What is it about the phrase, "We won't make you wait" that Microsoft doesn't understand? During today's official Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Mango update unveiling, Microsoft's President for Mobile Communications Andy Lees wrapped by saying they won't make consumers wait for this significant upgrade to the Windows Phone 7 platform—it's coming out this fall. In other words, they are making all Windows phone users wait at least three months, maybe four. Grab a dictionary and look this up: this is the definition of "waiting."
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs stands before an audience and tells you about a "magical" new piece of hardware or a software platform and he says, "We won't make you wait," the product is shipping that day or within weeks. Not months. Jobs clearly understands what waiting or not waiting means.
I know you think I'm quibbling. Microsoft is prepping a significant upgrade to the still youngish Windows Phone 7 platform. It promises 500 enhancements, though there are likely only a dozen or so you really care about. But those changes, like multithreading that "dehydrates and then rehydrates" apps so they do not eat up resources or power while sitting in the background, Local Scout that makes you feel "like a local" when you get you Bing search results, an upgraded Xbox hub experience and more, cannot come fast enough.
It's been roughly eight months since Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 with a handful of great phones and a truly underappreciated interface strategy, one that actively tries to get out of your way so you can get on with real life. The platform has collected 18,000 apps in its Marketplace. That's a nice number and, as the argument goes, it's not the number of apps you have, but the quality of them. On the other hand, it's telling that the one group that doesn't have to wait for Mango is developers. They get the development tools today. Microsoft may be happy with the growth of the Microsoft Phone market thus far, but it also promised that with Mango we should see "significant acceleration of support from partners." In other words, Microsoft is telling us that everything is fine, but that they need to move a lot faster.
To that end, they're pushing to get developers the tools they need now as well as announcing new Windows Phone Partners like ZTE, Fujitsu and Acer. These are three companies that have not lit up the handset space. However, the biggest brand name on the new partner slide was, ultimately, Nokia, clearly larger to denote the global possibilities for Windows Phone. Microsoft bragged that they already have Nokia phones running Mango in their labs. Too bad they didn't show us any of them.
I think it's a shame that Microsoft could not get any of its hardware partners to give us at least a sneak peek of the new hardware. Software is cool, but hardware is sexy. Current Windows Phone customers will be anxious to get Mango, but new customers would've been enticed to make the switch if Microsoft could have teased them with at least one new piece of ultra-slim, super-bright, 4G-ready hardware.
From a conceptual point of view, though, I do like the direction Microsoft is taking Windows Phone 7. Breaking down barriers between search data and apps is smart. I do feel, as Microsoft noted, that on some handsets I am heading out the front door to go from the living room to the kitchen. Having Bing work so closely with apps makes the phone platform seem much more self-aware.
I've always liked the Xbox integration on Windows Phones and the redesigned Xbox hub does look better than ever. However, Microsoft never misses an opportunity to undersell. They showed exactly one game running on the Mango platform—a boring flying game. Where were the major gaming partners? Where was the one game surprise that would've kept the fanboys talking for months to come?
The low point of the event, for me at least, was the Internet Explorer 9 browser speed test comparison. I am very happy that IE 9 (the full version) is part of Windows Phone 7 Mango, but Microsoft's efforts to show that its HTML 5 performance is faster than native browsers on other platforms, including Blackberry OS 6 and iOS 4 on the iPhone, was kind of silly. All the phones were running the same test at almost the same time, but with all the variables at play: connectivity (Wi-Fi or Cell?), multi-tasking (what's running in the background?) and the native processing power of each phone, Mango's victory was a hollow one. I rather wish Microsoft had talked a bit more generally about performance improvements and then leave it to all of us to verify.
Windows Phone 7 Mango, is shaping up to be a great update, but despite what Microsoft says, you'll have to wait for it. In the meantime, Apple's about the hold its annual World Wide Developers Conference, where it should unveil iOS 5 (and maybe more). Any bets on how long Apple will make you wait for that?