Verizon and Motorola Execs Give Thumbs-down to Windows Phone 7 (MS oops)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/219914/Verizon_Motorola_Thumbs_down_Windows_Phone_7.html? ^ | 2/17/2011 | Preston Gralla

[longtermmemmory]

Two of the most important players in the mobile industry, Verizon and Motorola, have essentially called Windows Phone 7 a failure, with a Verizon exec going so far as ...

This is clearly not what Microsoft hoped for when it launched Windows Phone 7 to great fanfare late last year.

The statements from both executives were surprisingly blunt. ...

I do want a strong third OS out there. ... But I still have doubts whether Microsoft will get the traction they are hoping for with Windows Phone 7.

Melone was equally unimpressed with the Nokia-Microsoft deal, explaining:

If you look at our device pipeline for 2011, we have very strong relationships with LG, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and now Apple. So I think it would take a really compelling device from Nokia or any new vendor to break in. It doesn't mean that it can't happen, but it would have to be really good.

Then, giving one last twist of the knife, he added:

I don't think Verizon needs the Nokia and Microsoft relationship.

...

Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services product management for Motorola, also weighed in about Windows Phone 7 at the Mobile World Congress, and had only bad things to say. ...

There were a bunch of things that we believed about Microsoft that ended up not being true, ...

In addition, Windows Phone 7 was delayed for so long that Motorola decided to only use Android, and bypass Windows Phone 7. Wyatt also said that Motorola favored Android over Windows Phone 7 because Android is open source, while manufacturers can't customize Windows Phone 7:

We would like an opportunity to create unique value and we don't feel we could with a closed platform.

...

[Richard Kimball]

...due to the fact the device is only compatible with the Microsoft operating system it never had the opportunity to catch on the with the Apple-loving public. And as MacBooks have continued to pop up in every office, coffee shop and college dorm, the market for a device the solely operates on Windows computers is quickly vanishing.

Talk about a change, and I think this is the breakover point for MS. They can no longer leverage their desktop monopoly to force people into Microsoft products.

[Keeper of the Turf]

I’m using the Windows Phone 7 launcher on my Droid....which is pretty cool. Other than that, I’ll stick with Android.

[AFreeBird]

And it took a lowly little cellphone to crack it. Who would have thunk it.

[longtermmemmory]

I still do not see “mac” offices. For the office envirionment it is still windows.

What changed the game was when iphones could hock into regualar windows pc’s for individual users.

[longtermmemmory]

does anyone know of a good smartphone website with tips and tricks? one which has all the phones addressed?

[A Strict Constructionist]

Google’s location data collection functions on Motorola’s devices

I don’t trust Google, Microsoft either but Google much less. Eric Schmidt gave, gives me the creeps.

[Jim Noble]

I have an iPhone and a BlackBerry Tour, and I've worked a lot with Android OS.

The Windows 7 phone OS is a joke. I can't believe anyone buys (or tries to sell) them.

[longtermmemmory]

how can those functions be turned off.

[A Strict Constructionist]

You’ve got me? I use an iPhone which lets you turn location and other items off. Hope Apple doesn’t have me fooled.

[zeugma]

I still do not see “mac” offices. For the office envirionment it is still windows.

What changed the game was when iphones could hock into regualar windows pc’s for individual user

I'm not so sure about that. I think the eal game changers in the office are the iPad and iPhone. The MS-Windows folk in my corporate IT were forced to make their email servers and calendar work with iPhones. It was a bit of a battle, but whtn the CEO says "make email work on my iPhone", stuff happens.

Now, iPhones are the corporate standard. I have my own personal phone because all I want my phone to do is make calls and occasionally text. I've seen too many people get sucked into the work email thing 24x7. Screw that. If I ever want to get a corporate phone though, it will be an iPhone because to do otherwise requires a waiver or special request.

I just wish like hell we could get some momentum behind something less proprietary than exchange email.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Android Forums & Windows Phone Discussion @ xda-developers

http://forum.xda-developers.com/

[toddly]

I have been using WP7 (samsung focus) since shortly after release as the company guinea pig. I have an iPhone as well (1.5 yrs), a touch, and I’m typing this from my iPad.
The samsung is a very nice phone compared to the other WP7’s and with it’s super amoled screen it’s truly beautiful and elegant. Probably best of The WP7 breed.
Very intuitive, fast, crash proof, and fluid OS.
The Outlook interface with Exchange is unrivaled in my view.  As it should be when the project head is the former MS Exchange dev head.
IPhone easily tops it as it does android.

I put it like this to the boss. At release it’s in the same city as iPhone.

With the 1st update called “nodo” (not on samsung yet, saw it on Sprint HTC Arrive) it’s in the same ballpark.

If the rumoured “Mango” update delivers ie9 mobile as shown at a recent conference which leverages the GPU it will be at the same table.

Again, if it happens it will have pretty well caught up to the iPhone in under a year.  Not talking sales of course.

As for the cloud thing, I didn’t think I would care for it, but I’m finding it useful.  25GB is nice, or is it 50, i forget.  I’m not gonna run it out any time soon.

When the Focus starts shipping with the nodo update built in I believe we’ll be purchasing about 150 of them.

Will be interesting to watch.

[adorno]

Old news...

And, Verizon and the other service providers will be supporting WM7, and via whatever smartphones do support WM7.

And, hey, did you forget the Nokia agreement to carry WM7 on it’s smartphones? That’s the largest cell-phone maker in the world.

So, it appears that you are wrong again, on all counts, especially when it comes to Verizon, which is still supporting WM7 and will have no choice but to continue doing so. One executive does not speak for the whole company.

[adorno]

And it took a lowly little cellphone to crack it.

Wrong!

The vast majority of cellphones are not "smartphones", which is where WM7 and iPhone and Android are competing. As of today, the smartphones are a very small portion of the overall cellphone market, and the smartphone market is still very young, and anything can happen. In comparison, the Windows market is into the billions of customers, and smartphones aren't even anywhere close to that kind of penetration.

[Tolsti2]

Windows and Office are MS’s cash cows and have been forever. Those are safe.

They’re probably not going to win this new market and neither will Apple or HP. Android is going to walk away with this one and it’s a *big* market coming up.

[adorno]

Android is going to walk away with this one and it’s a *big* market coming up.

Android is too fragmented, and it lacks the professional apps to really make a go at it.

Once Nokia gets going with WM7, the marketplace will have been redefined again, and Android with become just another player, in second or third place as far as smartphone OSes, and even as a tablet OS, plus, Google has turned out to be not too trustworthy with people's data, and people are becoming too leery about the spy network.

I'm pretty sure that Google and Apple are paying close attention to WM7 and the upcoming Windows 8, and are beginning to worry about what Microsoft has up its sleeves. WM7 may be the newest and the underdog, but, we're still talking about Microsoft, and if anyone rules them out this early, it could be at their own peril.

[Tolsti2]

Do you work for MS? I like their stuff but wow. I don’t think WM7’s going to hit 10%, much less take over Android!

They’ve had bad luck on this mobile market with this and Zune.

[knews_hound]

Both my kids (in their 20’s) have them and like them very much indeed.

Cheers,

knewshound

[adorno]

Do you work for MS?

No, I don't. And I never wanted to work for them.

I like their stuff but wow.

I like whatever stuff they produce which gets the job done for me, but, I feel the same for the others who provide similar stuff.

I don’t think WM7’s going to hit 10%, much less take over Android!

Like I said in my previous post, it's still very early in the smartphone field, and with a finicky market, where people normally go for the latest and greatest and coolest and prettiest every time their contract expires, and where the new and improved gadgets are coming at you at a very rapid pace, then that would make the smartphone market very unstable for any one maker and for any one service provider, and a new leader could arise quickly, depending upon what the newest and slickest features are.

They’ve had bad luck on this mobile market with this and Zune.

I don't believe Microsoft ever looked at Zune as a money maker, and they never tried to market the thing. The fact is that, there were and are many who believe that the Zune was/is actually a superior product to the iPods. But, neglecting a product tends to make it unnoticeable.

But, when it comes to smartphones, Microsoft was one of the biggest players with Windows Mobile Phones, and they were caught sleeping when the iPhone came out. But, thought the iPhone took the lead and did very well for Apple's bottom line, the overall market is still very young and the majority of cellphone users have not migrated to the smartphones. Thus, there is still a very large potential market for WM7, and even for Android or iPhones. Being late to the game is a handicap, but, Microsoft CANNOT afford to not make a winner of the WM7 or the WM8, because, this is the future of computing, and Microsoft is about computing, even if those gadgets also have the capabilities of being phones. Same with tablets, and with WM8, I'm pretty sure that they'll be in that field for keeps, and being the giant it is, and with the OS track record it has built over the years, Microsoft will, the way I see it, become dominant in that area too.

People tend to forget that Microsoft is still the biggest tech company around, even if Apple is bigger on the market cap area. Google is a competitor in the smartphone market, but only because they got into the game early, but, with time, Android will recede into "also ran" status. Apple will continue to be profitable in the smartphone arena, but, they too will recede to being a traditional 5-10% position, just like in the rest of the computer related areas where Apple has never broke beyond 10%. It takes time to establish a real winner, and a market cannot be defined by just 2 or 3 years worth of usage, and not especially when the form factor is still very evolutionary.

So, that's why I wouldn't rule out Microsoft in this, basically, "new" field. In this new field, brand loyalty is not going to decide the winner.

[Glenn]

I just dumped Verizon for one of my devices. Their "greeter" at the store in the local mall treated me like a homeless person (yeah, I've got that "look") and it pixxed me off no end. She became very impatient with me.

I've had my phone service with AT&T since 2002 and have never had a complaint with their service.

Some big companies, like Verizon, think they are doing you a favor because they allow you on their network.