news.cnet.com— Windows Mobile is losing the last glimmers of its mojo as phones based on the Android 2.0 operating system push the buzz meter needle into the red zone.
Nov 8, 2009View in Crawl 4
I've had several WinMo phones. They went too long without a really good usability overhaul, and was too unstable. They had a 10 year head start on Apple and stopped innovating at about year 3. Microsoft deserves their crushing defeat just because they milked the cow rather than innovating.
Let's face it, there is still a huge market for simple on a mobile phone. Over 75% of the mobile phones run a simple OS like Symbian and that's unlikely to change any time soon. Now the battle for the smartphone market is a different story. I think WinMo succeeded not by creating something new and stylish. It succeeded by creating something familiar. If you ran XP at home or at work, then the phone acted very similar and you could run Windows like apps on it. But I think as the MS brand name has become more and more tarnished and seemingly a relic of the 20th century people are not buying in to WinMo any more. They just realize that the iPhone and Droid and other cell phones just allow you to do more on the phone. Familiarity is being replaced with flexibility.
It seems that too many companies are trying to beat the iPhone. There will always be a rival product/company. I think people should be allowed to make their own choice on this matter. The iPhone doesn't allow flash player to be installed and plus it's heavy price tag might make the iPhone less popular.
Marketting, Windows Mobile, and Hysteria in blog landFirst, WinMo demands more resources to function properly, and the more powerful processors coming out will bear this out. What we have to this point are small-screen quasi-electronic toys. Second, it is a product with a history of development and design for implementations and use on multiple portable devices. The modern cell phone just happens to be one of these devices. So, you cannot expect it to behave like the stripped down phone interfaces coming out now. The trend is to make these interfaces dumb-proof for the average consumer and most importantly, for bloggers, to connect them to “the beehive,” i.e. social networks, quickly. Apple and the Iphone are to be commended for this. The Iphone’s interface is not really an OS, by definition, because all it does is allow you to launch tinny programs from a list of icons and nothing else. Android is a bit more sophisticated than the Iphone’s interface, but it is still a basic interface made to address the most popular functions of today’s cell phones usage. It allows you to do much more than the Iphone, though. Cell phone makers learned from Apple that you can take from Open Source, claim its benefits and power and not put anything back. Besides the fact that Android allows you to do these basics well, this is the main attraction for these phone makers right now. This no doubt is where W.M. has faltered in a major way because it does not as of yet provide these services out of the box and it does not permit cute things such as “the pinch,” “the slide,” etc. Windows Mobile, though, is on a different league. It is a complete micro operating system. In a lot of ways, it has a foot in the future already and it is the hardware that has to catch up.Now, You are hearing a lot of horrible things about the Windows Mobile OS, and the hysteria out there in blog land is quite palpable. You might think that you’ll go blind or lose a limb if you so much as look or touch a work-centric cell phone with the Windows Mobile OS in it. Heck, a couple of pseudo-technical (blogging sites such as gizmodo.com and engadget.com) have done a fantastic job of destroying its reputation. By the way, these same bloggers will blow WM7 away just the same when it arrives no matter in what form it arrives. You are going to hear a gush of ‘verbal diarrhea’ from reviewers posing as knowledgeable technical people when in fact all they are, are cheer leaders for one camp or the other. It is kind of laughable because they don’t get any kind of stipend from the companies that they so fervently fight for. These types of reviewers don’t seem to understand two things-that you create something when you critique something and that objectivity is as obvious as bias. In forum after forum, you are going to get a lot of idiotic comments from people that do not know what Windows Mobile is, but feel that it is their duty to trash it. Hey, it is fashionable to trash anything Microsoft, especially now. I have to admit that one of my joy as a Windows Mobile user is seeing how these poor tortured souls actually create their own artificial reality in order to lie about something that they have never seen or tried. It is the internet age and the dissemination of misinformation rules. It is the internet age and the culture of the “Reality Distortion Field” is so much in vogue. “So many, willing to drink the Kool-Aid.” How interesting that the market responds to this, but a thing is what it is. Windows Mobile is more complex than what is coming out to the market. And this Microsoft guy (Ballmer) is totally clueless as to how to respond. You have the users who thinks that the Windows Mobile OS is no good because it does not allow them to shift visual gunk back and forth all day long easily, and pretty-ly. You have those (most non-technical ,cheer leading bloggers) who think that fashion and eye candy is more important than function and have created a culture of “Newness is the New Novelty.” You have those that understand that it is a micro operating system not a mere phone interface. I can say this because I have used and worked with all of them. I am going to make it simple for you: If you want to use your modern so called smart cell phone as a mini computer that mimics just about everything that you can do with your desktop, and that allows you to interface and sync efficiently (I mean efficiently like work/play) with such desktop, then don’t break your head looking for something other than Windows Mobile because you won’t find it. If you want to use your modern cell phone to get great joy with the shifting of visual elements around in order to mainly make phone calls, text, pics and get to your beehive, etc. you have the other interfaces with easier finger usage and input. Why torture yourselves hating one or the other method of working with a modern cell phone. For example, I don’t find it a chore to have to lift a small stylus out of my pocket so that I can do precise computing. I mean, there are oranges and then there are apples, and then there are… And this hate thing is such a spiritual albatross. Besides, soon Windows Mobile will allow you to do the same things. It will decouple its complexities into consumers (bloggers, average users) and knowledgeable users functions. So, you will have a gadgety-widgety-shifty visual interface for the general consumer and an OS centric interface for IT or more knowledgeable users. If you are a regular Joe-six-pack user maybe Windows Mobile is not for you. If you are allergic to the culture of chaperoned, dictated, one-size-fits-all computing or smart phone usage maybe Windows Mobile is for you. You will never know until you stop finding joy in talking gaga and actually learn the differences between the ways these platforms function. The world is not a monochromatic experience, you know. So, even if the WM market share drops to ( .5% ), it is still a very powerful and useful platform. So why the hysteria?
While it is time to rejoice for those young market analysts and anti-anything Microsoft bloggers from engadget.com, gizmodo.com, and mobilitytoday.com, it is a mistake to count Microsoft out. These bloggers are doing all they can to make sure that Windows Mobile die. They are as openly bias as can be and as outrageous as possible with their claims. They scoff at and find great joy in this kind of reviews about WM. The level of anti-WM hysteria that they have whipped up is quite palpable. But, they are as oblivious to the type of corporate entity that Microsoft is as had been those that came before them with the same death wish for Microsoft and its wares.First, Microsoft is not a trend or cute style setting company like Apple. Second, it is not a speculative company as is Google. It is a company that has made its name by following trends and making it possible for people to compute. That is what they excel at, following tech trends. They had to quickly turn their corporate vehicle around to follow the trends and technological changes that came with the GUI, the changes that came with the Multimedia PC, the changes that came with the Internet, the changes that came with a host of other new technological ideas. And now, here we are again they have been caught with their pants down. While Ballmer has concentrated on filling the deep pockets of Microsoft shareholders and investors, change has hit them on the face again with the new mobile wireless revolution. Microsoft is a reactive corporate entity. They don’t learn from their mistakes. They use their resources to correct their mistakes while they take place.In the minds of these young, idealist anti-softies there is coming a world that will only be inhabited by handsets porting the Google Android portable OS. They forget that there are other players. They forget that when over ninety percent of the people around the world stare at their computer screens to do any computing what they see is Microsoft. Handset makers know and realize this.I guess that to these idealist anti-softies it is out of the question that Microsoft won’t see anew and mine this connection while submitting to the new tech trends. They reason that since Apple took from Open Source, bragged about the power of what they took, claimed that it was theirs and gave nothing back to Open Source that handset makers will follow the same formula. The Android dance will eventually simmer down and that is why handset makers such as HTC, Samsung, and LG are not ready to pull the cord yet on WM. They know that cheer leading for one side or the other or unrestrained hysteria does not a solid, lasting market build. They stand pat until they hear the fat lady sing or croak.
rudegarNov 9, 2009
the core is still called windows CEwm5 to wm 6.5 are based on windows CE5 but the iteration of CE is at CE6 now so wm is behind CE
pinchduckNov 9, 2009
I've had several WinMo phones. They went too long without a really good usability overhaul, and was too unstable. They had a 10 year head start on Apple and stopped innovating at about year 3. Microsoft deserves their crushing defeat just because they milked the cow rather than innovating.
devophlNov 9, 2009
Let's face it, there is still a huge market for simple on a mobile phone. Over 75% of the mobile phones run a simple OS like Symbian and that's unlikely to change any time soon. Now the battle for the smartphone market is a different story. I think WinMo succeeded not by creating something new and stylish. It succeeded by creating something familiar. If you ran XP at home or at work, then the phone acted very similar and you could run Windows like apps on it. But I think as the MS brand name has become more and more tarnished and seemingly a relic of the 20th century people are not buying in to WinMo any more. They just realize that the iPhone and Droid and other cell phones just allow you to do more on the phone. Familiarity is being replaced with flexibility.
danielphermousNov 10, 2009
This account has been closed by the user
illage3Nov 10, 2009
It seems that too many companies are trying to beat the iPhone. There will always be a rival product/company. I think people should be allowed to make their own choice on this matter. The iPhone doesn't allow flash player to be installed and plus it's heavy price tag might make the iPhone less popular.
jakem1Nov 14, 2009
Sure, that's why they keep saying that their focus will continue to be with WinMo and all their flagship devices run WinMo.
salimkhan2225Nov 16, 2009
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fuzzlogueDec 31, 2009
Marketting, Windows Mobile, and Hysteria in blog landFirst, WinMo demands more resources to function properly, and the more powerful processors coming out will bear this out. What we have to this point are small-screen quasi-electronic toys. Second, it is a product with a history of development and design for implementations and use on multiple portable devices. The modern cell phone just happens to be one of these devices. So, you cannot expect it to behave like the stripped down phone interfaces coming out now. The trend is to make these interfaces dumb-proof for the average consumer and most importantly, for bloggers, to connect them to “the beehive,” i.e. social networks, quickly. Apple and the Iphone are to be commended for this. The Iphone’s interface is not really an OS, by definition, because all it does is allow you to launch tinny programs from a list of icons and nothing else. Android is a bit more sophisticated than the Iphone’s interface, but it is still a basic interface made to address the most popular functions of today’s cell phones usage. It allows you to do much more than the Iphone, though. Cell phone makers learned from Apple that you can take from Open Source, claim its benefits and power and not put anything back. Besides the fact that Android allows you to do these basics well, this is the main attraction for these phone makers right now. This no doubt is where W.M. has faltered in a major way because it does not as of yet provide these services out of the box and it does not permit cute things such as “the pinch,” “the slide,” etc. Windows Mobile, though, is on a different league. It is a complete micro operating system. In a lot of ways, it has a foot in the future already and it is the hardware that has to catch up.Now, You are hearing a lot of horrible things about the Windows Mobile OS, and the hysteria out there in blog land is quite palpable. You might think that you’ll go blind or lose a limb if you so much as look or touch a work-centric cell phone with the Windows Mobile OS in it. Heck, a couple of pseudo-technical (blogging sites such as gizmodo.com and engadget.com) have done a fantastic job of destroying its reputation. By the way, these same bloggers will blow WM7 away just the same when it arrives no matter in what form it arrives. You are going to hear a gush of ‘verbal diarrhea’ from reviewers posing as knowledgeable technical people when in fact all they are, are cheer leaders for one camp or the other. It is kind of laughable because they don’t get any kind of stipend from the companies that they so fervently fight for. These types of reviewers don’t seem to understand two things-that you create something when you critique something and that objectivity is as obvious as bias. In forum after forum, you are going to get a lot of idiotic comments from people that do not know what Windows Mobile is, but feel that it is their duty to trash it. Hey, it is fashionable to trash anything Microsoft, especially now. I have to admit that one of my joy as a Windows Mobile user is seeing how these poor tortured souls actually create their own artificial reality in order to lie about something that they have never seen or tried. It is the internet age and the dissemination of misinformation rules. It is the internet age and the culture of the “Reality Distortion Field” is so much in vogue. “So many, willing to drink the Kool-Aid.” How interesting that the market responds to this, but a thing is what it is. Windows Mobile is more complex than what is coming out to the market. And this Microsoft guy (Ballmer) is totally clueless as to how to respond. You have the users who thinks that the Windows Mobile OS is no good because it does not allow them to shift visual gunk back and forth all day long easily, and pretty-ly. You have those (most non-technical ,cheer leading bloggers) who think that fashion and eye candy is more important than function and have created a culture of “Newness is the New Novelty.” You have those that understand that it is a micro operating system not a mere phone interface. I can say this because I have used and worked with all of them. I am going to make it simple for you: If you want to use your modern so called smart cell phone as a mini computer that mimics just about everything that you can do with your desktop, and that allows you to interface and sync efficiently (I mean efficiently like work/play) with such desktop, then don’t break your head looking for something other than Windows Mobile because you won’t find it. If you want to use your modern cell phone to get great joy with the shifting of visual elements around in order to mainly make phone calls, text, pics and get to your beehive, etc. you have the other interfaces with easier finger usage and input. Why torture yourselves hating one or the other method of working with a modern cell phone. For example, I don’t find it a chore to have to lift a small stylus out of my pocket so that I can do precise computing. I mean, there are oranges and then there are apples, and then there are… And this hate thing is such a spiritual albatross. Besides, soon Windows Mobile will allow you to do the same things. It will decouple its complexities into consumers (bloggers, average users) and knowledgeable users functions. So, you will have a gadgety-widgety-shifty visual interface for the general consumer and an OS centric interface for IT or more knowledgeable users. If you are a regular Joe-six-pack user maybe Windows Mobile is not for you. If you are allergic to the culture of chaperoned, dictated, one-size-fits-all computing or smart phone usage maybe Windows Mobile is for you. You will never know until you stop finding joy in talking gaga and actually learn the differences between the ways these platforms function. The world is not a monochromatic experience, you know. So, even if the WM market share drops to ( .5% ), it is still a very powerful and useful platform. So why the hysteria?
fuzzlogueJan 4, 2010
While it is time to rejoice for those young market analysts and anti-anything Microsoft bloggers from engadget.com, gizmodo.com, and mobilitytoday.com, it is a mistake to count Microsoft out. These bloggers are doing all they can to make sure that Windows Mobile die. They are as openly bias as can be and as outrageous as possible with their claims. They scoff at and find great joy in this kind of reviews about WM. The level of anti-WM hysteria that they have whipped up is quite palpable. But, they are as oblivious to the type of corporate entity that Microsoft is as had been those that came before them with the same death wish for Microsoft and its wares.First, Microsoft is not a trend or cute style setting company like Apple. Second, it is not a speculative company as is Google. It is a company that has made its name by following trends and making it possible for people to compute. That is what they excel at, following tech trends. They had to quickly turn their corporate vehicle around to follow the trends and technological changes that came with the GUI, the changes that came with the Multimedia PC, the changes that came with the Internet, the changes that came with a host of other new technological ideas. And now, here we are again they have been caught with their pants down. While Ballmer has concentrated on filling the deep pockets of Microsoft shareholders and investors, change has hit them on the face again with the new mobile wireless revolution. Microsoft is a reactive corporate entity. They don’t learn from their mistakes. They use their resources to correct their mistakes while they take place.In the minds of these young, idealist anti-softies there is coming a world that will only be inhabited by handsets porting the Google Android portable OS. They forget that there are other players. They forget that when over ninety percent of the people around the world stare at their computer screens to do any computing what they see is Microsoft. Handset makers know and realize this.I guess that to these idealist anti-softies it is out of the question that Microsoft won’t see anew and mine this connection while submitting to the new tech trends. They reason that since Apple took from Open Source, bragged about the power of what they took, claimed that it was theirs and gave nothing back to Open Source that handset makers will follow the same formula. The Android dance will eventually simmer down and that is why handset makers such as HTC, Samsung, and LG are not ready to pull the cord yet on WM. They know that cheer leading for one side or the other or unrestrained hysteria does not a solid, lasting market build. They stand pat until they hear the fat lady sing or croak.