The Future of WP7 at Nokia

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Ragnor

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#506709 15-Aug-2011 12:37

Technofreak:

Perhaps this is one reason why WP7 has had such a poor uptake. Are most handset manufacturers "running scared" of the Microsoft blight?

You don't consider HTC and Samsung major manufacturers? They had Windows Phone 7 models at launch.

I think HTC's approach is great, make good hardware then make models with different OS'es

Remember WP7 has only been out for less than 1 year.

Looks at the Android version history, it's not till recently Eclair and Froyo onwards that Android started selling significant numbers.

oxnsox

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#506780 15-Aug-2011 13:47

The tablet space really only became a viable proposition when modern capacitive touch screens made them easily usable, and, access to data in a wireless way became an acceptable delivery mechanism, and, the internet was able to deliver more variable content/services, and, other hardware changes meant we had devices that were useful for more than a few hours at a time.
The earlier tablets I used were great devices but at the time they relied on special capacitive pens, or ineffective resistive touch screens. When you had access to a keyboard it was always easier to use that interface. Essentially they were ahead of their (mass market) time.

Todays tablets have evolved from the use of smart phones/devices (lower powered hardware, longer lasting power sources) and applying their OS and user requirements to larger touch screen devices.

Nokia has to have been part of leading consumers into that space with their devices and OS but they've always tended to be on the conservative side of innovation, yet on the reliable side of the implementation.

If other manufacturers like Samsung can court the Android, WP7 and candybar space, along with taking its own Bada path, why can't Nokia?? Surely if their focus is on third world/developing markets there is plenty of space to co-develop high end handsets aimed at America and work with the rest of us rather than let the rest of the world markets languish. The rhetoric form Eflop just doesn't quite ring right.

I doubt he has any great hidden agenda with MS but wouldn't be surprised that he is blinkered from the realities of the Global cellular marketspace by what America wants. To know where you're going it sometimes helps to look where you've been, Nokia doesn't seem to be doing that right now.

I'd like to think that they weren't soo keen to work with MS that they bent too far and gave away too much of themselves on the pretext of pushing the door to the American market open just that little bit more, but it's looking that way. Few of us are using handset hardware and OS'es from a decade ago.... taking a year out to realign with a new OS takes a lot more commitment than deciding to bin whats already working for you. There must have been a good bunch of carrots on the end of the MS string.

crackrdbycracku

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#506927 15-Aug-2011 17:39

oxnsox: The tablet space really only became a viable proposition when modern capacitive touch screens made them easily usable, and, access to data in a wireless way became an acceptable delivery mechanism, and, the internet was able to deliver more variable content/services, and, other hardware changes meant we had devices that were useful for more than a few hours at a time.
The earlier tablets I used were great devices but at the time they relied on special capacitive pens, or ineffective resistive touch screens. When you had access to a keyboard it was always easier to use that interface. Essentially they were ahead of their (mass market) time.
Todays tablets have evolved from the use of smart phones/devices (lower powered hardware, longer lasting power sources) and applying their OS and user requirements to larger touch screen devices.

Yeah, my understanding is that there is little interest in tablets from enterprise now but that was where MS aimed them. True advances in tech have made them better but I think anybody would struggle trying to sell them as a work device.

My main point was that MS pushed the device makers into an situation where they spent millions on chasing a strategy which wasn't going to work. With regard to WP7 I think it is that the OS isn't ready to take on the established players.

I think the idea of a MS tablet is great, anybody know when one will get here?

oxnsox: If other manufacturers like Samsung can court the Android, WP7 and candybar space, along with taking its own Bada path, why can't Nokia??

I would argue not so much 'why can't Nokia?', obviously they can, but why won't they.

oxnsox:There must have been a good bunch of carrots on the end of the MS string.

And a CEO who either is in the MS pocket [just let me grab my tin foil hat] or doesn't know what he is doing.

Not great options.

CrackedbyCracku

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

alexx

867 posts

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#507652 17-Aug-2011 01:34

billgates:

The only report's I bother to consider are IDC and Gartner. Their findings are very similar most of the time.

If you prefer Gartner (these reports are for global smartphone sales for Q2)...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/237845/gartner_smartphones_boom_overall_mobile_sales_drop.html

Gartner: Smartphones Boom, Overall Mobile Sales Drop

The sales of smartphones based Windows Phone, which Nokia is betting its future on, is not taking off. Sales during the first three months totalled just 1.6 million units, and during the second quarter sales dropped slightly.

Windows Phone also dropped behind Bada, which is now the fifth largest smartphone operating system.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390925,00.asp

Gartner: Windows Phone Struggles, Samsung's Bada Makes Gains

Microsoft shipped approximately 1.7 million smartphones during the second quarter, which was down from just over 3 million during the same time period last year. At that point, Microsoft was still focusing on Windows Mobile and had not yet released Windows Phone 7, which made its debut in October, but it's been a slow start for the new mobile OS. At the end of the second quarter, Microsoft had 1.6 percent of the global smartphone market, down from 4.9 percent last year.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-gartner-q2-nokia-still-on-top-overall-android-killing-it-in-smartphones/

Gartner Q2: Nokia Still On Top Overall, Android Killing It In Smartphones

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has dipped down to only 1.6 percent of all sales, from 4.9 percent a year ago. That shows a real lack of consumer interest in Windows Phone devices so far.

Press release on the Gartner site here:
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1764714

Perhaps the Mango release will help Microsoft, but even if it turns around the falling trend and doubles those Q2 sales, that would still be just 3.6%. I'm hoping Nokia have both a plan B and a plan C. Plan D is of course the Motorola option... sell the company to someone that wants to buy it for the patents.

#include <standard.disclaimer>

Regs

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Snowflake

#507656 17-Aug-2011 02:12

i found this blog post from Ricky Cadden ( of http://www.symbian-guru.com/) of interest:

http://www.rickycadden.com/2011/08/thoughts-on-windows-phone-mango-on-the-htc-hd7

some quotes:

I promptly picked up an HTC HD7 on T-Mobile, and tried to use it as my primary phone. Coming from Android (and even Symbian), Windows Phone initially seems almost like a dumbphone OS

It syncs with nearly everything out of the box, and it does so really well. I really only need four accounts on my mobile device ? Google, Exchange (for work), Facebook, and Twitter.

I've now been running Mango (in one form or another) for a few months, and I find myself coming back to the HD7 quite frequently

At this point, honestly, it?s a hard choice between the HD7 with Mango and my trusty T-Mobile G2, which has HTC?s Sense 3.0 user interface. The G2 is infinitely more powerful ? especially with a hardware keyboard, but the HD7 is just a pleasure to use. The HD7 is also faster, smoother, and gets better battery life.

The thing is, if I could put Mango on my Nokia N8, I'd probably forget about the G2 and the HD7 within a week

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Snowflake
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Twitter: @nzregs

Ragnor

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#507808 17-Aug-2011 11:29

alexx:

Perhaps the Mango release will help Microsoft, but even if it turns around the falling trend and doubles those Q2 sales, that would still be just 3.6%. I'm hoping Nokia have both a plan B and a plan C. Plan D is of course the Motorola option... sell the company to someone that wants to buy it for the patents.

It's really too soon to be writing off Windows Phone 7 it's less than a year old, look at the numbers for Android 1.6 for comparison, Android did not take off in sales until 2.x onwards.

Technofreak

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#508074 17-Aug-2011 16:33

Alexx

I've found you can get data from those sources to back up either point of view. I'm not sure who or what to believe any more when it comes to these statistics.

Regs,

An interesting article. It doesn't mention features like cut and paste which I find useful and were not in WP7 to start with and it doesn't say whether or not these types of features are included yet. However still a very positive review. There is a steady stream of reports say how nice WP7 is to use, but it seems to be struggling to get traction.

Perhaps as Ragnor says it is early days and it's time will come and also pointing to the time it took for Android to gain traction. Remember though, Android was really Googles first attempt at an OS.

Yes it is probably a bit soon to be writing of WP7, however my thoughts are that Microsoft and WP7 is bit like a motor vehicle manufacturer releasing a car without air-con, a Cd player, and ABS; things that are taken for granted in vehicles these days. Microsoft is a well established OS manufacturer that has been in the mobile OS scene for some time now and I would have expected a much more mature OS than WP 7 already is.

Having said the both Nokia and Microsoft need WP7 to work, though I suspect Microsoft more than Nokia. By all accounts it should work. I guess time will tell.

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