capable of surviving a head-to-head against the latest-model Android phones, and that's precisely why both Apple and Google maybe need to worry a bit--because people concerned about Android's fragmentation, who aren't Apple fans, will likely give Windows Phone7 a very serious look.

Then again, it's also about the marketing and rollout, and Microsoft needs both those things to run smoothly. But the first signs are promising.