Should Microsoft Kill Windows Mobile?

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There has been a lot of talk lately about Microsoft's inability to release a viable mobile product. Some are suggesting Microsoft should just throw in the towel and kill the product line. This got me thinking, should Microsoft really cut their loses and focus on other businesses? I started out as a big Windows Mobile fan with my HP Pocket PC many years ago. It was a great OS with a wide selection of applications and even allowed me to check my e-mail and browse the web using Wi-Fi which was just becoming widely available. Eventually I upgraded to a cutting edge Windows Mobile phone that was much better than the other smart phones on the market at the time. This allowed Microsoft to dominate the mobile smart phone market for a while but their success was short lived. Today, Windows Mobile phones have been marginalized to last place.

Competitors were busy developing innovative phones such as the Blackberry, Palm Pre, Android and the iPhone but Microsoft seemed complacent with the basic Windows Mobile feature set. Touch is by far the greatest failure of Windows Mobile to date. It seems that everyone in the world realized it was much better to use your finger than a stylus. To this day Microsoft has only begun to implement touch and multi-touch into Windows Mobile. The latest release, Windows Mobile 6.5, appears that it was rushed to market by management because they took too long to respond to the touch revolution. The result is a half-baked mess of inconsistencies that still require you to still use a stylus to do certain tasks.

Overall Microsoft has realized they screwed up and have started to make changes to the to the Windows Mobile team but will that really be enough? Why is it taking Microsoft so long to release a viable competitor to market? In the amount of time Microsoft developed a minor point release for Windows Mobile Google was able to release the first major release of Android. Windows Mobile fans can only hope that the changes are successful.

Meanwhile there is a chance that Microsoft could surprise us all with news of Windows Mobile 7 next year at the MIX conference in February. Although there are now rumors of further delays pushing to release to late 2010 or even 2011.

At this point my personal experience with Windows Mobile has ended. I switched to the iPhone because I wanted a phone that actually was designed just for touch and didn't want to wait any longer for Microsoft to get its act together. After switching I can say without a doubt the iPhone is a great device. It has some flaws but those are minor compared to the usability improvements it offers over my old Windows Mobile phones. I hope that Microsoft can release a good Windows Mobile release but my confidence is lacking. I say if Windows Mobile 7 is also a flop, Microsoft needs to either kill Windows Mobile or clean house and start from scratch.

What do you think?

Comments

oriname

you r rt. they need to do more

259 days ago

Ben

I love my windows phone. I have to use the stylus yes, but the functionality it gives me over a droid or iPhone i think os more than worth it. IMO, the comparison is the same as a console game system to a PC. Some people like console gaming, menues neatly laid out and selectable with a gamepad, but they lack the configuarability and the modability of the same games on PC release. WinMobile is great for people that are tinkereres by default, if you want to be able to get under the hood and fool around and truely make your phone into the system that fits you, WinMoblile is the way to go. If you just want it to work and work simple and easy and thoughtlessly and are okay with leaving things how your cell providor or phonemaker think they should be.. then a droid/iphone style is maybe better for you. WinMobile has a VAST array of free progs and apps out there already, many of which have great 'fingerability' written into them. It is just a matter of picking the ones that work best for you. There are so many OS Overlays out there, that you can have a winphone, and never even see the underbelly of the OS if you install one that you like.

256 days ago

Chris

With the progress that competitors such a Blackberry and iPhone... there is no place left for Microsoft in that market. I do not honestly think they took it seriously enough to stay on the bleeding edge. That being said... Microsoft, you have the marketshare on PC's. Let it go and move on.

256 days ago

Scooby

I think Windows Mobile is still the most powerful, flexible OS on the market. Driod? New and not compatible fully with Linux programs. iPhone? As stated above WM has some great, free touch overlays (Touch2 is pretty nice, and has a free version) and this is not to mention the big flaws- no MMS, no file browsing, no removable battery or storage, "App Store" controls on apps. Palm's WebUI? The multitasking WebUI brags of has been available for years- with Windows Mobile. (Plus I miss the old PalmOS :~[ ) There are tons of great, free productivity apps and games for Windows Mobile. You can even get Blackberry messaging free on it with Blackberry Connect. (Is the Blackberry even good for much else than messaging?) Though, I do agree that Windows Mobile perhaps is not as finger-friendly as other phone OSes. Also, I'm not saying the other phones I named aren't great- they are. I just think Windows Mobile still does the most stuff of any phone OS around.

250 days ago

Maggy

If you want to customize you WM device, take a look on http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php
Even on my old Himalaya Qtek 2020 I never need my stylus any more and it looks like any recent model of any brand.

247 days ago

Dark

I've been using Windows Mobile for almost a year now and I got to say that it is way better than the other OS's. It is easily customizable and even when my phone had WM 6.1 on it I never used the stylus. WM phones are for the tinkerers. If you are looking for something that is perfect out of the box then WM phone is not for you. Also there are plenty of shells out there that are finger friendly. For those wondering I don't use any since I like the OS as is and have no problem navigating with my finger. Lastly Microsoft is coming a long way with the latest 6.5.3 builds. They are more finger friendly than the official release out now and more complete as well. With that said; Microsoft keep up the good work. You are moving in the right direction.

240 days ago

Steve Sinchak

I think the key for the consumer mobile market is to make a phone that just works perfectly out of the box. I customized my WM phones significantly and I'm a big fan of XDA Developers and the "cooked" ROMs available there. I agree that with the help of those modified ROMs WM is significantly better. The problem is the average consumer will never go to those lengths to improve their phone. I also agree that the competitors phones are not perfect either although they are generally better at touch. I place such a emphasis on touch because I feel that is the future direction everything is going.

234 days ago

Google Android

Yes, they should, with Open Source Google Android, Microsoft SHOULD throw in the towel on WinMo AND on Windows XP/Vista/7/8...Microsoft should just dry up & die...we don't need closed-source handcuff-ware...

223 days ago

shadowz

I love my HTC Touch Pro running Windows Mobile 6.5.

I love the fact that Windows Mobile have great support at XDA-Developers and other sites, i love being able to use custom roms and that they are constantly updated at least every month.

Plus, i can run Google Android as well, so i can dual boot on my HTC Touch Pro, i can choose to run Windows Mobile or Android anytime on just the same phone, so that's a plus for me.

And besides, Google Android are powered by HTC phones, so it doesn't really matter whether i go for WM or Android, since i use HTC phones all the time.

201 days ago

Maggy

I'm sorry Android,
If you were right, Linux would have killed Microsoft a long time ago.
Every potential software buyer knows that all you have to do is make a wish list, wave with money and some developer creates your custom made closed source application, not available to your competitors unless they wave with money too and reinvent the wheel. Yes it is true, I do know some rare companies that do fulfill custom orders in open source software, but this is still rare and at least not what a huge chunk of the buyers market wants.

198 days ago