Microsoft squeezes out Windows Phone Mango details Microsoft's next update to Windows Phone ties handsets even more tightly into the company's online services while stitching together Facebook with Redmond's email and instant messaging. Codenamed Mango, the next Windows Phone operating system upgrades Hubs for Office and Xbox, the company said in a Tuesday webcast. The new …
Actually, that's exactly how I read it the first time and thought "well, that's a bit harsh..". But only a *bit*.
Srsly, there's a lot riding on this though. Neither Microsoft or Nokia can afford this to fail. Other manufacturers really don't give a damn one way or another.. and I note that the manufacturers announcing new WP7 handsets aren't exactly top tier - Fujitsu, ZTE and Acer.
"Microsoft's love affair with digital rights management (DRM) for documents continues with Mango: you will be able to set permissons on email that stop people from forwarding or printing things such as embarrassing or compromising company memos and plans."
Because a camera can't take pictures of a screen. Oh no.
>MS does brilliant stuff. World class research and all that.
>Then it fragments it into many pieces
Funny how that happens when you have thick layer of sociopath middle management defending little fiefdoms with massive infighting at the expense of the overall company. Nokia and M$ are birds of a feather.
It all looks good to me. iPhone and Android users want to poo-poo WP7 just because it is a Microsoft product, but I think they are comming on strong with this release. Yes, WP7 is comming from behind, I don't think this is a surpise to anyone, but I think the worry is that it will catch up.
And of course, we know that the Apple and Google fanbois can stand the thought that Microsoft could actually make a good product.
... give or take a few omissions and a few additions which other don't have.
Agree with Trib, Apple and Google will most definitely learn and perhaps borrow a few innovations here. They'd be foolish not to.
The problem with Android and iOS is that these OS' don't have the built-in deep integration that Windows Phone has from the start. It's this deep integration which is WP trump card.
"you will be able to set permissons on email that stop people from forwarding or printing things"
Translation: you'll be able to wrap email up so tight no-one else can even read it.
Well, I suppose that might interest companies and drive some corporate sales from RIM to WP7... the tweeters, facebookers and other social media users don't seem to care about security or privacy and won't even notice this feature. So not much chance of attracting casual users.
And it still looks far too ginger.
Dell - they made a Win7 phone? Must have missed it as it appears to sunk without a trace. They are also AWOL from the list of Mango HW partners so possibly have already given it up.
Samsung, HTC and LG; all of whom have churned out millions of Android phones, with Win7 phones being a sideline - they probably get paid by MS to make a few.
Asus - why would they bother producing a Win7 phone now?
Question remains; even if you wanted a Win7 phone (and it seems the market is prefering Win6.5 devices or anythign else to Win7), why not wait now until Mango ready hardware is out?
Given that even minor Win7 phone updates appear to have taken months and months to slowly leak out, I wouldn't trust that Mango is going to be out anytime soon on existing devices.
WP7 is by far the best phone i have ever used - my Samsung Omnia 7 is just AWESOME...
i can't wait for Mango, it's going to make an already excellent product even better.
(and the best thing about it is that it's NOT an iPhone! woohoo... i don't feel like a sheep! - i did though, when i owned one briefly).
...but having seen friends fumble and struggle with both an iPhone and an HTC Android I can honestly say that these devices have a long way to go before I would want one. In that sense the market is wide open - if someone comes up with a platform that is stable, reliable, fast and intuitive (none of the current platforms achieve all of these) then the incumbents will be in for a hard time.
Whether WinPhone is that platform, I can not say - I've not had any experience of it at all. It is clear to me, though, that Google and Apple need to step up several gears if they are to stay ahead. Microsoft has some 40 billion and it is not beyond them to literally start buying customers - whether that is phone networks, manufacturers or end users - to get their product to the No.1 slot. I say this as someone who is not a great fan of MS as a warning: Do not underestimate Microsoft.
Interesting observation but I guess statiscally irrelevant.
In my environment, non-techies can operate iPhone/iPad/Android much better than technicians.
Even worse, still 100% of the people I know who use Windows Mobile would switch to iPhone if they could. Just found another representative of this species last week.
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