InsideMicrosoft

The Zunephone is Coming! Plus, Six Ways For Windows Mobile to Beat the iPhone

This video is hilarious, linked to on Boing Boing:

Uncyclopedia also has a hilarious article on the Zunephone, too.

Seriously, Microsoft, don’t do a Zunephone. Phones are too damn hard, and you can either be underwhelming or unbelievably expensive, as Apple has chosen.

Instead, use your brains. Windows Mobile is going to work great as a phone platform, in fact, it already does, with a really good phone interface that comes at about $500-$600 cheaper than the iPhone’s. The only thing that really needs to be done is satisfy the eye-candy market, like Apple is doing, and here’s how:

• 1: The next version of Windows Mobile has to look better. Not extra-ordinarily better, just brighter, more contrasting colors. Don’t rip off iPhone, but do port the Vista look straight to the mobile platform.
• 2: Take a few chances. Don’t just make Windows Mobile like Windows 95+Palm OS, but actuallly try to use the power of the phones that run the thing. Not all phones will be able to handle it, so have an OS that adds eye-candy based on processor power. If my phone has a faster processor and graphics capabilities, future proof the operating system to actually use it. The biggest lesson we’re learning from WPF in Windows Vista is that when you leave system power on the table, you’re leaving money on the table.
• 3: Port Origami to Windows Mobile. Have you seen what the Origami team is doing? These guys were challenged to create a shell for Windows XP that worked on touchscreens, and given their limited time, they did a good job. Given a whole extra year, they’ve designed an Origami update for Vista that is amazing. Take every good idea they have, put together a team, and release an Origami shell for Windows Mobile, as a free download for devices with fast processors. Origami for free for WinMobile negates much of the power of the iPhone UI.
• 4: Don’t rely on device manufacturers. Microsoft releases updates and fixes to Windows Mobile devices, and then gives them to phone makers to put in firmware updates. Some phone makers don’t even bother releasing new firmware, and it pisses off your customers and weakens your platform. Use Windows Vista Mobile Device Center to push through updates and new features (like a Vista UI and Origami Mobile) whether the phone manufacturers want it or not.
• 5: Ship faster. How do you think Apple kept the iPhone secret? Because it doesn’t have hundreds or even thousands of people working on minutiae that takes five years to ship. Give a small team the task of updating the UI, and get them to show the world something cool by June (when the iPhone ships). Get smaller teams to work on every aspect, then give a larger group the problem of getting the components to work together and work on stability and performance. Smartly componentizing the platform means we hopefully don’t wait three years for announced versions to actually ship, and updating the device through Windows means we don’t have to wait another 18 months for the updates to actually reach the people who’ve paid money for your devices.
• 6: Treat Windows Mobile as a media platform. If you aren’t a corporate user, you know that a lot of the functionality in Windows Mobile is designed more for businesses than consumers. The iPhone barely even pays attention to business users, and Microsoft needs to compete with it on its own level. Whether that means an updated version of Windows Media player, or releasing two versions of Windows Mobile (WinMobile Home and WinMobile Business), something needs to be done. The experience of listening to music on Windows Mobile needs to be at least as easy as using an iPod, or it cannot compete.

January 11th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Windows Mobile, Apple, General | 2 comments