Does the world need yet another smartphone with another phone OS? Microsoft seems to think so, today launching the latest in the smartphone series, the Windows 7 Phone.
The Windows 7 Phone uses a slightly different context for UI (User Interface) choosing a tile system on the main screen rather than icons. There are reportedly five devices that will be coming to market later this year with the most notable one being the Samsung Focus available exclusively on the Rogers network in Canada.
Initial impressions of the device is that it does not offer anything better or unique to features offered by the Apple iPhone iOS and Google Android. In fact there has been some controversy surrounding todays launch. Microsoft was prominently showing the wildly popular iPhone game, Angry Birds on the main screens of many devices in their marketing. Rovio Mobile, makers of Angry Birds responded through Twitter, “We have NOT committed to doing a Windows Phone 7 version. Microsoft put the Angry Birds icon on their site without our permission.”
What remains to be seen is how the market accepts and adopts this new device. Industry experts continue to suggest that while Windows 7 Phone is a significant improvement over Windows Mobile 6.5, that it will not gain significant market share.
I think the world needs as many options as the market can sustain. The market will decide if it lives or dies, but having options and not being forced into a particular platform (that may be too locked down, unconfigurable, uncustomizable, or lacking in back-end features for some) is a very good thing.
I don’t disagree with that at all… options stimulates creativity and competition – let the market decide what should survive.
The other aspect though of having a particular platform ‘optimized’ is that it delivers a consistent and great user experience without significant risk to the end user. There are pros and cons to both sides of the argument.