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Can Windows Mobile 6.5 reinvent the user experience?
Microsoft is expected to formally unveil its Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system during next month's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, and already there are more leaks than a secondhand diaper. While the rumors and speculation run the gamut from convincingly credible to wildly unlikely, some cold, hard facts surfaced over the weekend when device manufacturer CompuLab posted screenshots of the OS on its website in conjunction with its new exeda smartphone. "To demonstrate just how friendly to developers exeda is, CompuLab software team brought-up Windows Mobile 6.5 Alpha on exeda the same day it was released," the website reads, while the accompanying images depict a honeycomb-like application launcher user interface enabling one-touch access to apps including Internet Explorer, Messaging, Calendar and Tasks. The homescreen also boasts a large "X" button in the upper right corner, presumably simplifying application shutdown.
Mobile World Congress should signify a watershed moment for Microsoft's mobile aspirations--CEO Steve Ballmer is keynoting the event, and in addition to WinMo 6.5, the software giant is expected to launch its long-awaited SkyMarket application storefront as well as SkyBox (a new solution that synchronizes mobile device information with the web) and SkyLine (a business version of business version of SkyBox that features hosting support with the Microsoft Exchange configuration). In a recent interview with The New York Times, Microsoft's mobile communications division senior vice president Andrew Lees said that while Windows Mobile previously appealed to enterprise users, the firm is now more aggressively targeting the consumer demographic dominated by rival Apple's iPhone: "Everyone who is a business person is also a human being," he said. "We want also to do human things like photos, music, communications, IM, texting and social networking."
More specifically, it appears Microsoft will endeavor to simplify the mobile user experience. Lees cites the familiar example of consumers who are unable to figure out how to upload photos from their phones to the web: "What should happen is when you take a picture it should ‘automagically' arrive on your PC and be in the cloud," he said. "I should be able to fix the red eye on the PC and have it ‘automagically' go back and fix the red eye everywhere else." Lees added that your handset should also know your friends via social networking connections and automatically--excuse me, "automagically"--send them the photo and collect their comments about it. Open source operating systems like Android and Symbian can't offer that kind of integration, Lees argued: "[Handset makers] are going to look around at what their options are and say ‘Is open source going to do all the things I need to do to compete with Windows Mobile? Is it going to create the social experience, the e-mail experience and all the other experiences people want?'" But Lees doesn't pose the bigger rhetorical question, so I will: Is Windows Mobile 6.5 going to do all the things it needs to do to compete with Mac OS X and BlackBerry? -Jason
Comments
Posted by Mariana Oliveira | February 2, 2009 - 1:23pm
the great benefits will go to consumers, if so. This kind of competition is very healthy.
Posted by Martin Suter | August 19, 2009 - 4:59pm
The question is whether "simplicity" is in Windows DNA...
Two years ago, at contract renewal time, I migrated from a Blackberry to a Windows Mobile Smart Phone (AT&T 8525 made by HTC). It had gotten good reviews, and I liked the slide out QWERTY keypad, so I took the plunge.
Besides the dismal battery life, the move was mostly a bust, and I then dusted off my "old" Blackberry and taking a step forward by taking a step backwards.
"Why?", you might ask...
To make a long story short, complexity.
Short on device memory, I have spent (literally) hours on-line trying to figure out how to free up memory. I want to move a single file (PIM.vol) from my local memory to the SD card, and to then have the sync engine sync with it in its new location...Did I say that I've spent hours trying to find out how to do this?
The "solution" is to download a 3rd-party Registry Editor, and to then find and change several registry entries, re-boot a couple of times and then cross your fingers. Now I consider myself to be fairly technical, but why is this my problem? Why should I be mucking around in low-level registry entries to hack a fix when I should be able to open up Windows Explorer and drag the PIM.vol file from one place to another and then have the applications figure it out.
I'm not the only guy with this issue. I came across hundreds of entries from people with the same problem. How many of them will still be Windows Mobile device customers or Google Mobile customers is anybody's guess, but I'm betting that people won't have to hack their registry with a Google device.
Smart is not designing something that only engineers can figure out, smart is designing something that everyone can figure out.
C'mon Microsoft, you can do better...No, you NEED to do better. What's the old maxim about it costing 10X to get a new customer than to keep existing ones? If you lose/alienate your early adopters, it will be very difficult, and maybe impossible, to gain back this market share.
That's my .02!
Martin
(originally published 2/25/2008 - www.martinsuter.net/blog/2008/02/not-smart-enough-for-my-smart-phone-i-guess.html)
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