“Charlie Kindel, who is in charge of Microsoft’s Windows Phone developer strategy, described a much more controlled, iPhone-like experience for formerly freewheeling Microsoft in an interview at the MIX10 conference here,” Segan reports. “Microsoft needed to exercise some control to provide a great set of consumer experiences, Kindel said.”
Segan reports, “Like the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 won’t support third-party apps being able to run in the background. But third parties will get access to a wider range of services than are available on the iPhone. For instance, Pandora could stream in the background using a special background-music service, Kindel said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Gee, wonder what iPhone OS 4.0 might bring to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users come June? And, Sascha, third-party apps can already stream in the background on iPhone. It’s up to Pandora to implement the capability, not Apple.
Segan continues, “Those third-party apps will all have to be installed from Microsoft’s own Marketplace, Kindel said. Initially, there won’t even be a way for enterprise customers to deploy apps to their staffs, but Microsoft is working on one.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple forced Microsoft back to square one; Redmond is years behind.
Segan continues, “The first Windows Phone 7 devices will come out during ‘the holidays’ of 2010, Kindel confirmed.”
MacDailyNews Take: And nobody in their right mind will buy one. There is no need (see: Palm) for yet another poor me-too iPhone imitation (unless Apple’s protection of their hard-earned IP retards Google’s Android to the point where some other fake iPhone OS is needed by device assemblers).
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Windows Phone 7 Series. Upside-down, backwards, and lacking in order to avoid infringing on Apple’s patented user-friendly UI methods, with far fewer accessories, way less third-party support, about 150,000 fewer apps, no iTunes, no iTunes Store, no built-in iPod (you get stuck with a Zune instead), and no cachet. All for about the same price or more. No sale.
come on MDN. the iPhone is NOT 5 years ahead of the competition anymore. the UI seems dated already. having to pop into an app, close that app, return to home screen, open new app, repeat, is getting old. yet, this is the OS for the ‘amazing’ iPad.
my friend has a droid and its interface is pretty freaking slick. lets not kid ourselves here.
I agree with you. A little more clean up on the android UI would be nice. Yes overall iPhone wins out. But the UI is getting a bit old.
If iPhone were available on Verizon, there would be much less room for WP7S, or for Android.
There is a big window of opportunity for a workable modern “smartphone” OS on Verizon.
If Apple and iPhone could get together…….
Sprint and T-Mobil etc. should be part of the game too.
@mike g
Why would you support a company like Moto?
They were cool many years agoe. Today? Come on, they don’t know which way to go. Sell all their divisions or connect them. It has all been up in air for quite a few years now.
Comeon MDN,
Microsoft is only just realising that Apple is right the whole time… we should be congratulating them for doing it the right way.
I hope limited multitasking is coming and I’m sure Apple is working on more cool features.
It’s not about UI. It’s about the whole UE user experience, of a rock solid OS, that I don’t have to reboot for months.
And it just works. Yeah Apple is way ahead on this.
The Redmond copiers just never get a break. 🙁
the iphone ui gets old and windows phone 7 (as much as i hate so admit it) looks very interesting. we need some serious innovation for iphone os 4 here. as much as i like the ipad (i will surely get one) i was a little bit shocked when i saw the home screen.
“Come on MDN. the iPhone is NOT 5 years ahead of the competition anymore.”
Maybe not 5 years ahead of Android — which borrowed a “running start” from Apple in the UI department — but it would seem they’re still 5 years ahead of Microsoft.
By the time Windows Phone 7 (basically Microsoft’s v1.0) hits the streets, we’ll almost be at iPhone v5.0).
Windows Phone 7 won’t have cut-copy-paste, background apps, or many apps to speak of generally. Where will Apple be?
I always hear about those oh-so-precious “accessories”.
What are those accessories again?
I never used any other accessory other than the headphone and a charger.
Hey Gang. Question on iPad UI. I think one key missing (???) feature for the ipad is multiuser capability. I would love to buy one for the family, as everyone already has an iphone. (the ATT data plan is why I work such long hours… but anyway). It would be great to have each family member have the ability to see email etc. in there own space. Has anyone heard anything about this being a feature?
@MIke Napolitano, the iPad seems like the perfect place to use that technology. I only know one family who actually uses fast user switching on their mac.
@ disposableidentity
I don’t think Mike N. was referring (necessarily) to fast user switching – only to SOME user switching. I think this is a good point, and should be addressed.
BTW – We use fast user switching all the time.
Seems it is true that Microsoft is copying Apple……copying what they did 2 some years ago.
This whole idea is hilarious!
It seems to have all the things that people complain most about in the iPhone but none of the drivers of success (i.e. the ecosystem).
I see why Apple is encouraging MS here. It will pressure Android and give no real competition to iPhone.
It is like putting a chimp next to an accomplished writer. He can band the typewriter keys, but will produce nothing of value.
I am LMAO!
We can argue about how far ahead Apple is of MS. Whether it is one year or five, MS is still playing catch up. As someone commented at Gizmodo “I don’t see anything the iPhone doesn’t already do.” Once again Apple’s influence is evident. Let us not forget how many people sniped at Apple’s design (which seems like it is now required by all new smart phones) or how they were trashed for features not included at the original launch. Yet here we are in a world conceived and designed by Apple in spite of the flack.
Haha the desperate iPhone haters are out in force now.
“The iPhone UI is getting old.” LOL! Yeah, I just hate it when a UI gets too familiar. I want a new, hip interface every couple of years!
@mike g: having to pop into an app, close that app, return to home screen, open new app, repeat, is getting old
First off, genius, “close that app” and “return to home screen” are one step, not two. Use an iPhone much? Didn’t think so.
Secondly, how the hell else do you open app number 2 without returning to some kind of menu to find it? Unless you’re complaining about not having multiple apps open at the time, which another issue entirely and has little to do with how “old” the iPhone UI is.
Sheesh. This reminds me of gametards whining that KillEverythingInSight 4 isn’t fresh.
——RM
The iPhone OS getting old? Yet it is compared to the new OS that are on the newest phones.
Seems strange, they copy Apple which has an old OS? Yet, if Apple brings out a newer version- all other become old. Thus, making other follows Apples newer OS until they come close and Apple moves the bar ahead.
Wow, they follow with a copy of Apple’s OS. Who would have thunk!
Maybe Microsoft can borrow Scott Forstall to make the presentation of Windows 7.
The interface on the Droid is a joke. The ONLY usable smartphone on the market is the iPhone. Here’s a chart that echoes my sentiments exactly:
iPhone vs. Droid Comparison Chart
Of course, that chart could just as easily be called
iPhone vs. Nexus One Comparison Chart
And soon, it will be called
iPhone vs. Windows Mobile 7 Comparison Chart
For all the people talking about user switching.
I was browsing a mac magazine at the store and I saw a pic I had not seen before.
It showed a settings page, the one with file sharing.
Anyway it had “profiles” and I think I read there could be five.
Was news to me
MeToo$oft gets sadder and sadder with each passing day.
Ballmer: “Original ideas? What me worry.”
I will put my left nut on the chopping block if a single Winblows 7 phone comes out this year.
“around the Holidays” is MeToo$oft’s way of saying “sometime in 2011.”
To add to what I wrote above I suspect the ipad features a software version based on this idea for user profiles. The article is about two years old and was suspected mainly to be in the iPhone.
So based on the “profiles” setting I saw and this patent article I’m guessing the ipad will have some sort of user switching, even if it’s only different profiles for yourself.
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/14/apple-invents-user-programmable-switch-for-iphone.html
I have a suggestion for MS. “around the Holidays” could mean May Day 2011. That would be appropriate.
I suspect iPhone OS 3.2 is just a ghost used to allow devs to create apps for the iPad while Apple is still finishing a Dashboard-like way to multitask on the iPad, and a Exposé/Mobile Safari-like way to multitask on the new iPhones with iPhone OS 4.0
@LordRobin
I agree with mike g – the user interface, with opening and closing apps, is quite unwieldy. I find myself often having to open and close apps in succession in order to copy information from one to the other. Copying an address from an email to the Maps application is one example, and anything from text messages is especially painful if you want to copy more than one text balloon…
The search function in contacts is hard to operate – I find it nigh impossible to select the search bar and usually get the “add contact” function unless i scroll up to the top of the list or use the index to do so first.
Mine is the 3G, no the 3GS, and its SLOW. Safari is very slow on my phone… Scrolling using fingers is quite nice, but its difficult to avoid triggering links – and then the SLOW SLOW SLOW process of closing a page, opening a new page, cancelling the opening of the page you didn’t want, and then finding your old page – well…
My 3G iphone has become unreliable as well. And when a phone is unreliable its next to useless… It crashes a lot since a few releases back. It hangs sometimes, requiring a two button reset, and frequently I go to pick it up and its dead. It lost all sound recently – something I noticed was reported widely on the forums – requiring a complete reset and reinstall as a new phone, losing a pile of settings in the process which I am still finding and restoring (all my contact phone numbers have reverted to US format – a nightmare to copy and paste since I have to remove all the inappropriate parentheses and spaces the phone inserts.
I am somewhat ambivalent about my iPhone these days. I hate its unreliability, and its slowness. As a phone it is clumsy – my ancient Nokia was much faster and easier to use for making and answering calls. The keyboard is too small and, after 3 years, I still make a lot of typos. I am not convinced that multi-touch is effective – its a workaround for the tiny screen, but hard to do without using two hands and very hard to get right – especially in the ABSOLUTELY AWFUL Maps application. I hate that app…
Copy and paste works mostly – but I find it very difficult to position the start and end blocks, especially at the start of a line – again, a workaround for the tiny screen, but annoying.
I dont imagine I will go to another platform – I like the integration with my Mac and MobileMe and I use the email, contacts and calendar apps a lot. But I agree it is time for a rethink…
I got the first gen iPhone on day one then a 3g and have skipped the 3gs. I will be ready to upgrade this summer. I also hope they refresh the experience a little. Though great it’s a tad stale.
Microsoft seems hard at work building iPhone OS 1.0. Let’s see what they got:
1) No copy and paste
2) No multitasking for 3rd party apps
3) Non-Native development tools (Must use Silverlight)
4) A kill switch to turn off rogue applications
When it’s finally released, they will have successfully copied iPhone OS 1.0 and Apple will have released OS 4.0
Hold off guys. Mike g is right. Why is anyone who dares to be critical a ‘hater’??
It IS a pain to have to close an app by going to the home screen and then go to a new app. on the iPad it will seem even more clumsy.
Hopefully v.4 will fix that.
@ Nobama,
Clicking on a red X is clumsy, returning to home and finding the next App is very intuitive when using a computer that can only run one App at a time.
The only way this will change is if we have multi-tasking of third party Apps.
Hello every one i think tech are growing day by day and its very useful to every person life…. now the windows mobile has launched in the market…. i like this mobile …
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/alta-white-teeth-whitening-review-does-alta-white-work-1989826.html
@byronic — Well, if the 3G is too slow for you, why not try the 3GS? I’m upgrading as soon as I’m able to do so with the subsidized price (still got one month to go — and the only way AT&T;will waive that is if I sign up for their cable and Internet which really sucks). I’ve got 4/22/10 iCal’d on my current iPhone, because I’d much rather pay $299 for the 32GB 3GS than $699. (Heck, if I was stuck with the $699 price I’d just pay $30 more and get the 32GB iPad w/3G and go with a regular cell phone.)
… and in reverse order, the nominations for best performance in the category of a “Whiny Wanker” are; Nobama, Msavwah, ralph from berlin, True mike g. and Mike g …
The envelope please …
MIKE G !!! YEEHA!!! WHOO-HOO!!! … … oops sorry …
Ladies and gentleman the award goes to Mike g.
It’s funny that the only possible advantage M$ could hope to realize for its mobile OS is being pissed away for that they can poorly implement features of a superior product. It continues to define itself only as a leech of superior technology. Why not let it bake another 3 years – not like its possible for you to bleed off any more market share.
I don’t personally share a lot of the detractors’ whining about the “dated” iPhone UI. Hint: the UI is not the focus; the apps are. People who are tired of the UI – well – I really don’t know how to address meaninglessness like that. Do you want sparkly bursts when you tap an icon? A windowed scheme overlaid on a desktop for a phone? What is “tired” about the UI, aside from the comments utterly lacking in content slagging it?
I just got an iphone 3GS i have always not wanted to get one but was worried the way i go through phones it would not last. but i got a jailbroken one and i love it.
This is the one thing apple needs to let go. We should be able to install themes on the iphone and thereby giving a different user experience. I cant understand why they dont do this. I love my iphone it works great its got so many apps for it. I have got proably 3 dozen so far that all were free or .99. I love that there is so many apps for the iphone and you can do multitasking if you just jailbreak it.
So far my experience on the iphone has been great. I just cant see the WM7 taking off. ITs hard to read and being all text based is hard. i prefer icons. Text based is going backwords.
“Apple forced Microsoft back to square one; Redmond is years behind.”
MDN is stuck in the Freudian anal phase of technology.