Developers Will focus on WinPho7, Android apps in 2011
The iPhone will be losing some of its popularity among developers, advertisers, and publishers next year as the app makers try to diversify their offerings to other platforms.
The iPhone will be losing some of its popularity among developers, advertisers, and publishers next year as the app makers try to diversify their offerings to other platforms.
Microsoft is really working the "save us from our phones" angle for Windows Phone 7, claiming that its platform is 20 per cent more efficient than rivals like the iPhone and Android. Computerworld reports on internal Microsoft research, which found that common tasks require fewer steps on Windows Phone 7.
Pre-orders for Windows Phone 7 handsets in some European markets have already sold out, according to some news reports. The issue seems to be the collision of high consumer interest with small inventories, at least of some of the new phones.
<i>Computerworld Australia</i> has compiled a list of five Australian-developed Windows Phone 7 (WP7) apps, ranging from dining, cultural and sporting experiences.
One noteworthy omission from Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 OS was Twitter integration, but not any more. Twitter introduced its official client for the platform, featuring the same swoosh user interface reviewers raved about last week. The app will be a welcome addition to Windows Phone 7's baby app library of around 1000 apps, with the first devices arriving in the U.S. on November 8.
Microsoft gave a peek at the first Windows Phone 7 products earlier this month when it formally announced its follow-on Windows Mobile in the race for smartphone glory vs. Apple (See: Windows Phone 7 vs. Apple iOS), Google and RIM. Microsoft’s current Windows Mobile OS recently fell behind Google Android in market share among U.S. smartphone subscribers, according to ComScore.
Windows Phone 7's commercials make it very clear that it's not about the phone's applications but about freeing a user from being obsessed with his or her smartphone. Now that the Windows Phone Marketplace has hit the milestone of 1000 applications, has Windows Phone changed its tune? Unfortunately for Microsoft, it hasn't, just as other smartphones are gaining traction.
With still two weeks before Windows Phone handsets go on sale, the Windows Phone Marketplace has already reached 1,000 applications and games, according to some brief blog reports.
Microsoft's release of Windows Phone 7 brings updated mobile-formatted Word, Excel, and PowerPoint programs, and OneNote Mobile, to your fingertips. The touchscreen-friendly revamp of Office Mobile is radically different from version 6.5. And files are supposed to resemble their appearance on the desktop more closely.
Good writers borrow, great writers steal, or so the saying goes. Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system borrows heavily from Apple's iOS and Google's Android but then takes the interface and navigation in an intriguing new direction, offering a user experience that at least equals and in some ways surpasses them.
Windows Phone 7's splashy launch last week in New York City showcased impressive hardware from the likes of Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung, and gave us a closer look at the brand-new operating system. Afterward, I was left with some questions and doubts, however. Besides a few missing essential features (ahem, copy and paste), Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 proposition lacks something far more important: apps. What good is a phone without apps? Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Marketplace is not yet up and running. A few of the demo phones at the launch event had apps preinstalled, but the selection was pretty skimpy.
If you line up an iPhone 4, Droid X, and BlackBerry Torch next to each other, and zoom in so you only see the display alone, the similarities between the platforms seems to outweigh the differences. Windows Phone 7, however, breaks the mold on the sea of app icons, and provides an innovative means of interacting with the information and functionality of the smartphone through tiles and hubs.
Although the iPhone has a lot of admirers, it's possible to critique a smartphone without making it seems as if we are destined to default automatically to the iPhone and only one other rival platform. There should be enough room for more than two platforms coexisting without expecting one's imminent demise.
The first thing that comes to mind when considering a desktop OS for business is Windows. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of productivity software is Microsoft Office. The first thing that pops to mind for mobile business communications, though, is BlackBerry. Windows Phone 7, however, may have what it takes to both compete with the iPhones and Androids of the world, while also assuming its rightful place atop the business smartphone world.
Ever since it unveiled the new mobile OS in February, Microsoft has been cagey on whether its new Windows Phone 7 would support direct synchronization with Apple's Macintosh computers. Now a spokeswoman confirms that Microsoft will offer a Mac OS X tool that syncs "selected content" between Macs and Windows Phone 7 devices.