You know how much we love Android here right? We’ve defended and praised it so many times… because it has brought smartphones to the masses.. affordable, alternative…. an agnostic way of understanding the market! And although we’ve seen it more than 7 times before, we were (again) overwhelmingly impressed yesterday when WP7 series were presented…
If many described Android as a game changer and predicted it will become the new (future) mobile market dominant platform Microsoft definitely won’t let go. What Ballmer & de la Vega presented yesterday (well, the merit should really go to Joe Belfiore and his speech) was a dignified rebirth of a long-dead (years) platform: Windows phone.
You really don’t need to see the 3 following 10-15min videos that condense the hour-long presentation from yesterday, but it you want to dribble at (an)other mobile platform, then you may.
What you can expect from Winphone 7 series is the obvious: “nearly perfect” integration with the whole Microsoft universe of products & their partners (which for moments seems larger, wider, thicker & tastier than big G’s one)… meaning gaming (Xbox), music (Zune), working (Office) on-line search & services…. and much more.
As Mr Siegler from Techcrunch puts it … “Windows Phone 7 doesn’t feel like a cheap imitation of the iPhone. It feels like something different.”… and again, despite all the love we have for Google (and traditional hate for Msft), Android does feel in most cases as a cheap iPhone imitation. We know, we know… this is no longer applicable for Google apps, and there will be (apparently) a radical UI redesign with the next Gingerbread version….
“Microsoft is sort of taking a middle of the road approach between Apple and Google in the mobile space. They’re working with a lot of partners (like Google), but they’re imposing a fairly strict set of manufacturing rules and rigorously testing to make sure the products are up to standards (like Apple)” Siegler says (you should also read Brian X. Chen’s Wired article on WP7vsAndroid)
That is the key, and with 9 phones to be launched in the coming months we’re more than positive about…. let’s admit it… replace our Android devices for a … “Microsoft” product? Yes, even if it’s a sin, a nicely user-friendly-integrated sin.
The question remains… will WinPhone7 prove to be as versatile for other mobile products (tablets, PMPs…) outside the smartphone segment as Android or iOS are? It better be.
