Windows Phone 7 lands!

Source: Microsoft

Yes, that's right folks. Nearly 9 months after it was first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress conference, Microsoft's latest attempt at developing a mobile operating system has been publicly unveiled in New York. Windows Phone 7 is surely set to revolutionise what one expects of a Windows Phone, which isn't hard really, given how lacklustre the various Windows Mobile 6.x iterations have been since 2007. This time around, the team appear to have gone for broke - they've broken with the past, and seemingly started all over again. A brand new codebase. A brand new user interface. A whole slew of on-line services directly linked into the phone, meaning that in so many ways WP7 offers the user the chance to really stay connected wherever they are. All of this was most welcome news at Monday's press conference in New York, given that WM6.x was technically a smartphone platform, but never really seemed to be modern in any real sense. Sure, it had great Exchange ActiveSync support, but that was only really important in isolation 4-5 years ago, before the iPhone came out, and changed the entire game. Microsoft was well behind.

Steve Ballmer and Joe Belfiore were the two who took to the stage on Monday, to show off the core elements which they hope will make WP7 a competitive answer to Apple's iOS platform, and Google's Android platform. The catchphrase of the day seemed to be "always delightful, wonderfully mine". While that is clearly a nice piece of marketing sloganism, at its core what they are attempting to sell is the notion that the user experience (UX) will consistently elicit a feeling of delight from the user, even if that is something as simple as a stark 2D transition animation between screens, or the deep personalisation that occurs when you can seamlessly link your Facebook and Windows Live accounts to the device. This deep level of integration is something I am very keen to play around with later this year when I get my hands on a WP7 device. Paul Thurrott, of the Supersite for Windows fame, has frequently commented on the notion of how lovely it is to switch on a brand new WP7 device, input a single user name and password for your Windows Live account, and have the device flood with your contacts, Facebook photos and updates etc. Lovely.

The links with other Microsoft-owned products is also a major selling point for the new Windows Phone 7, and is not something Apple can really lay claim to, even if they have tried to respond with their insipid Game Centre feature. WP7 will offer the world's first fully portable XBox Live experience, complete with on-device avatar manipulation, Achievements, multi-player turn-based game options, as well as a whole host of high-quality games available from launch day. Furthermore, the phone will have heavy links into the Zune Marketplace for music, videos, and podcasts, which will finally present us with the first proper rival on a mobile platform to Apple's iTunes Music Store. Additionally, the phone will have deep integration with the Bing online service, (for both on-device searching, as well as extensive web-based and map-based searches), as well as making those corporate users happy by offering Microsoft Office 2010 linked directly into the phone. Exchange support will also be present, and really it's just wonderful to see Microsoft finally realising that they have so many disparate elements that need to be combined to make something fantastic.

At this stage, it's hard to say what kind of a reception or impact Windows Phone 7 will have on what is a pretty crowded market. While the smartphone market is still very much in its infancy, I think Microsoft might be taking the best approach here. By adopting Apple's strategy of closely managing the hardware specs and software updates, but coupled with Android's diverse set of hardware partners and form factors, we could end up with the best of both worlds. No need to be locked into a single "one size fits all device" like the Apple approach, but similarly no obvious level of fragmentation such as what the Android platform is currently experiencing. I guess sometimes it does pay to hold back and wait a year or two to see what the rest of the industry does, then choose the best path for you. All the major phone players, such as HTC, Samsung, LG, and Dell, are getting in on the WP7 act, and I look forward to seeing what comes of the worldwide launch next month. I'm gagging for an iOS-esque phone experience, but not in the Apple ecosystem. Windows Phone 7 might just be what I need, and so far all the signs are looking really rather good.

For more details on Windows Phone 7, I really suggest you check out Paul Thurrott's excellent Windows Phone Secrets blog.