How Microsoft Can Save Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone is running a distant third. We know this and we know why.  Apps.  There aren't any and don't believe Microsoft when they talk about 46 of the top 50 apps are there.  When your friend starts playing SongPop or Ruzzle you find out those apps are not in the WP app store the fact that CNN is there is not really relevant.  It's a difficult problem to solve.  Platforms need apps to lure users.  Apps need developers to create them.  Developers need the platform to have a significant number of users to make it worth their time.  And that completes the circle.  But there is a way to break it and I think Microsoft has already been doing this.

Now I am not aware of Microsoft's plans or actions here so if they are already doing this, great.  If they aren't they need to start today!!

The basic idea is "fund and completely manage the development of all leading apps on competing platforms and, for a period of time, identify new popular titles and port those as well".

The main difference in my idea here is that MS needs to actually completely handle the port and support of the apps.  Simply providing the money for the port is not enough because you may be dealing with dev shops that don't have the experience needed or, more likely, don't  have the bandwidth.  But how would this work?  Here are some thoughts.

• Microsoft could put contractors under NDA so they can share code and assets from the publisher
• Microsoft would make the app free in the marketplace for a period of time.  The publisher didn't do the app in the first place so they aren't missing something they didn't have in the first place.
• Microsoft would handle all reported bugs and issuing updates to the program.
• The publisher obviously has control over whether the port is done -- it is their property.  Some publishers may have philosophical reasons why they don't want to support the platform.
• The app would still be published under the publisher name.  To the outside world it would appear that the publisher did the port.

I don't know how much of this Microsoft is already doing but this is one approach that would help provide some of the missing apps for the platform.

Another Reason Windows Phone 8 Is A Winner

By all technical reviews Windows Phone 8 is simple, elegant, and beautiful.  And yet statistically speaking no one is carrying one.  There are many intertwined reasons for this such as no significant developer support and no significant retailer support.  Check out your local Best Buy and see what you think about the WP8 display, if there is one.

This is really a shame because by and large the bulk of the smartphone public out there doesn't really care about the specifics of their phone.  My proof of this is how many phones are out there still loaded with Gingerbread.  These people don't customize their dialiers or install replacement SMS apps.  They expect their phone to "just work" and they tolerate many of the Android devices because they are cheap.  Heck, many of them don't even know their phone is running Android.  It's just a phone and something that plays Temple Run or Angry Birds.

But Microsoft is well positioned to make a serious run at these people.  There are many great things about WP8 but I think there is one feature that really has the potential of being a game changer for the platform.

App Specific, Contextually Aware Voice Commands

The next frontier is voice.  Sure, we have Siri and Google Now and they are great first takes but voice recognition is getting good enough that we should be able to start really using our voice to casually use our phone.  In order to do this all the apps on the phone really need to be able to respond to my voice.  Apple and Google took one approach while Microsoft took a different path.

Siri and Google Now (and Samsung S-Voice for that matter) are server-side technologies in that they are essentially searches.  With Siri the voice recognition is done in the cloud and then the search is processed.  With Android 4.1 and later the recognition is done on the phone but it still leads to essentially a search.  In both case the results of this search can be customized and returned in intelligent cards such as sports scores or a quiz of a given fact.  There is some local integration such as asking the phone to navigate to a given point of interest but this still amounts to a simple search that the maps app simple responds to.  There is a better way in my opinion.

With Windows Phone 8 applications can specify verbs to which they will respond.  This is entirely controlled by the developer of the app, not Microsoft  This is a very powerful concept.  With this structure a user can voice control every app on her phone assuming those apps are enabled by the developers with voice actions.  To experience this power take a recent Android phone, bring up Google Now, and say 'tweet This is a tweet using my voice'.  What you'll get is a Google search because Google Now has no idea what to do with it.  With Windows Phone 8 it is possible today to install a Twitter client that has the voice verbs baked in and send your tweet entirely by voice.  Or bring up a book in a book reader. Or bring up the weather.  Or start the next level in that cool game.  Any app you have on your phone could be upgraded to easily support these voice verbs.

The best part is that the recognition is app specific with a very small dictionary.  This should, in practice, make the recognition very accurate.

Voice is the next frontier and Microsoft has a very compelling story for integrating voice into apps.  They should promote it.

Windows Phone 8: A Dire Prediction

Windows Phone 8 just isn't going to be enough.  Paul Thurrott is starting to see it and so am I.  In a recent article, Paul said he had a "nagging feeling" that Window Phone OS was just not going to take off.  He's right about that and I'll explain why.

First, let me explain that while this is just my opinion, I think it is a very well informed opinion.  I am a geek, nerd, and self-proclaimed mobile-phone enthusiast.  Over the past 3 years I've carried a Samsung Focus, IPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S2 (with about a dozen roms installed) and recently a Lumia 920.  I've benchmarked them, tested them, setup use cases for them, and written about them.  I read dozens of mobile blogs.  I'm not a fan boy of any single platform although I do want WP8 to succeed just for competitions sake.

I realized that WP8 was in trouble yesterday when I went to my local Best Buy store.  I strolled through the mobile phone center where there were dozens of people looking at phones, standing in line, and upgrading their lines.  I heard several people utter the words "GS3"  or "iphone".  I then went by the AT&T cabinet only to find that the Lumia 920 was not on display at all.  They had some in the drawer but the 900 was on display.  No Windows Phone signage at all.  None.  There were big displays advertising the GS3 that was released over 6 months ago but not a single sign for the 920 released just the day before.

I showed my wife the 920 and she liked the look and how photos were well integrated.  Overall she was impressed and I seemed to be well on the way to making her a convert.  Then I mentioned the lack of apps. No instagram, no pinterest, no bingo bash, no redbox, no mint, no pandora (yet).  Her response was swift.  Oh, that will never work.  So it looks like she might be getting a GS3 on black friday.  And I might be with her.

Windows Phone is a very creative attempt at a new OS so Microsoft deserves credit for that but Microsoft is fighting a battle I don't think it can win.  Phone sales are made in only two ways: by brand or by price/availability.  Apple has the brand people sewed up.  That leaves the price/availability crowd and Android has a strangle hold on them.  Walk into a Walmart, Best Buy, or Radio Shack and check it out.  All Android.  There will be a single IPhone display (they don't need any more than that) and may be a single Windows phone display or Blackberry display but the rest will be Android.  And many of those devices will be free or $1 or $.01.  These are the phones that people buy because they are cheap and because they come in all shapes and sizes: physical keyboards, small screens, large screens, on screen buttons, hardware buttons, etc.  The only way to get a large group of these buyers is to be on the shelves.

The only way for Microsoft to get significant shelf space is to (1) make it more expensive for OEMs to use Android and (2) give OEMs the ability to really customize WP8 at the software level.  They are working on number 1 with their patents.  Some Android makers already pay Microsoft a royalty on every device sold.  But I'm not sure about number 2.

Microsoft, in their attempt to control the experience and preserve battery life, has so limited what is possible on their handset that I can't see OEMs being interested long term. This would have been ok several years ago when our expectations were lower but we've seen the other side and we don't want to go back.

Just look at some of the customizations that Samsung was able to create for the Galaxy S3.  Voice control of camera, music app, and more all without some special keyword.  Just say  louder and the music app gets louder.  Just say snooze and the alarm will snooze.  I don't think that's even possible on WP8 today.  What about a geo-reminder service?  Not possible in all cases as WP8 only allows a single location tracking app at a time.  What about turning the phone over to mute it?  Possible?  I doubt it.  What about scheduling an app to run at a specific time?  Don't think it's possible either.  This is not to praise the GS3 or Android.  I am just pointing out that for Microsoft to succeed they need to target Android and to do that successfully they really needed to open up WP8 and make it possible to develop very cool experiences.  Sadly, they haven't done that.

They will get some big time apps ported to WP8. I suspect Microsoft is paying for much of this in the same way that Nokia is paying for free versions of Words with Friends and Draw Something.  Meanwhile Android continues to improve its UI, Google Now is already better than Siri in many ways and getting better with every iteration, and as more and more apps moves to GCM, the battery life story on Android will get better and better.

It's a real shame because I like Windows Phone 8 and want it to succeed but on it's current trajectory, I just don't see that happening.

What WP8 Needs To Do

I recently read a good post from Phil Lozen on why Windows Phone really should be targeting Android and not the iPhone.   You can find that article here.  I basically agree with the assessment but it's so important to outline the areas where Windows Phone 8 really needs to improve to succeed.

Distribution of Inexpensive Phones

Any trip to your local Best Buy, Radio Shack, or Wal-Mart will show you a long line of inexpensive Android phones.  On a recent trip to Wal-Mart, I saw 8 phones ranging in price from free to $149.  No Windows Phone devices at all.  Discerning buyers have already voted with their dollars but there is "another billion" users out there who are still using "feature" phones.  These customers don't really care about a nit or two of screen brightness or a ghz here or there in cpu speed.  They want a phone that will work, have decent battery life, and is *cheap*.  Nokia and HTC are off to a good start with preorders of their new devices coming in at $149 and $99 respectively.

However Microsoft has to find a way to get shelf space.  They can't supplant Android through online ordering.  Sow how do they do that?  Well, Phil outlined a strategy of tightly connecting WP8 devices to your home computer running Windows 7 or 8.  This should be combined with building excitement with young people through new game experiences and XBox 360 integration.

Take Market Share From RIM

RIM is dying.  Everyone knows that the Blackberry was the traditional business phone but it is going the way of the dodo and it's market share is up for grabs.  So how does Microsoft take that market share?  First, make sure WP8 is the very best messaging platform.  Communication is the core tool for mobile professionals.  Email and SMS have to be rock solid.  Can you say auto loading of HTML messages, in-line replies, and better quoting?  Second, VPN has to be available in WP8.  Professionals simply have to be able to connect to their remote workplace.  And, finally, the battery life on these devices needs to be acceptable.  Of course, if some salesperson is watching movies on the plane then she will need to charge but under normal usage such as Office document editing, emailing, and phone calls, the phone needs to comfortably last the whole day.

Be A Platform

Android and iOS provide two opposite extremes when it comes to mobile experiences.  Android is basically the wild west where almost anything is possible but apps and experiences are connected so loosely that you have a hard time having that cohesive feeling.  The iPhone and iPad are very tightly controlled and provide a nice sandboxed environment for their users but many find it too confining.  Even iOS diehards will admit that having an iPhone means you live the Apple lifestyle.  You do it "the Apple way".

Microsoft should find  way to chart through this gap.  Users want, and need, a more tightly controlled environment to insure quality in their experience but what is the harm in allowing alternative browsers or alternative SMS apps on the platform?  I should be able to install a custom Emoji keyboard and have Emoji characters throughout the system.  In short, MS should be able to provide me some controls and barriers to protect my sandbox while still allowing developers to customize the experience through alternate applications.

They should not define the experience completely but instead define the framework for the experience. They are doing some of this through the new contracts in WP8 but we'll have to see how far that goes.

Setting It Straight

I've been pondering why this election is so divisive and filled with so much hatred.  And the more I think about it the more I think Steve Forbes had it right.  More and more people are either looking at Obama as their "savior" or as their "provider".   Some look at him as the savior of personal rights such as a woman's right to an abortion.  Other's look at him as their provider.  I actually heard one caller into a call in show say that they "were not rich but there were going to be because they had Obama".  To them Romney represents the rich white guy who for so many years was the embodiment of all that was wrong with this country.

These two candidates, as most candidates these days, are very similar in execution but very different in ideology and who you vote for is really based on what ideology to which you subscribe. Yes, they are both politicians and both have lied and will continue to lie when it suits their purpose.  To use a stupid example, how many people have started out on the TV show Survivor saying they were going to finish the game not lying to anyone?  What happened to those people?  They were stabbed in the back and voted off.  Every single time.  The one who wins is the one who lies and crafts the best support system.  It's sad but it's the way it works.

I truly believe both of these men are good men and normally would not lie to you in normal course however they are playing the game the way the game is played these days.  It's hard to blame them for actually trying to win.

Again, it comes down to what you view as the proper involvement of government in your life.

If you think government should play a large role in your life then you should vote for Obama.  If you think that America is not truly exceptional and is "just another country" then you should vote for Obama.  If you think that all good things flow from government, that we should move even more responsibilities away from the states and to the fed (even though this is unconstitutional) then you should vote for Obama.  If you think jobs are created by government or by the middle class then you should vote for Obama. If you think $8 gas (you do know his Sec of Energy called for this right?) would help the middle class, then you should vote for Obama.  If you think the fed has to be involved in some way to things done (I really like the comments on twitter about Romney wanting to do away with culture because he wants to end the PBS subsidy) then you should vote for Obama.  If you believe that we need to keep talking about racial divides and racial inequality then you need to vote for Obama.  If you think there is no problem continuing to borrow money to run our country then you should vote for Obama.

If, on the other hand, you think, like our founding fathers, that while some level of government is necessary, it is a necessary evil and that our government at all levels needs to work very, very hard to get out of the way, then you should vote for Romney.  If you believe that more of your tax money should go to your state and local governments instead of to the fed then you should vote for Romney.  If you believe that fair and free open markets will always produce better products then you should vote for Romney.  If you believe that while we have not always agreed, Israel is one of our strongest allies and that we need to have their back in the middle East then you need to vote for Romney.  If you think the president is elected to meet with state leaders and not  parade around on The View or Letterman, then you should vote for Romney.  If you think that a regulated and properly controlled capitalistic society is superior (I know China does!) to communism, fascism, and statism then you should vote for Romney.  If you think that the best way to show racial equality is to stop acting like there is racial inequality and just treat everyone equally (no affirmative action, no quotas) then you should vote for Romney.  If you think that we really do need to start getting serious about balancing the federal budget (Clinton thought it was important!) then you should vote for Romney.

In any case, please vote this November.  It is your duty and it looks like both candidates will need all the votes they can get.

You always have to consider the source

This is not really an opposing view.  I own an iPhone 4, a first-gen Samsung Focus, and a Samsung Galaxy S II.  I recently read Charlie Kindel's post on the Galaxy and thought it would be good to offer an "alternative" viewpoint.  I'm certainly not an Android fanboy. I carried an iPhone 4 for nearly 1.5 years and have been trying so hard to like my Focus.  To be honest I haven't even decided if I'm going to keep the Galaxy or go back to my iPhone.  With that said, he's my counterpoints. [As with all devices, different phones can have different characteristics so my experience doesn't always equal your experience.]

Battery Life

Charlie writes that battery life was unacceptable on his Galaxy.  I had completely the opposite experience.  My first gen Focus was always near dead when I went to bed at night whereas my Galaxy has terrific battery life.  I run with wifi on all the time and GPS on nearly all the time.  I charge it every night and it comes off the charger at 7am.  I usually have between 30-40% battery left when I go to bed around 10.  Now,it is possible to install certain apps that kill battery life.  I installed a Craigslist app that sucked the life out of my phone.  That's when I installed Advanced Task Killer.  That took care of those issues.

Task Manager

Yes, the freeze drying multitasking of iOS and WP7 does solve the issues of rogue apps killing battery life but true multi-tasking is also very cool in many cases and after using the phone for nearly 3 weeks, I have absolutely no issues with ATK running in the background.  Every so often a graphic appears on the screen listing how many apps it killed.

Email client being slow

Charlie points out that his email clients were very slow.  It's possible that Charlie has much more email than I do.  I have a very large corporate email box (uses IMAP and not Exchange) and my GMail account has 1796 emails in the inbox (I know, I know). My email clients are very snappy.  However, I can't help but discuss the positives of email on Android.  On Android I can set emails from certain senders to always show inline images.  I can set my email client to notify me with sound during the day but to not notify with sound at night when presumably I'm sleeping.  Android also has linked inboxes just like WP7.  I also have a choice of email clients.

Home Screen Flexibility

Here Charlie almost sounds like an Apple fan boy explaining to his readers that they don't really need the flexibility.  Of course I assume he finds an nearly endlessly scrolling list of apps on WP7 better.  Hmm.  Yes, the Live Tiles on WP7 is interesting (so long as you can actually find apps that do live tiles. Looking at your Facebook).  But with Android you don't have to use widgets.  You can if you want, but don't have to.  If you want all your games on screen 1, all your utilities on screen 2, all your media apps on screen 3, you can do that.  That's the point, it's up to you.  With WP7 you *might* be able to find an app to create folders for your apps but really it just lumps all the apps into a single list.  Nice.

Cohesion in UI

Charlie claims there is no cohesion in the UI.  Well, that's simply an opinion. Is the UI on Android as nice as iOS? Nope.  I would say it's not as good in some places as WP7.  But it's entirely subjective how important that is to you.  It is clearly very important to Charlie.

Apps Crashing Phone

I'm certainly not going to doubt that Charlie saw what he saw.  I haven't installed the apps that he did because I have had no crashes.  Now I've never seen a WP7 app crash the phone but I regularly see the apps crash.  Netflix, Flixter, several others.  You start them, they come up, boom and they are gone.  Now that isn't Microsoft's fault but it does speak to overall app quality which does reflect on the platform.

Email and Calendar Info on Lock Screen

Charlie talks about having email and calendar info on lock screen.  That is a nice touch.  Of course, what he didn't tell you is that there are several lock screen replacements that do exactly that for Android.  Oh wait!  You can replace the lock screen on Android?  Yup!  You want an iPhone slider?  Done!  You want a round wheel that you have to spin to unlock?  Yup, got that too!  You want to draw some pattern to unlock?  No problem! You want any of that on WP7?  No, the users don't really need that.  Yeah...

Notification Pulldown

Charlie really likes the notification pulldown in Android and he's right to like it.  I really enjoy coming back to my WP7 phone (yes I carried my Focus for several weeks) and not seeing anything on my tiles and missing something important.  It's real fun to see on my tile that I have 4 unread emails, click it to go to the mail app, read one of the mails and then get distracted only to come back and find that the live tile shows nothing new.  I guess I have to remember that I had 3 more unread mails to read.

Bad Name

He says 'Samsung Galaxy S II from AT&T' is the worst name ever.  Really?  He's really reaching here.  How does that compare to 'Samsung Focus Flash from AT&T'.  By my count it's exactly the same number of letters.  Of course, the second is _so_ much better.  Like I said you have to consider the source.

Calendar Defaulting and Pin Contact To Home Screen

Well, it is the "default". Change it if you want.  I agree with Charlie that it would be nice to be able to pin a contact to the home screen.

Tilt To Zoom

Since you can dismiss the instructions after you see them once it's very hard to call them a problem.  And he is right that it is very slick.

Buttons (and Camera button)

I actually prefer the single mechanical button of iPhone.  It's very easy for me to pick up my iPhone 4 with one hand, wake it and unlock it with my thumb, and begin to use it.  With the Galaxy (and the Focus for that matter), it's much harder.  The wake button is up near the top of the phone on the right.  With the phones being bigger it's hard to "one-hand" it.    Charlie says that the search button is inconsistent in some cases and he's right about that.  However, there were many times I heard my Focus declaring from my pocket that it couldn't hear what I was saying.  With the Focus it was very important that you put the phone to sleep before putting it in your pocket.  That has never happened with my Galaxy.  The menu button is nice because it provides a very consistent place to get settings for where you are at.  It helps to keep the UI from being cluttered.  Yes there are different approaches like swiping to a screen to your right or having small dots in the lower right that bring up a menu.  They all work reasonably well.

Charlie misses his physical camera button from WP7 and I agree that is nice.  That's one of the reasons I flashed a custom ROM to my phone.  Most of the custom ROMS now use one of the volume buttons as a camera button.  Works just like the iPhone with iOS5!

Navigation

Charlie says that navigation on the Galaxy is as good as or better than WP7?  Please.  WP7 tap-n-turn navigation is a joke.  I haven't tried out the $4.99 app for navigation but the built-in one requires you to tap the phone screen to hear where you are or your next turn. Really?  That's broken.  Yes, it was a licensing issue.  Yes, I expect that the next major release will fix it.  I tried to use it. Really I did. My Galaxy did a perfect job wherever I went.  My Focus was very silent unless I kept tapping it.  Oh, and on my Galaxy I was streaming Pandora in the background and my daughter was reading a book and texting a friend in the foreground.  Does the WP7 nav app talk to you if you tap the screen and its' in the background? I didn't check that.

Apps

I don't know WP7 for Apps.  They are coming.  In fact, I have several app ideas I want to work on (I told you I was interested in the platform succeeding).  However, there is a difference between a platform you want to succeed and one you want to use every day.  With Android I can make it do almost anything.  Even my Cisco VPN at work.  No problem.  It's darling when people say on WP7 they don't need an Amazon Cloud player app because they have Zune.  Folks, Zune is $10-$15 per month and my Amazon Cloud player on my Galaxy streams my own music for free.

Now, I've touched on most every point Charlie made.  Here's some points he didn't make.

Storage expansion

The current crop of WP7 devices generally come with 16GB of storage with no option to expand.  My Galaxy came with the same 16GB on board but then I popped in a 32GB class 10 microsd card for a total of 48GB storage.  Hmm, an iPhone with that much space would cost me nearly $400 and you can't even get it with WP7. Ouch!

No Need For A Computer

Everything is done over the air.  Everything.  I can even download and burn a new ROM without ever connecting to a computer.

Voice Control and Dictation

Both phones have speech to text capabilities except with Android it's part of the keyboard.  With WP7 it's clearly something the app dev can enable but it's not part of the keyboard.  This means that with Android everywhere you can enter text you can speak it. With WP7 that is not the case.

Skype and Swype (sorry had to do that)

Both are available on Android but neither is available on WP7.  Enuf said.

NFC, 1080P recording, dual core CPU, Gyro sensor

Just a few of the things that WP7 phones do not have.  Well, a few of them might have a gyro but most do not.

I guess I've written enough.  I didn't work on WP7 or work for Microsoft so my write up here is truly unbiased.  I own and have used all 3 devices. WP7 is a good first start and when WP8 hits it may very well be ready for prime time.  Having Charlie review an Android device would be like having Steve Jobs (RIP, Steve) review Android.  I can pretty much guess what he would say.   :)

Do you really need to pay for a phone again?

I've carried an iPhone 4 for the past 18 months (since it came out).  It's been a great phone but I recently picked up a Galaxy S II from Wal-Mart.  It's also a great phone but the best part was the price which was free!  Well, I paid $106 with tax but they handed me a $100 gift card which I promptly used to buy groceries.

Given the quality of this phone and the price I paid it really got me thinking about the current state of mobile phones in the market.  Back in 2007 when the iPhone was first released, we didn't really have the post-PC market we have today.  Most of the "smart phones" were not all that smart and we really did just think of the phone as a phone.  (Those who think WM6 devices were smart need to really reconsider that position).  Because of those dynamics you didn't see the aggressive pricing you see today from the major players.  Today, manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung, LG, and others are fighting daily for your business.

The other factor here is that the market has finally caught up with Apple.  Check back tomorrow for a piece on that topic.  You don't have to buy an iPhone to get a very good smartphone experience.  While Apple suffers from the law of diminishing returns, greater competition drives features and quality up while pushing prices even lower. (Now if we could just get that at the gas pump)

Today we have so many great choices.  Yes, the iPhone 4/4S is a great device but so are the Windows Phone 7 devices and the multitude of great Android phones.  I also own a 2010 Samsung Focus (WP7) that I plan to use for development purposes.

We used to think of "free" phones as old inventory and last years product.  Well, here's a quick rundown of the features on the Galaxy S II:

• Dual core 1.2Ghz CPU (this thing is crazy fast)


• 4.3" Super AMOLED screen


• All the sensors you could want including a gyro and compass


• Expandable memory (I'm looking at your WP7)


• 8meg camera, 2meg front camera


• 1080p video camera


• HSDPA (4G speeds).  not LTE but really who cares


• Flash support.  You don't really get it till you see it work.  oh yeah!


• Great battery life.  With light to medium use I can get nearly 2 full days!


• The customization of Android

Last year's tech?  Hardly.  This thing frankly rocks hard!

Given that Black Friday comes around every year and there is quite often other special days during the year when retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon "sell" their current devices for either free or $0.01, I ask you again, do you really need to pay for a phone again?  I'm not sure you do.