WP7 aka Voltron 2010
Did you ever think you’d see the day come so soon that an iPhone user would commit to buying a Windows Phone 7? Neither did I. But alas it has happened here (traitor). There is one main reason why I didn’t. Steve Jobs and Apple by proxy have done a masterful job of conditioning customers who own anything Mac to be used to only operating Mac hardware. To venture outside the Apple world is so jarring I think it isn’t being dramatic to state the emotional response is akin to a lifelong (career, if you will) incarcerated criminal coming to the outside world and being willing to commit a crime just to be returned to their now cozy confines. Yes for most customers of Apple it is just this bad.
I ran Zune on one of my laptops and iTunes on the other and invited a Apple using friend over for a comparison. I tried iTunes and he Zune. Almost immediately my friend, complained about not being to find where to search for a song. I looked at him and smirked. The light bulb had went off in my head and I realized that he was totally conditioned to the point any variation from the Apple model was almost too much to handle. There is this very clear set of categories (quickplay, collection, MARKETPLACE, social) in the upper right hand corner. Pretty sure COLLECTION or MARKETPLACE are logical places to start searching for the music.
He was unwilling to even try to interact with the Zune software. I quickly felt sad for him, it was like watching a farm boy venturing into the big city for the first time and never being let out to play on his own.
The article “Why You’ll Want A Windows Phone” made me realize that when you remove all the fanaticism about a particular platform (their are Apple, Android, WinMo, WebOS fan boys) and start to be honest with yourself you realize that Windows Phone 7 has a lot going for itself.
Introducing my personal Five Parts that make up WP7 (aka Voltron 2010)
- Control Center (Represented by the black lion-The Head & Body)—This is MS’s decision to kick all the other crappy chefs out the kitchen and abandon the “have it your way” Burger King mentality it displayed allowing Carriers and OEMs to turn WinMo into crapware. The Metro UI serves as the body, the eye candy that is sure to catch people’s attention.
- Xbox Live (Represented by the red lion-The Right Hand/Arm)—The dependable and powerful feature that is sure to carve a niche in the market and cause competitors to shake in their boots. Make no mistake the Xbox Live integration is a potential gateway to being the main differentiator for Microsoft over everyone. Kinect anyone?
- Apps/Developers (Represented by the green lion-The Left Hand/Arm)—Occasional assistance that supplements the powerful Xbox Live Connection. Functional, high quality apps serving their purpose and sometimes being overlooked but continuing to be steady influence on WP7’s success.
- Zune (Represented by the blue lion-The Right Leg)—Stable, smooth, and hugely important upgrade to Windows Media Player. A worthy alternative to iTunes. This cannot be stated strongly enough the benefit of having Zune on the phone and providing a powerful user friendly feature at launch and going forward. Stability!
- Social Integration (Represented by the yellow lion)—Foundation of Mobile platforms going forward. MS’s emphasis on social integration is first in class. We know and are focused on facebook and twitter but Windows Live and the built in mass of Windows Live account holders should not be overlooked. Everything coming together and playing nice together is always a good thing.
So there you have it, WP7 aka Voltron 2010, ready to be defenders of the universe. Well at least defenders of our desire to have as many quality phones available to choose from as we can. Gotta love that, and as of today even iPhone users are starting to!
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Well at 54, the only thing I am really interested in is #1 (and maybe a little of #3), and honestly I sort of like things the way they are now on my Fuze so anything else would be icing on the cake. Not into gaming so #2 is whatever. And most of my music comes from burned CD’s or Interent Radio so #4 will be of little interest to me. Dabbling with #5, but most of my peers are not, so it’s not a high priority right now. I think a good number of my apps (and it is a good number) are already high quality so aside from some eye candy, I don’t think it will change much, except for waiting for them to connect to the cloud when I only have one or two bars. As I have noted in other posts, I realize WP7 is necessary and inevitable for Microsoft to survive in the mobile world and I wish them well. I just hope they let me tinker with WM for a bit longer while they work out the kinks. Or maybe I am ready for a Jitterbug.
On another note I was out with my 22 year old nephew, a Steve Jobs drone, to pick up his new Ford 150 Pickup. On the drive back from the dealership he noticed that the radio had a USB input but sighed when he saw the Microsoft logo. I explained to him that was a “good thing” and assured him Microsoft would make sure his Apple stuff would work, even though they didn’t have to. I went on to explain that had there been an Apple logo there instead, his radio would most assuredly only work properly with Apple products. Back at the house he plugged in his iPhone and was instantly presented with his music library. Problem solved. Thank you Microsoft.
Damn good representation of the two companies opposing views to functionality and customer respect.
I love all of the analogies 🙂
@jimski-I understand what you’re saying. I don’t necessarily think WP7 will be the best choice for everyone out there. What it does do it will do exceedingly well and will prove to be a very good and attractive option in the marketplace.
The reason Steve Jobs refuses to let anything that could potentially reflect the iphone in a negative way is because it is never the developer or carrier that gets blamed the OS company does. Microsoft waited far too long for the sake of maintaining partnerships to do something about the crapware many OEMs and carriers were turnin their product into.
I am not implying that Microsoft is discouraging quality apps like Fandango to be offered for free. What MS doesn’t want is 20 different apps serving the exact same purpose getting in a “how low can you go” race. That would make it hard for quality developers who are the backbone of the platform not receive proper financial compensation for the work they have put into their apps. Nobody should ever have any problem with paying a very small price for a useful app/game. I’ve started to set a simple quarter to the side everyday to pay for the apps/games that appeal to me. That is my financing strategy for paying for what I want. Granted I have the advantage of seeing apps in development and knowing the projected release date of WP7 but my point is that its not that hard paying for games.
I hope that MS delivers an excellent product that does satisfy the needs that you have.
Thanks for a good laugh, I needed that on a Friday.
Funny as it may be, everything you posted I agree with 100%.