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Given Nokia don't make shoddy build quality phones generally and they've got Windows Phone 7.5 it would have to be something spectacular to make them fail!
Windows 7.5.
Disaffected RIM users maybe, who are just being offered touch screen, but I doubt android users would take the Win 7 Route, would go for what they thought they were getting in the first place which was an iOS platform...
Disaffected RIM users maybe, who are just being offered touch screen, but I doubt android users would take the Win 7 Route, would go for what they thought they were getting in the first place which was an iOS platform...
... that people who buy Android think they're buying Apple?
Reality check, dude.
Reality check, dude.
... iOS made smartphones easy to use when most of what was available was complex and buried beneath layers of menus. iOS's greatest problem was its high price, which is still out of the reach of the vast majority of people if you go for the latest model. Android's greatest advantage was that it offered the 'look' of iOS at a much lower price. They very well knew they weren't buying Apple, but they figured if it looked the same, it'd work the same and be 'just as good'.
Android itself has proven them wrong. Sure, it works, but the return rates prove that it's not 'just as good'.
Android itself has proven them wrong. Sure, it works, but the return rates prove that it's not 'just as good'.
Nokia has never had a reputation for shoddy quality, so that factor has to be one of this phone's strong points.
On the other hand, WP7 is dragging that ball-and-chain of a WinMob reputation by the ankle which ensures this product is going to get a relatively slow start. If WP7 is as good as all the proponents claim, then it shouldn't take too long to prove itself.
On the other hand, WP7 is dragging that ball-and-chain of a WinMob reputation by the ankle which ensures this product is going to get a relatively slow start. If WP7 is as good as all the proponents claim, then it shouldn't take too long to prove itself.
These new nokia phones are gorgeous and i would snap one immediatly if i weren't stuck in a contract for another 8 months. Android and iPhone features are being inspired by the Windows Phone OS so don't poo-poo it until you tried it, it certainly glides along at a fair pace rather elegantly at day to day use and as MS are so fond of saying it really does work with you rather against you. And i don't need stoopid little crappy apps to stay in touch on the major social networking sites/messaging systems.
Oh and there were some awful comments from the interface designer of android's ice cream sandwich in the media not so long since regarding their competitors which just sounded like sour grapes to be honest. Ice Cream Sandwich is blatantly ripping off the live tiles idea but making it look like a dogs dinner. Android is theft as SJ was would bleat - and don't forget Windows Mobile did everything iphone/android ever did just had a crappy interface about it, so neither of the big two phone OSs today are as innovative as people may imagine, but alongside them WIndows Phone is taking late but bold steps in re-imagining the phone OS.
Oh and there were some awful comments from the interface designer of android's ice cream sandwich in the media not so long since regarding their competitors which just sounded like sour grapes to be honest. Ice Cream Sandwich is blatantly ripping off the live tiles idea but making it look like a dogs dinner. Android is theft as SJ was would bleat - and don't forget Windows Mobile did everything iphone/android ever did just had a crappy interface about it, so neither of the big two phone OSs today are as innovative as people may imagine, but alongside them WIndows Phone is taking late but bold steps in re-imagining the phone OS.
... about that Android ripping off "live tiles"... years before Windows 7 Phone and its UI even existed. We call them "widgets", just as Microsoft did on the Windows Vista desktop, and Google did before that in 2005 with Google's Desktop. These are ideas -- no one's stealing anything. You can adopt an idea, learn from it, be inspired from it, etc. but you can't steal one. Only property can be stolen, and ideas are not properly. And rarely original.
Jobs was very successful, and changed many industries. He was also an egomaniac, and didn't think the rule applied to him. Not the rules of biology (putting off real cancer treatments for six months, thinking diet and new age BS was a viable alternative), not the rules of the industry -- "stealing" is ok when Apple does it, but Jobs went nuts when exactly the same things were done back to him.
And on that... if you look at the Android G1, you'll find far more that's "stolen" from a Palm T5 or T|X than an iPhone. If you want to look at where the touch interfaces were born, you have to go to some colleges, not Apple. But they did kind of gel on-screen, in 2002's "Minority Report"... one reason Apple, Android, Palm, and Microsoft (with Surface, not yet Windows Phone) all started showing off the same kind of technology around the same time.
The industry generally moves in predictable waves... only Microsoft seems largely unable to see what's coming in time. The missed the importance of the internet, they missed the importance of the video gaming console, and they missed the true rise of portable devices. Next big jump, they'll probably miss as well... but billions in case, and a willingness to lose money for years to be a player, is also a workable strategy. As long as you still have those billions to burn.
Jobs was very successful, and changed many industries. He was also an egomaniac, and didn't think the rule applied to him. Not the rules of biology (putting off real cancer treatments for six months, thinking diet and new age BS was a viable alternative), not the rules of the industry -- "stealing" is ok when Apple does it, but Jobs went nuts when exactly the same things were done back to him.
And on that... if you look at the Android G1, you'll find far more that's "stolen" from a Palm T5 or T|X than an iPhone. If you want to look at where the touch interfaces were born, you have to go to some colleges, not Apple. But they did kind of gel on-screen, in 2002's "Minority Report"... one reason Apple, Android, Palm, and Microsoft (with Surface, not yet Windows Phone) all started showing off the same kind of technology around the same time.
The industry generally moves in predictable waves... only Microsoft seems largely unable to see what's coming in time. The missed the importance of the internet, they missed the importance of the video gaming console, and they missed the true rise of portable devices. Next big jump, they'll probably miss as well... but billions in case, and a willingness to lose money for years to be a player, is also a workable strategy. As long as you still have those billions to burn.
... if it can get past WinMob's reputation. While I don't personally like the look of "Mango", it does offer interconnectivity that no other platform can provide natively. The Windows environment is almost ubiquitous and new Windows devices should be able to tie in without issue.
On the other hand, to me the "Mango" interface looks too... utilitarian? It looks like a bunch of Post-It notes slapped on the screen; to me rather crude, even if functional. But appearances aren't everything and we'll just have to see how well it performs. Nokia had a good reputation for a long time. Microsoft has a so-so reputation at the moment, at least in mobility. This could be the team-up that makes Microsoft and Nokia new powers in the mobility world.
(Personally, I think WinMob's reputation is going to make it really slow going until it does.)
On the other hand, to me the "Mango" interface looks too... utilitarian? It looks like a bunch of Post-It notes slapped on the screen; to me rather crude, even if functional. But appearances aren't everything and we'll just have to see how well it performs. Nokia had a good reputation for a long time. Microsoft has a so-so reputation at the moment, at least in mobility. This could be the team-up that makes Microsoft and Nokia new powers in the mobility world.
(Personally, I think WinMob's reputation is going to make it really slow going until it does.)
..the "post-it notes" are not just static icons though, feeding at-a-glance updates comstantly without the kerfuffle of opening an app etc To be most effective they do need to take up a bit of space, abnd maximise the space available but it works and should be applauded!
That they're big, ugly rectangles of color with text and graphic on them. Surely they could have come up with something nicer looking and less childish.
This is a good point. I was (pleasantly) surprised to see the new Google phone is a Samsung.
I think Microsoft needs to see what attracts buyers to IOS and Android, its the apps and the apps that integrate seemlessly and enhance the buyers lifestyle. WebOS had a great idea of being able to touch one device to the other and what you were doing at one device transfers seemlessly to the other, phone to pc to tv to whatever it maybe. Windows 8 is getting that a bit but it needs to be more innovative and exciting, like the PocketTouch and OmniTouch, if Microsoft can integrate those technologies to their Windows 8 or whatever they call it mobile and pc OS, that will definitely be a buyer-centric OS and make it elegant in the final product, buyers will come.
Windows phone 7 device to date have had very mediocure specifications. The manufacturers have been only putting it into mid-range devices which has not brought much attention to the OS. If you had a device offered right now that has the specs of the Samsung Nexus you would be able to turn more people onto the OS. If the device manufacturers and Microsoft want to increase their sales, the WP7 devices need to grab your interest from a hardware perspective. I think there is a large group of none Apple people that are hardware geeks and are more interested in what the phone can do than what the OS does. Apple users buy for the name and a lot of us look at what the phone does because all of the OS's can do a good job now.
"If the device manufacturers and Microsoft want to increase their sales, the WP7 devices need to grab your interest from a hardware perspective."
I respectfully disagree with that statement. Superior hardware specifications is less of an attraction for the average consumer than case design, OS functionality, price, and marketing.
You and I (and most of the posters at TechRepublic) care about specification because we are technies but we are not average consumers.
Many of the average consumers buy the cheapest smartphone in the wireless store. Others buy what their friends have. The average consumer doesn't ask about chipsets, number of cores, total storage, ability to tether, or megapixels. They take a few swipes on the touch screen and buy it or move on.
I respectfully disagree with that statement. Superior hardware specifications is less of an attraction for the average consumer than case design, OS functionality, price, and marketing.
You and I (and most of the posters at TechRepublic) care about specification because we are technies but we are not average consumers.
Many of the average consumers buy the cheapest smartphone in the wireless store. Others buy what their friends have. The average consumer doesn't ask about chipsets, number of cores, total storage, ability to tether, or megapixels. They take a few swipes on the touch screen and buy it or move on.
I agree, most consumers are clues about there cell phone specs. most android users probrobly have windows deskstop and don't know that Android is a linux variant.
It's not just the specs; the majority of users are not techies and honestly could care less about the specs. What they want is a phone that works and works easily while still being reasonably priced, which admittedly Apple's new phones each year are a stretch for almost anyone. Android's advantage? Bargain basement pricing.
As much as I personally don't like the bargain basement Androids, they sell and they subsequently drive up Android App downloads. Android App downloads have surpassed IPhone App downloads for the first time last quarter. As a result, I expect Android app development to increase and improve.
as other have commented also - it is fast as it is. If it went any faster it would behave like it was permanently in a Benny Hill sketch. Optimised OS for speed = cheaper hardware, lower cost and lower power consumption phones. If Android managed itself more effectively it would not need dual cores and 2ghz processors and double the RAM of most phones. The initial WP7 devices were a bit stingy and lacking foresight with their quantities of storage though i'll give you that.
We wrote a app for Palm in 2003, created a Win 6 version with its sloooow SQL and then got abandoned. Now we support our inhouse customers on a website with simple HTML that's compatible with browsers on iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and one WinP7 that drops in now and then. Not much interest among Realtors for non-iPhone/Android smartphones, tho iPads are picking up.
Watched it, looked at the specs and while nice I am very Ho-Hum about these.
710 looks like a great entry level and 800 looks like a great mid level.
Not seeing a high end nor am I seeing a US launch.
Next to that, what makes you think there will be a speedy robust update process for Win7+?
No front camera for Skype (thought that would be a no-brainer...)
Specs are mediocre and likely do well for Win7.5 for now; would 1gb ram and dual core offer a better option?
Would be nice to get my hands on one and try it for a week or so and compare it to my i4 and SGS2. See where it falls.
Nokia and MS need a robust US launch with the inclusion of a high end model and some fantastic marketing.
For now I am seeing nothing that would sway me from my SGS2 (or a 4S)......
710 looks like a great entry level and 800 looks like a great mid level.
Not seeing a high end nor am I seeing a US launch.
Next to that, what makes you think there will be a speedy robust update process for Win7+?
No front camera for Skype (thought that would be a no-brainer...)
Specs are mediocre and likely do well for Win7.5 for now; would 1gb ram and dual core offer a better option?
Would be nice to get my hands on one and try it for a week or so and compare it to my i4 and SGS2. See where it falls.
Nokia and MS need a robust US launch with the inclusion of a high end model and some fantastic marketing.
For now I am seeing nothing that would sway me from my SGS2 (or a 4S)......
W7P doesn't require the high end specs. I do wish the Nokia phones had a front facing camera, and more storage, but they don't need specs on the level of the iPhone or the SGS2 in order to compete. Believe me when I tell you that W7P is fast.
... may very well require high-end specs. At least to run as well as they do on other phones. Speed isn't for the UI... Android runs just dandy on my 500MHz Droid. Some other stuff is challenged at those performance levels. In particular, complex web sites.
And M7P is more sensitive to this than other OS's. Metro apps are written in Javascript, CSS, HTML, and Silverlight... except for the Silverlight part, same ideas as WebOS. All interpreted, much slower on average than iOS or even Android these days.
And what about gaming? Microsoft was supposedly eager to tie their finally successful (financially) X-Box franchise to Windows 7 Phone. And why not, that's a great way to tap into a large group of relatively happy Microsoft customers. Where else are you going to find such people? So this comes out with gaming specs that don't stand up against the old iPhone 3GS. Did no one even consider this important?
And simply put, they're [re] launching Windows 7 Phone, to an extent, and Nokia for real. People do get wowed by these things, and not just geeks. Plus, geeks have non-geek friends, and they spread the word about new stuff. Nokia needs a flagship, too, to show the world this isn't the same old Nokia, not even trying to complete with Apple and all those Androids. They really think that the answer isn't technology, but candy-like casework? Children, in most locales, don't get smartphones.
Not only that, but if it's got a high-end price (which it does), it needs the specs to back up that price. I don't think consumers are as dumb as often regarded on tech blogs.
And M7P is more sensitive to this than other OS's. Metro apps are written in Javascript, CSS, HTML, and Silverlight... except for the Silverlight part, same ideas as WebOS. All interpreted, much slower on average than iOS or even Android these days.
And what about gaming? Microsoft was supposedly eager to tie their finally successful (financially) X-Box franchise to Windows 7 Phone. And why not, that's a great way to tap into a large group of relatively happy Microsoft customers. Where else are you going to find such people? So this comes out with gaming specs that don't stand up against the old iPhone 3GS. Did no one even consider this important?
And simply put, they're [re] launching Windows 7 Phone, to an extent, and Nokia for real. People do get wowed by these things, and not just geeks. Plus, geeks have non-geek friends, and they spread the word about new stuff. Nokia needs a flagship, too, to show the world this isn't the same old Nokia, not even trying to complete with Apple and all those Androids. They really think that the answer isn't technology, but candy-like casework? Children, in most locales, don't get smartphones.
Not only that, but if it's got a high-end price (which it does), it needs the specs to back up that price. I don't think consumers are as dumb as often regarded on tech blogs.
Proof of this is the fact that we had many professional-grade apps 25 years ago running on hardware far more basic than what we have in today's mobile devices. Keep that in mind.
Nobody gives a crap about to this day, the loyal users Nokia had. Now i know how it feels to be left without a choice. I have always suported certain brands like Nokia for mobile, Asus or AMD for pc and laptop hardware and puma or Fila for snikers to say something. I think some companies have soul and what steve jobs called human DNA embeded in their structure. They want to be profitable but try to be as less destructive as posible in the process and show this futuristic and noble image in you subconscious.
That being said when one of those companies makes the mistake done by Nokia, well it let you with a bitter sentiment and frustation, for 20 years i have used this brand and you know, it is not about M$ alliance is about Symbian had much potential and future but when you start to mumble about change OS or look like you have run out of ideas, thats when you see what that company was all about. Along the way they lose their principles and ideals and become huge zombies just wanting to eat euros, dollars or whatever the name.
Did you know that the elf raze was created by Tolkien inspired in the Finland folks hte elf language too, tall blond, wyse, magical, proud and generous, but at the end of the Lord of the Ring chronicle they retire to an island to fade into history. Looks like Nokia will have the same end. Just a memory fading away in the mobile hardware history with some tales and myth to reminds us that being true to yourself is better that being somebody elses punk!
That being said when one of those companies makes the mistake done by Nokia, well it let you with a bitter sentiment and frustation, for 20 years i have used this brand and you know, it is not about M$ alliance is about Symbian had much potential and future but when you start to mumble about change OS or look like you have run out of ideas, thats when you see what that company was all about. Along the way they lose their principles and ideals and become huge zombies just wanting to eat euros, dollars or whatever the name.
Did you know that the elf raze was created by Tolkien inspired in the Finland folks hte elf language too, tall blond, wyse, magical, proud and generous, but at the end of the Lord of the Ring chronicle they retire to an island to fade into history. Looks like Nokia will have the same end. Just a memory fading away in the mobile hardware history with some tales and myth to reminds us that being true to yourself is better that being somebody elses punk!
The obvious meaning is that with the passing of Symbian and the death of Steve Jobs, we are now entering the Fourth Age, where the technologies have to fend for themselves.
I currently have a N900 nokia smartphone and it is a beast of a phone but what happened to Maemo? Nobody is supporting it anymore but i'm not crying as my next phone will probably be a Nokia with WP7. Why? Beacause to me there is a buzz about WP7 that Android has lost and because I loathe Apple and it's fanboy cult. And because Android is just an IOS wannabe with its similar layout and look.
Windows phone 7 in my opinion is the only true competition to IOS because it is the only OS that is going its own way with its own inovation. My wife owns a Samsung Galaxy S and it is cluttered and difficult for her to navigate. Even IOS gets cluttered with all of those silly icons so the WP7 desktop looks clean in comparision but elegant as well and it looks nothing like IOS which is its selling point.
I think WP7 is great and its the best move that Nokia could have made because symbian would have left them with a niche market, but WP7 has the potential to take them to No.2. They just need the carriers to really get on board and sell WP7 as the great inovative OS that it really is.
And no, i'm not a Windows fanboy either, i'm just an ordinary consumer who wants to own a great phone that's not made by Apple or an Apple clone.
Windows phone 7 in my opinion is the only true competition to IOS because it is the only OS that is going its own way with its own inovation. My wife owns a Samsung Galaxy S and it is cluttered and difficult for her to navigate. Even IOS gets cluttered with all of those silly icons so the WP7 desktop looks clean in comparision but elegant as well and it looks nothing like IOS which is its selling point.
I think WP7 is great and its the best move that Nokia could have made because symbian would have left them with a niche market, but WP7 has the potential to take them to No.2. They just need the carriers to really get on board and sell WP7 as the great inovative OS that it really is.
And no, i'm not a Windows fanboy either, i'm just an ordinary consumer who wants to own a great phone that's not made by Apple or an Apple clone.
I will agree that Android is seeing some growing pains which are about to significantly change the environment, but I do not agree with your opinion of Apple because that company truly earned the loyalties of its users. However, that doesn't mean that WP7 can't be a real competitor on its own strengths.
What I don't know myself is that anything in WP7 is based on Microsoft innovation; Microsoft hasn't been known for innovating much this past decade. With the exception of the Kinect, the company really hasn't done anything new or different, merely upgraded or re-skinned old products. I know a lot of Windows fanatics would disagree with me, but all you have to do is see how Windows tablets, Longhorn, Vista and the Courier were all failures during this past decade. Even the xBox had its issues, though it appears they finally resolved most of those.
WP7 now has to battle the abysmal reputation of WinMob 6.x and earlier--not only a terrible interface but equally bad stability and reliability. I'm fully aware many former WinMob developers claimed it was 'the best thing since sliced bread', but corporate and private reviews consistently lamented its failings. My own take is that even this product was as badly rushed as Vista and I can only hope they learned from that debacle and ensured a reasonably finished product, though the Metro interface to me looks every plain and uninteresting, as I've described elsewhere in this forum.
I still think WP7 is a better choice for consumers than Android, considering the majority of consumer complaints about Android center around what techies call its strengths, so we'll just have to see how it pans out over the next couple of years.
What I don't know myself is that anything in WP7 is based on Microsoft innovation; Microsoft hasn't been known for innovating much this past decade. With the exception of the Kinect, the company really hasn't done anything new or different, merely upgraded or re-skinned old products. I know a lot of Windows fanatics would disagree with me, but all you have to do is see how Windows tablets, Longhorn, Vista and the Courier were all failures during this past decade. Even the xBox had its issues, though it appears they finally resolved most of those.
WP7 now has to battle the abysmal reputation of WinMob 6.x and earlier--not only a terrible interface but equally bad stability and reliability. I'm fully aware many former WinMob developers claimed it was 'the best thing since sliced bread', but corporate and private reviews consistently lamented its failings. My own take is that even this product was as badly rushed as Vista and I can only hope they learned from that debacle and ensured a reasonably finished product, though the Metro interface to me looks every plain and uninteresting, as I've described elsewhere in this forum.
I still think WP7 is a better choice for consumers than Android, considering the majority of consumer complaints about Android center around what techies call its strengths, so we'll just have to see how it pans out over the next couple of years.
Kinect was not a Microsoft innovation. The bought it fair and square.
On another note, after having to support WinCE/WinMo handsets they will have a very hard time selling me anything handheld.
On another note, after having to support WinCE/WinMo handsets they will have a very hard time selling me anything handheld.
The huge fall of Nokia is easily explained -- they did it to themselves. They did not study history, they apparently knew nothing about the perils of killing your current product lines before you have a replacement. Elop clearly did not read the biography of Adam Osborne. He needs to.
So Nokia basically annouced that every smartphone they sold was obsolete. That's the reason they've been laying off record numbers of workers, losing money like crazy, and pissing off their retailers. No one had a problem with their supporting Windows Phone at some future point -- they had a problem with selling and buying things that have already been pronounced dead.
Hopefully , this has been enough to shake 'em but not break 'em. Because the other problem with Nokia was the same kind of complaisance you could see in Palm, in Microsoft, in RIM... they all thought they were kings of the mobile world. Then Apple came along in 2007, Android in 2008, and before you know it, their markets vanished.
Part of this is apparent in any careful look at their products. Recent ones. Ok, Nokia did an ok job on the Linux powered N series, of which none are sold in the states. But Blackberries, Nokia SymbianOS phones, last-gen WP6.5 phones, they all look like iOS or Androids from 2 years in the past. At best.
Nokia doesn't just have to produce a Windows Phone. They have to produce a great phone or two -- the kind people wait in line for. The kind that generate huge fan lists, have people checking in daily for rumors on this new thing, etc. They have to, simply because the competition is doing just that. The mobile market is growing faster than ever, and while specs aren't everything, they're important to most smartphone buyers. If you're not shipping a gigabyte of RAM, 720p or at least qHD screens, dual core CPUs with hot GPUs, a dozen or so sensors, etc. you might as well not play the game.
So what does Nokia offer? A slightly revamped version of last year's N8, with half the RAM, last year's MSM8255 single core SOC with last year's A8 processor, no front-facing camera, no 4G, a GPU (the Adreno 205) slower than that of the two year old iPhone 3GS or O.G. Droid. The mechanical design is clean enough, but I'm torn between whether it's shouting "toy!" or "Zune" at me. But there's definitely shouting, and not anything about "victory!". The AMOLED screen is a good decision -- best thing about the Zune HD -- but 480x800 is basically last year's resolution.
Ok, you can definitely find iPhone and Android with similar specs, even lower. But those are the economy and maybe mid-range devices, though even mid-range Androids are doing 4G these days. Nokia should be building a flagship device here. No one's going to take a look at the Lumia 800 and say, "yeah, that's sexier than the iPhone 4S, that's what I want". No one's going to geek out on that instead of a Mot RAZR or Samsung Galaxy Nexus. So who's Nokia targeting here? The only thing "flagship" about the 800 is the price, about $580.
"Who?"... that's actually a huge flaw in Microsoft's marking of Windows 7 Phone. Sure, it seemed like a good idea -- when they ran ads (haven't seen one in months), they were selling Windows 7 Phone, yes, a smartphone system, to people who don't have smartphones. Hey, why not... 75% of mobile users don't have smartphones. Easier to sell to them than to sell to we of the iOS and Android persuasion. And there just aren't enough RIM users left to convert
Here's the problem.. it's actually quite a bit like my household. I have an O. G. Droid, which replaced a Palm Treo. I will most likely upgrade to the Galaxy Nexus next month. My wife has a dumb phone... she likes her guys smart and her phones dumb. She didn't even want a keyboard on it, but our kids don't use voice much. Both kids have dumb phones. Given their 'druthers, my daughter would have an iPhone to go with her Mac and her iPod, my son would pick some cool Android thing... he's got a Galaxy Tab 7 already, Wi-Fi. Thing is, we're not paying an extra $20-$40 a month for the network connections. So no smartphones to 75% here. Never will be, at least unit they're paying. And neither kid even has Windows Phone on their radar. Apple's the real genius here: every kid gets an iPod, so the iPhone is a natural progression for many.
I will never buy a Windows Phone. Won't happen. But I do want to see Microsoft successful in this. The PC market used to be as vibrant as the mobile market is today. It matured, and got boring. Some of that was maturity, but some was simply that no one had to try anymore.. there was Windows at 90% and Apple at 5% or so, neither budging much. I don't really want to see the same thing happen in mobile. Android is better because Apple innovates, and vice-versa. If Win7Phone does anything interesting (the Zune interface, big tiles, etc. leave me colder than you can possibly imagine... yeah, I tried it, even with an open mind -- I used to have a Zune. In brown. Nice color match to my Martin D15), it enriches the whole market.
But they have to figure out how to make Win7Phones, any Win7Phone, the same kind of object of desire that iPhones and some Androids are. They need to have people excited to hear what's coming next. I mean, I knew well in advance about the iPhone announcement, and sat by the blogs live. Tuned in early to hear about the RAZR, and late the same day for the Nexus news... after reading the rumor mills for a week. I'm a geek, sure.. but really, who do think is in the lines at the Apple Stores on iPhone Day? I honestly didn't even know that Nokia had announced their first W7P phones, just came across this linked from Google+. Ok, Nokia's never been big in the US. Maybe that's part of their problem.
So Nokia basically annouced that every smartphone they sold was obsolete. That's the reason they've been laying off record numbers of workers, losing money like crazy, and pissing off their retailers. No one had a problem with their supporting Windows Phone at some future point -- they had a problem with selling and buying things that have already been pronounced dead.
Hopefully , this has been enough to shake 'em but not break 'em. Because the other problem with Nokia was the same kind of complaisance you could see in Palm, in Microsoft, in RIM... they all thought they were kings of the mobile world. Then Apple came along in 2007, Android in 2008, and before you know it, their markets vanished.
Part of this is apparent in any careful look at their products. Recent ones. Ok, Nokia did an ok job on the Linux powered N series, of which none are sold in the states. But Blackberries, Nokia SymbianOS phones, last-gen WP6.5 phones, they all look like iOS or Androids from 2 years in the past. At best.
Nokia doesn't just have to produce a Windows Phone. They have to produce a great phone or two -- the kind people wait in line for. The kind that generate huge fan lists, have people checking in daily for rumors on this new thing, etc. They have to, simply because the competition is doing just that. The mobile market is growing faster than ever, and while specs aren't everything, they're important to most smartphone buyers. If you're not shipping a gigabyte of RAM, 720p or at least qHD screens, dual core CPUs with hot GPUs, a dozen or so sensors, etc. you might as well not play the game.
So what does Nokia offer? A slightly revamped version of last year's N8, with half the RAM, last year's MSM8255 single core SOC with last year's A8 processor, no front-facing camera, no 4G, a GPU (the Adreno 205) slower than that of the two year old iPhone 3GS or O.G. Droid. The mechanical design is clean enough, but I'm torn between whether it's shouting "toy!" or "Zune" at me. But there's definitely shouting, and not anything about "victory!". The AMOLED screen is a good decision -- best thing about the Zune HD -- but 480x800 is basically last year's resolution.
Ok, you can definitely find iPhone and Android with similar specs, even lower. But those are the economy and maybe mid-range devices, though even mid-range Androids are doing 4G these days. Nokia should be building a flagship device here. No one's going to take a look at the Lumia 800 and say, "yeah, that's sexier than the iPhone 4S, that's what I want". No one's going to geek out on that instead of a Mot RAZR or Samsung Galaxy Nexus. So who's Nokia targeting here? The only thing "flagship" about the 800 is the price, about $580.
"Who?"... that's actually a huge flaw in Microsoft's marking of Windows 7 Phone. Sure, it seemed like a good idea -- when they ran ads (haven't seen one in months), they were selling Windows 7 Phone, yes, a smartphone system, to people who don't have smartphones. Hey, why not... 75% of mobile users don't have smartphones. Easier to sell to them than to sell to we of the iOS and Android persuasion. And there just aren't enough RIM users left to convert
Here's the problem.. it's actually quite a bit like my household. I have an O. G. Droid, which replaced a Palm Treo. I will most likely upgrade to the Galaxy Nexus next month. My wife has a dumb phone... she likes her guys smart and her phones dumb. She didn't even want a keyboard on it, but our kids don't use voice much. Both kids have dumb phones. Given their 'druthers, my daughter would have an iPhone to go with her Mac and her iPod, my son would pick some cool Android thing... he's got a Galaxy Tab 7 already, Wi-Fi. Thing is, we're not paying an extra $20-$40 a month for the network connections. So no smartphones to 75% here. Never will be, at least unit they're paying. And neither kid even has Windows Phone on their radar. Apple's the real genius here: every kid gets an iPod, so the iPhone is a natural progression for many.
I will never buy a Windows Phone. Won't happen. But I do want to see Microsoft successful in this. The PC market used to be as vibrant as the mobile market is today. It matured, and got boring. Some of that was maturity, but some was simply that no one had to try anymore.. there was Windows at 90% and Apple at 5% or so, neither budging much. I don't really want to see the same thing happen in mobile. Android is better because Apple innovates, and vice-versa. If Win7Phone does anything interesting (the Zune interface, big tiles, etc. leave me colder than you can possibly imagine... yeah, I tried it, even with an open mind -- I used to have a Zune. In brown. Nice color match to my Martin D15), it enriches the whole market.
But they have to figure out how to make Win7Phones, any Win7Phone, the same kind of object of desire that iPhones and some Androids are. They need to have people excited to hear what's coming next. I mean, I knew well in advance about the iPhone announcement, and sat by the blogs live. Tuned in early to hear about the RAZR, and late the same day for the Nexus news... after reading the rumor mills for a week. I'm a geek, sure.. but really, who do think is in the lines at the Apple Stores on iPhone Day? I honestly didn't even know that Nokia had announced their first W7P phones, just came across this linked from Google+. Ok, Nokia's never been big in the US. Maybe that's part of their problem.
I don't fault what you say about Nokia itself at the beginning, I, too, thought their announcement of the Microsoft partnership extremely premature considering they didn't have any kind of demo unit to push.
But your biggest error is in your assumptions of the general public. "The mobile market is growing faster than ever, and while specs aren't everything, they're important to most smartphone buyers." This is probably the biggest fallacy you express. I don't care if you're a corporate head, a small business owner or a simple off-the-street consumer, their first question isn't about tech specs but rather, "How can this thing serve ME?" Only techies, the IT personnel and the hobbyists concern themselves about specs. In all honesty, they don't CARE about specs--as long as it works, works right and is reasonably priced. These are the people Nokia/Win really need to concentrate on and in all honesty Nokia only needs to ensure the specs are strong enough to let WinPhone work smoothly. Processor size, RAM capacity, even on-board storage is the purview of the techie who wants things to always be as high as possible and ignore the cost.
So what do these Nokia phones offer? Simplicity, reliability (hopefully) and economy. They offer a connection to a very well known operating system that should provide a near-seamless connection to their Windows-based user environments at home and in the office. They offer a reputation for reliability that Nokia was always known for, though admittedly at a slightly higher price than the majority of the other brands Nokia competed with. They offer everything but the end-to-end integration between products that Apple has developed and Android has scorned. In almost every way, they offer a middle road between iOS and Android.
But your biggest error is in your assumptions of the general public. "The mobile market is growing faster than ever, and while specs aren't everything, they're important to most smartphone buyers." This is probably the biggest fallacy you express. I don't care if you're a corporate head, a small business owner or a simple off-the-street consumer, their first question isn't about tech specs but rather, "How can this thing serve ME?" Only techies, the IT personnel and the hobbyists concern themselves about specs. In all honesty, they don't CARE about specs--as long as it works, works right and is reasonably priced. These are the people Nokia/Win really need to concentrate on and in all honesty Nokia only needs to ensure the specs are strong enough to let WinPhone work smoothly. Processor size, RAM capacity, even on-board storage is the purview of the techie who wants things to always be as high as possible and ignore the cost.
So what do these Nokia phones offer? Simplicity, reliability (hopefully) and economy. They offer a connection to a very well known operating system that should provide a near-seamless connection to their Windows-based user environments at home and in the office. They offer a reputation for reliability that Nokia was always known for, though admittedly at a slightly higher price than the majority of the other brands Nokia competed with. They offer everything but the end-to-end integration between products that Apple has developed and Android has scorned. In almost every way, they offer a middle road between iOS and Android.
Android has always been unique and different from iPhone unless you are talking about Samsung or MiUi. And now, iOS5 features "old" Android features. Who's who's clone?
What most people keep missing, regarding Apple's market share and user experience, is that they've always owned every part of their business, end to end. So, they know how to do hardware to make the software work well. They have software which works across a wide range of user "expertise" and "experience". Their support works well for most of their customers because you don't have to "do it yourself". You can go to the Apple Store and watch them do it for you.
Android is fine for the techno-crowd who still have the NIH and IMBOS syndromes. WP-7 will work for many people because it's Microsoft. But, in the end, many of those users are not "app buyers" or "software developers" and this will make the platform difficult to "accelerate" into the Marketplace as has been the case.
MS is still struggling to keep from losing the complete PC marketplace to Mac OS-X that seems to almost be doubling it's growth rate each quarter. The iPhone and iPad users are going to the Apple Stores, seeing the Mac OS-X computers, learning about them, hearing their friends, family and coworkers say good things about them and that's hard on the Windows marketplace. It's good for Apple to see the growth if they can sustain the differentiating business models and grow additional value in their products.
MS doesn't have hardware stores. MS doesn't have a great support mechanism with the mostly international representatives who are hard to understand on the other end of the phone. I've been using MS support a bit lately, and I can say that they are trying much harder, it seems, to make sure that the customers are happy.
But, Vista still made enough people, out right mad at them, that I wonder whether they can get back many of those customers just by treating the ones that are still around as gold...
Android is fine for the techno-crowd who still have the NIH and IMBOS syndromes. WP-7 will work for many people because it's Microsoft. But, in the end, many of those users are not "app buyers" or "software developers" and this will make the platform difficult to "accelerate" into the Marketplace as has been the case.
MS is still struggling to keep from losing the complete PC marketplace to Mac OS-X that seems to almost be doubling it's growth rate each quarter. The iPhone and iPad users are going to the Apple Stores, seeing the Mac OS-X computers, learning about them, hearing their friends, family and coworkers say good things about them and that's hard on the Windows marketplace. It's good for Apple to see the growth if they can sustain the differentiating business models and grow additional value in their products.
MS doesn't have hardware stores. MS doesn't have a great support mechanism with the mostly international representatives who are hard to understand on the other end of the phone. I've been using MS support a bit lately, and I can say that they are trying much harder, it seems, to make sure that the customers are happy.
But, Vista still made enough people, out right mad at them, that I wonder whether they can get back many of those customers just by treating the ones that are still around as gold...
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