Microsoft Makes a bold move in Embedded Operating Systems for Mobile Handheld Devices

April 12, 2010
At the Mobile World Congress on February 15th, Steve Ballmer announced a new strategy for Microsoft® Operating Systems on mobile handheld devices: Windows® Phone 7 Series (WP7). With this announcement Microsoft clearly has distinguished their OS solution offerings between consumer/enterprise and industrial/commercial markets and has raised the bar for the competition.

Microsoft needed to do this
According to comScore®, Microsofts share of the smart phone market fell over 20% from September 2009 through February 2010. Not a good position for Microsoft in a growing market segment.

This new OS is targeted only (and strictly) at the consumer market, no industrial or cross bred platforms need apply. Microsoft has done its homework and taken cues from what has worked: Apps, Marketplace, Multimedia (Zune™), and Multi-Touch user input. They also have learned what does not work: Operating System "ish" User Interfaces, incompatible hardware and applications, short battery life, and high priced development tools.

What happens now to Windows Mobile®? Windows Mobile 6.5 has been renamed Windows Phone Classic,and is still based upon CE 5. And that is probably where it ends. Microsoft has stated that Mobile applications will not run on WP7. This means that developers now have a few decisions to make: do we stay with a dead-end OS? And, what market am I really in? If you are in a consumer market: WP7 (or iPhone®, Android„¢ or BlackBerry®) are probably the way to go. If you require a rugged device, specific peripherals, sunlight readable displays, long lifecycles, gloved operation, custom keys, true cameras, and/or a specific user experience: CE is the clear choice in the market. Windows Phone Classic (aka Mobile) will still likely be sold by Microsoft through some vertical market vendors for the near future, but in terms of improvements, it is likely at its end.

R.I.P. Mobile 2010
Until now, Microsoft has stated (well, whispered…) that Mobile is a consumer oriented OS and CE is designed for vertical/industrial markets. In practice Microsoft has allowed the blurring of the line by offering the Mobile OS to vertical market providers (albeit with some key licensing requirements). By enabling this perceived indifference, Microsoft has confused the marketplace. I can’t recall how many of our client partners have told me that “CE will shortly be obsolete and replaced by Mobile” or “we chose Mobile because it is newer and more intuitive than CE”. Both of these were clearly not the direct intent of Microsoft, but the confusion by a lack of clear differentiation is evident.

Moving On
Microsoft now has a clear strategy for consumer and industrial products. If you have not seen the demonstrations of the prototypes of WP7, I recommend you do so, you can start at the WP7 site:
http://www.windowsphone7series.com/. The "Metro" GUI with its tiles, marketplace, and Zune multimedia experience looks like a real winner for the smart phone market. Microsoft has really done its homework.

In evaluating your OS choice for development and the marketing of your solution, you must consider what Microsoft's objectives are for their WP7 and CE products and ultimately how they will align with your market needs.

Microsoft has strategically restricted (they would say focused) the WP7 hardware platform with things such as a fixed memory model, capacitive touch panel (can't use gloves or a stylus) and only two choices of screen resolutions (320x480 and 480x800). They have stated that no upgrade path exists for any hardware currently manufactured by anyone (so much for the capital return on Mobile hardware). Microsoft has chosen to deadhead Mobile applications by stating that they will not run on WP7 . In reaction to this, key applications providers such as Adobe® and Skype™ (among others) have cancelled their developments for WM6.5 in favor of waiting until WP7 is released.

CE 6 clearly addresses the industrial market, especially with Release 3 now offering Silverlight®, Pan and Zoom Internet Explorer, Flash Lite, and other development enhancements. These enhancements give the developer an excellent user experience paradigm which allows for rich, modern, user interfaces and large data set sizes to work with and allow OEM providers, such as Two Technologies, to offer reliable, robust and extensible platforms for our clients.

I applaud Microsoft for this clear, bold move in announcing Windows Phone 7 Series. This action will continue to spur on innovation and development in the consumer and enterprise markets. With CE 6 R3 Microsoft offers a best-in-class operating system with leading edge development tools for the industrial and commercial marketplaces.


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Author: Eric Eckstein, President and COO, Two Technologies