Windows Phone 7 made a big splash this week, giving Microsoft new hope in a smartphone market where Apple and Android are threatening long-term dominance while Research In Motion works to maintain its share and Palm struggles to find its identity under the Hewlett-Packard umbrella.
Indeed, Windows Phone 7 is a good reason to remember that it’s never too late in the world of technology to make a comeback. Microsoft didn’t merely rehash Windows Mobile, but started from the ground up with an innovative approach that is turning the heads of analysts, handset makers, carriers and consumers alike.
Windows Phone 7 handsets have a common element that could help Microsoft gain market share: The Qualcomm-based hardware specification. That spec gives Windows Phone 7 devices the reliability of an iPhone with the development flexibility of Android. Microsoft’s goal seems to be taking the best of both words and making a new operating system uniquely its own.
“Microsoft did a lot of work watching people using iPhones and Android phones
and determined where those devices worked well and where they worked poorly,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. “With a clean canvas they then drew out a more ideal design, and the end result is stunningly different.”
Marketing Windows Phone 7
Microsoft has historically been weak on the marketing end. Windows 7 was a breakthrough for Microsoft on that front, and the company has been regaining market share from Apple. Will Microsoft repeat that success with Windows Phone 7?
“Windows Phone 7 is coming to market with a powerful marketing budget and a campaign that focuses on the positive differentiators this new Microsoft product provides,” Enderle said. “The key point is giving people their life back and making the phone far less of a burden to the user than products like the BlackBerry, iPhone and Android…