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First Nokia WP7 in Q4 via an ODM route from Compal
Follow-up:
Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [Oct 26, 2011]
Note: the “affordable” Nokia Lumia 710 is the one produced by Compal (the 800 is by Nokia itself)
Update [Aug 17, 2011]:
– @mechaghost Elbert Perez [his website: http://www.occasionalgamer.com/ see also: here]
I caught you Nokia 800 and Acer M310 on my reporting page. #wp7
3 hours agovia Twitter for Windows Phone
– Why Nokia coming to Windows phone is a huge deal [Aug 14, 2011]
– Nokia Teams Up With Polar to Launch Over 300 Mobile Apps for Major Media Brands Globally [Aug 17, 2011]:
Nokia (www.nokia.com) has entered into an agreement with Polar Mobile (www.polarmobile.com) to launch over 300 mobile apps for Nokia smartphones over the next 12 months. Polar Mobile will be launching apps on Nokia smartphones for over 300 top tier media brands globally, including the likes of Wired UK, Kompas, Advertising Age, Globe and Mail, Shanghai Daily and 7DAYS. The apps will be made available to consumers of Nokia’s Symbian smartphones, the recently announced Nokia N9 and future Nokia with Windows Phone devices.
– DroidUser999 says: … What happened to Nokia-MS Party on Aug 17th. Did they announce anything?[August 17, 2011 at 12:42 pm]
Taigatrommel says: August 17, 2011 at 6:38 pm
It was said they’d have a “small portfolio of devices” ready this year for small launch on limited regions.
I think they talked about a touch-only phone as well as one with a keyboard. So this small portfolio would include two different devices.
– More information: Nokia’s North America centric approach for Windows Phone 7 [Aug 11, 2011]
– More information (for the gaming and entertainment space): Nokia Windows Phone to debut on August 17 at the huge gamescom 2011 event [Aug 3, 2011 with updates up to Aug 20, 2011]
End of update
@dnystedt Dan Nystedt
Nokia supplier, Compal, to start shipping Windows Phone 7 smartphones to Nokia in September, total 2 million in Q4, Taiwan media say.
12 Augvia web
Mango phones to compete with new iPhone in September [July 29, 2011]
Branded handset vendors including HTC, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics all plan to launch Microsoft’s Mango-based smartphones in September, competing neck and neck with the forthcoming iPhone which is also slated for the same month, according to industry sources.
Other vendors to unveil Mango phones at the recently concluded Microsoft’s 2011 WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference) included Acer, ZTE and Fujitsu Toshiba, the sources indicated.
In cooperation with Fujitsu Toshiba, Japan-based mobile carrier KDDI has unveiled its first Mango phone, the IS12T, which features a Qualcomm MSM 8655 processor, 3.7-inch touch screen and 13.2-megapixel camera.
HTC is expected to roll out a number of Mango phones, powered by Qualcomm 1.5GHz single-core CPUs with display sizes ranging from 3.8- to 4.7-inch, the sources noted.
Nokia is expected to unveil its first batch of Mango phones at Nokia World 2011 to be held in October, at a time when fellow vendors have already heated up the market for Mango phones, which will probably be a good strategy for the handset vendor, commented the sources.
Nokia, China Mobile open the Windows [Aug 13, 2011]
Colin Giles, executive vice-president of Nokia Corp, who is in charge of the company’s global sales, said Nokia has always been committed to China Mobile’s Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology – the first globally recognized 3G telecommunications standard, led by China.
Giles made the remarks at a news briefing in Beijing on Friday, when China Mobile, the world’s biggest telecom carrier by users, officially launched the commercial version of Mobile Market-Nokia store, a joint-brand mobile application outlet, for Chinese TD-SCDMA mobile-phone users.
However, Giles did not reveal further details of Nokia’s TD-SCDMA Windows phones and the launch date was not disclosed.
…
Nokia is winding down its use of the Symbian operating system to focus on developing Windows phones with Microsoft at the US-based company’s facility in San Diego, California. It plans to deliver the first batch of Windows Phone 7 smartphones in the second half of this year.
“We will continue to introduce a diversified portfolio of TD-SCDMA devices and services,” Giles said, referring to the relationship with China Mobile as one between the world’s leading operator and leading mobile phone manufacturer.
Compal Communications smartphone shipments to be boosted by Nokia orders [June 28, 2011]
Taiwan-based ODM maker Compal Communications shipped only 3.91 million smartphones in 2010 and has downward adjusted 2011 target shipment volume from 6.0 million smartphones to 4.5 million, but stands a chance of shipping 10-15 million smartphones through reliance on Nokia, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Compal’s shipments of Android, WebOS and Windows Phone 7 (WP7) smartphones to Nokia, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard (HP)and Acer in the first quarter of 2011 accounted for 70% of total shipments and 85% of total revenues, the sources indicated.
Compal has relatively strong R&D capabilities among Taiwan-based handset ODM makers as well as supporting resources from the Compal Group, but many ODM orders for smartphones are in too small volumes to reach an economy of scale, the sources said.
As Compal will begin shipping Mango (an update edition of WP7) smartphones to Nokia in the fourth quarter of 2011, Compal is likely to see a large increase in ODM orders from Nokia in 2012 if Mango smartphone models sell well in the global market and Nokia keeps downsizing its in-house R&D staff and strengthen ODM partnership with Compal, the sources analyzed. If so, Compal is expected to obtain orders for Mango smartphones from other vendors as well, such as Acer and LG Electronics, the sources indicated.
Compal has signed with Microsoft for licensed use of the Mango platform and Tango, a platform to succeed Mango, the sources noted.
Compal Communications lowers 2011 handset shipments target; signs WP7 licensing agreement with Microsoft [June 24, 2011]
Compal Communications has lowered its handset shipments target for 2011 to 4.5 million units from six million projected earlier due to adjustments in product strategies by its clients, according to company chairman Ray Chen.
However, Compal will continue moving forward with its ongoing policy of migrating to the production of smartphones, stated Chen.
Compal shipped 3.9 million handsets in 2010, with smartphones accounting for 43% in shipment volume and 72% in total revenues. In the first quarter of 2011, handset shipments totaled 760,000 units, with smartphones accounting for 70% in volume and 85% in revenues.
Smartphones will make up nearly 100% of the company’s handset shipments by the fourth quarter of 2011, making Compal the largest smartphone ODM in Taiwan, Chen stated.
In other news, Compal has signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft for the use of Windows Phone 7. Prior to reaching an agreement with Compal, Microsoft had signed similar licensing agreements with seven companies: Nokia, HTC, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE, all brand vendors.
Compal will build up a foundation based on the WP7 platform that will enable it to shorten time to market for customized smartphoneswhile expanding the pool of Windows Phone-based clients, Chen commented.
Actually, Compal has already landed some orders for Windows Phone 7-based smartphones from Nokia with shipments to begin in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to industry sources. Compal will also solicit Windows Phone orders from Acer.
Nokia’s North America centric approach for Windows Phone 7
Follow-up:
– Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [Oct 26, 2011]
– Designing smarter phones–Marko Ahtisaari (Nokia) and Albert Shum (Microsoft) [Nov 23, 2011]
Note: Both Lumias come first to countries other than North-America where a portfolio of Lumias will be introduced just the first half of 2012.
Update 2:
– Nokia US President Chris Weber: Why Lumia’s a hit [Nokia Conversations, Dec 20, 2011]
Chief explains why the 710 is right for America and hints: you ain’t seen nothing yet
I got a few minutes with Chris Weber, President, Nokia North America, after the smartphone sales announcementlast Wednesday. Without further ado, here’s what went down…
Chris, what excites you particularly about the Nokia Lumia 710 coming to the US on T-Mobile?
First of all, this is a world-class smartphone that is aimed at converting current feature-phone owners over to the exciting world of smartphone ownership. Our numbers show that more than 150 million Americans don’t have smartphones currently. Many are on the fence because of high phone costs or high monthly plan costs.
The Lumia 710, with T-Mobile, will cost only $49 and monthly plans will cost around $50 per month.
What sets the 710 apart from the competition?
The Lumia 710 has a great hardware offering with a 1.4 Ghz SnapDragon processor, a color-popping ClearBlack display, and Nokia’s exclusive Nokia Drive, which offers great point-to-navigation so you can leave your GPS behind when traveling. Not to mention, you get Nokia’s amazing industrial design all backed by the amazing usability of Windows Phone.
This is the first look for Nokia fans in the US at Windows Phone – what’s cool about it?
Windows Phone is amazingly fast and usable right out of box. Because Windows Phone integrates popular social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – users can easily sign in and utilize these without installing apps for them.
It’s known that first-time smartphone owners hate setting up their devices and installing loads of apps just to get started on their networks of choice. On Windows Phone, you do a simple set up process and you’re good to go.
My favorite uses for Windows Phone are the People Hub, Live Tiles and the amazing Open Table integration that helps you find reservations all within the Local Scout utility – this is very cool.
Tell me more about the custom offerings for the Lumia phones, specifically Nokia Maps and ESPN – what can we look forward to?
Nokia Maps and ESPN will come pre-loaded on the phones at purchase. Rest assured that Nokia Maps is a huge platform for us that we see a lot of potential for. There will be exciting announcement and additions in the near future, but I can’t say more now.
As for ESPN, our partnership with them has yielded unique experiences and custom content to the Nokia Lumia 710. Again, we have some awesome features that sports fans will just eat up coming in the near future, we are iterating fast and news will be coming in the coming months.
So, this is the start of a set of Nokia phones, can you elaborate?
I can say that we have been talking to a number of carriers and we’ve been astounded at their overwhelming support. We will be launching more phones on other carriers. The Lumia 710 is the start of a portfolio of products aimed at the United States.
We like to call our Windows Phone Portfolio rollout “rolling thunder”. What this means is that we will have numerous announcements spread throughout the coming months that will offer something for everyone. In our view, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and we anticipate being a major player in the US market by this time next year.
More information:
– T-Mobile brings Nokia Lumia 710 to the U.S. [joint press release, Dec 14, 2011]: “Nokia and T-Mobile deliver a leading entry-level Windows Phone experience to the nearly 150 million Americans still to make the transition to smartphones.” [expected to be available starting Jan. 11]
– Nokia Lumia 710 now shipping [Dec 9, 2011]: “Second Windows Phone smartphone from Nokia reaches stores today [in Taiwan]”
Update 1:
– DroidUser999 says: … What happened to Nokia-MS Party on Aug 17th. Did they announce anything? [August 17, 2011 at 12:42 pm]
Taigatrommel says: August 17, 2011 at 6:38 pm
It was said they’d have a “small portfolio of devices” ready this year for small launch on limited regions.
I think they talked about a touch-only phone as well as one with a keyboard. So this small portfolio would include two different devices.
– More information (for the gaming and entertainment space): Nokia Windows Phone to debut on August 17 at the huge gamescom 2011 event [Aug 3, 2011 with updates up to Aug 20, 2011]
– @dnystedt Dan Nystedt
Nokia supplier, Compal, to start shipping Windows Phone 7 smartphones to Nokia in September, total 2 million in Q4, Taiwan media say.
12 Aug via web
– More information: First Nokia WP7 in Q4 via an ODM route from Compal [Aug 13, 2011, with updates up to Aug 17, 2011]
End of updates
Exclusive: Nokia to Exit Symbian, Low-End Phone Businesses in North America [AllThingsD, Aug 9, 2011]
In an interview with AllThingsD, the head of Nokia’s U.S. subsidiary [Chris Weber] said that the company will also focus exclusively on sales through traditional wireless carriers. In the past, Nokia has sold its smartphones at full price to consumers, after finding carriers unwilling to significantly subsidize or market the products. It has also had a significant — if low margin — business selling low-cost feature phones.
…
North America is a priority for Nokia, Weber said, in part because it is a key market for Microsoft and also because Nokia sees it as a key to winning in the smartphone battle globally.
“We’ll develop for North America and make the phones globally available and applicable,” Weber said. “In fact, evidence of that is that the first Windows Phones that will ship are being done by our group in San Diego.”
[where the headquarters and main engineering sites of Qualcomm are]Nokia plans its biggest-ever marketing pushfocused on reestablishing its presence in the U.S.
“Without getting into numbers, it is significantly larger than anything we have done in the past and the most we will invest in any market worldwide,” Weber said. “They are putting their money where their mouth is.”
Nokia exec: Android and iPhone focus on the app is “outdated” [VentureBeat, Aug 9, 2011]
Weber … cited an effort to consolidate many of Nokia’s U.S. operations in Sunnyvale, a project he says resembles running a start-up [with a challenger mentality]. Since Weber joined Nokia in February, he’s already changed 80 percent of his leadership team, noting that he has “10 to 11 new direct reports” out of a total of 14. Weber had left Microsoft in December, after running enterprise sales for the software giant.
…
Weber called Android and the iOS phone platforms “outdated.” While Apple’s iPhone, and its underlying iOS operating system, set the standard for a modern user interface with “pinch and zoom,” Weber conceded, it also forces people to download multiple applications which they then have to navigate between. There’s a lot of touching involved as you press icons or buttons to activate application features. Android essentially “commoditized” this approach, Weber said.
Nokia, by contrast, will offer a more seamless and efficient interface with its “live tiles and hubs” approach. It does this via Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, where applications will be integrated into everything you do. For example, if you want to communicate with a business contact, you select the contact from your address book, and then communicate in any way you want — via LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter — without having to open those individual applications. That’s because everything is built around contacts, not applications. And your profile and most important contacts are represented by tiles on your home screen, which update dynamically as you or your contacts make status updates. On the iPhone and Android, by contrast, the home screen icons remain static.
…
Here’s one killer feature afforded by Mango: Using it, Nokia phones will be able to use voice commands to complete tasks without ever touching the phone. Weber demoed this feature for me (but unfortunately, wouldn’t let me shoot video of it), but here’s how it worked: When I texted him, his phone received the text and then automatically read the message out to him. He then directed his phone — again, using only voice — to reply to me with a spoken message. It arrived on my phone promptly. He did all this without ever touching his phone. And he’s said he’s used the voice feature to conduct scores of phone conversations, too, answering and hanging up without ever touching the phone. That’s pretty cool, indeed.
In fact, we’ve previously referenced this technology. However, Weber said the feature is much better than Android or Apple equivalents, because with those competing phones you have to touch the phone each time you want to initiate their voice-to-text features.
It’s a certainly a good feature to showcase, but its also not a game-changer, that massive overhaul that could give Nokia a decisive lead.
It’s not clear exactly how Nokia plans to distinguish itself from the host of other manufacturers — HTC, Samsung and LG — who are also committed to building phones on Mango.
Weber kept stressing Nokia’s superior hardware. And Nokia will also benefit from its relative leadership in location-based services via its ecommerce and maps offerings, which it owns directly, and therefore can monetize more effectively.
Qualcomm’s new partnership with Nokia
Follow-up:
Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [Oct 26, 2011]
Note: The “affordable” Nokia Lumia 710 is the one produced by Compal (the 800 is by Nokia itself). Snapdragon S2 MSM8255 @ 1.4GHz is used in both models.
From being an enemy to being a partner [China Daily, Aug 4, 2011]
Paul Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Qualcomm Inc, said the biggest challenge for him since he took over the company in 2005 was to turn Qualcomm from an enemy disliked by many industry players to a popular and amiable partner.
The company, which was founded by his father, Irwin Jacobs, in the United States city of San Diego in 1985, had been known for providing support for a digital wireless technology named Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA).
Unlike his father, who closely focused on CDMA technology, the son has a much broader vision and he strongly believes in the upcoming mobile Internet, in which cell phones are going to be the devices that everybody uses and connects to the Internet.
The idea has driven Jacobs junior to expand his father’s business into two major parts – mobile phone chipset production and patent licensing. The patent licensing includes CDMA technology and European-adopted technology Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA).
Jacobs said he has witnessed some critical changes in the past six years. Instead of being caught up in lawsuits concerning intellectual rights, which used to be a common occurrence, companies have begun to regard Qualcomm as a good partner.
“Partnership was the thing we were missing,” he said in an exclusive interview with China Daily. It was great that Qualcomm had been known for two things – innovation and execution– because the company would come up with new things and would deliver qualified chips on time.
However, many companies didn’t like Qualcomm because it imposed high intellectual property royalties on its products. “They felt like they were our hostages. They didn’t like us. They resented us,” Jacobs recalled.
So in the first all-hands meeting after the son took the helm in 2005, he got up and said: “We are going to be known for three things – innovation, execution, and partnership.”
The company seemed to benefit from the decision and win back partners. Qualcomm and Nokia Corp, the world’s biggest mobile phone maker by volume, had fought for years over intellectual property disputessince Jacobs started to act as CEO.
Now the two companies have settled the lawsuits and are working together in San Diego to develop Nokia’s first smart phone running on a Windows platform.
Nokia Corp’s chief executive officer, Stephen Elop, said Qualcomm would be “an important partner” as his company is about to enter the Windows phone era.
“But Nokia still has a general strategy that we would like to have multiple partners for critical components,” Elop said at the Nokia Connection 2011 event in Singapore in June.
Jacobs said he is “very excited about that opportunity”, as Nokia eventually paved the way to adopt Qualcomm’s chips. “Our relationships are good and I think they will be even better when the first batch of Nokia phones starts to come out.”
Currently, all nine Windows phone models in the world’s markets are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, said the company.
“Qualcomm has the lead position on Windows Phone and it will take its competitors time to get up to speed on that operating system,” Jon Erensen, research director of Gartner’s mobile handset and consumer electronic semiconductors, wrote in an email to China Daily.
Qualcomm also sees good partnerships growing in the Chinese market, as China contributed the biggest revenue share of 29 percent in the company’s 2010 fiscal year, surpassing South Korea.
In China, the most important strategic alliance for Qualcomm is China Telecom Corp Ltd, the smallest telecom carrier of the country. The operator took the 3G license in 2009and runs a CDMA network in China.
China’s CDMA industry chain has flourished since 2009. Wang Xiaochu, general manager of China Telecom Corp Ltd, said the toughest time for China’s CDMA terminal industry chain had passed, since the market volume grew to 41.9 million units in 2010 from 7.67 million mobile phones in 2008.
China Telecom expects to sell more than 60 million CDMA mobile phones in 2011 and, by mid-June, about 25 million units had already been shipped.
“China Telecom is really where the center of the CDMA universe is now. It used to be more North American focused. Now I think it’s much more about China and Asia,” Jacobs said.
Qualcomm could be one of the companies that benefits most from China’s booming CDMA industry, since the company dominates the world’s CDMA chip market.
Meanwhile, the company has also cooperated with China Unicom to help produce WCDMA handsets.
Qualcomm’s relationship with China Mobile Ltd, the world’s biggest telecom carrier with more than 600 million subscribers, was relatively weak in the past. China Mobile adopted GSM technology in the 2G era and home-grown TD-SCDMA technology in the 3G era. Qualcomm had few products supporting these standards.
But Jacobs said his company’s latest chips, such as dual-core MSM 8960, are about to support various international telecommunication standards, including TD-LTE technology, which China Mobile is actively promoting.
Since China is now the world’s biggest mobile phone production country and mobile phone market, Qualcomm would really like to build up its partnerships with Chinese carriers and mobile phone makers here, the CEO added.
Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the China Mobile Phone Alliance, said Qualcomm had signed patent licensing agreements with more than 50 mainland handset manufacturers and is setting up a research and development team of roughly 1,000 people in Shanghai.
Domestic handset makers, such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, are all in good relationships with Qualcomm. Jacobs expected these Chinese companies to achieve a similar success with South Korea companies such as LG Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
Jacobs said it was very interesting in China that because China issued 3G licenses relatively later than other countries, Chinese mobile phone makers had built up an export market first.
“Then they come back to China’s 3G market with rich experience. That’s going to help them to achieve a greater success.”
In addition to providing high-end chips, which run at a fast speed and have rich functionality, Qualcomm also focuses on low-end mobile chips aimed for the mass market.
“We are driving the price down at that low endto get the mass market smart phone because we really believe that providing mobile broadband very widely to a lot of people is important, not just because of the good business for us, but because it also improves people’s lives,” he added.
Qualcomm’s move to further cut the low-end mobile phone chips could apply more pressure on some Taiwan-based chip makers, such as MediaTek Inc, but the hundreds of small- and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers in China would benefit from the competition.
…
Qualcomm’s global annual revenue rose to $11 billion in fiscal year 2010 from $7.53 billion in 2006. The company shipped 207 million MSM chips in fiscal year 2006, and the figure increased to 399 million in fiscal year 2010.
Qualcomm Signs MOU with China’s Ministry of Information Industry for CDMA [Dec 4, 2000]
The MOU confirms MII’s support of Qualcomm’s Framework Agreement with China Unicom dated January 28, 2000, pursuant to cooperation between China and Qualcomm in developing CDMA technologies. This MOU also supports the deployment in China of a nationwide network based on CDMA technology with continued migration to advanced CDMA technology supporting higher data rates. With over 70 million mobile communications subscribers, China has become the second-largest and fastest-growing mobile market in the world. Qualcomm’s MOU with MII has laid down the foundation of long-term cooperation between Qualcomm and China’s information industry.
Qualcomm Announces Signing of Commercial License for CDMA Network Products with Huawei Technologies [Nov 1, 2001]
Under the terms of the royalty-bearing license agreement, Qualcomm has granted Huawei a license under Qualcomm’s CDMA patent portfolio to develop, manufacture and sell cdmaOne™ and third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X/1xEV network equipment. The license grants Huawei the right to use Qualcomm’s patented technology and chipsets to make and sell cdmaOne and CDMA2000 1X equipment in China and worldwide.
Qualcomm Enters into CDMA Subscriber Unit and Infrastructure License Agreements with 11 Chinese Manufacturers [Jan 23, 2002]
… making a total of 17 domestic Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers that are now licensed by Qualcomm. Under the terms of the worldwide royalty-bearing license agreements, Qualcomm has granted these Chinese manufacturers licenses under Qualcomm’s CDMA patent portfolio to develop, manufacture and sell cdmaOne™ and third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X/1xEV-DO subscriber unit and/or infrastructure equipment.
China Unicom Announces the Signing of a Detailed Agreement with China Telecom on the Disposal of its CDMA Business [July 28, 2008]
Previously, on 2 June 2008, Unicom announced that it had entered into a CDMA Business Framework Agreement with China Telecom. On that same day, Unicom announced that it planned to merge with China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Limited (“Netcom”) (HKSE: 0906, NYSE: CN).
The total consideration, payable in cash to Unicom by China Telecom, remains unchanged at RMB43.8 billion (approximately HK$50.1 billion [US$6.3B]) and Unicom expects to realise an estimated net gain before tax of approximately RMB37.6 billion (approximately HK$42.9 billion). The net proceeds from the disposal are expected to be used by Unicom for the expansion of its GSM network coverage, the improvement of GSM customer service and the enhancement of IT support systems and platforms for value-added services, in order to lay a solid foundation for the introduction of 3G services. The net proceeds will also fund the Unicom’s working capital and other general corporate purposes.
Upon completion of the Transaction, Unicom will focus on the operation of its GSM network and prepare for the introduction of 3G services. As of 30 June 2008, Unicom had 127.6 million GSM subscribers and 43.17 million CDMA subscribers. As part of the Transaction, 29.3% of Unicom’s employees will be transferred to China Telecom.
After that restructuring – however – Qualcomm had no China Telecom related press releases at all showing clearly that the company’s focus moved elsewhere on the China market (CDMA/EV-DO tech. manufacturing or other technologies), e.g. ZTE to Develop CDMA2000 Femtocells Based on Qualcomm System on Chip Solutions [March 23, 2010] or Qualcomm Now Demonstrating Products Based on LTE TDD Technology [Sept 8, 2010].
The Changes in the Nokia relationship
– Qualcomm Initiates Patent Infringement Proceedings in the UK against Nokia [May 24, 2006]
– Qualcomm Files Complaint Against Nokia with International Trade Commission [June 12, 2006]
– Nokia’s Announced Plan to Ramp Down its CDMA2000 R&D and Manufacturing Will Not Impede the Continued Growth of CDMA2000 [June 23, 2006]
– Qualcomm Responds to Nokia’s Latest Maneuver to Delay Judicial Determinations that Nokia’s GSM Handsets Infringe Qualcomm’s Patents [March 20, 2007]
– Qualcomm Files Additional GSM Patent Infringement Suits Against Nokia [April 3, 2007]
– Qualcomm Files Arbitration Demand Against Nokia to Resolve Dispute Over License Agreement [April 5, 2007]
– Nokia and Qualcomm Enter Into a New Agreement [July 23, 2008]
Companies Agree to Settle All Litigation
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) today announced that they have entered into a new agreement covering various standards including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and other technologies. The agreement will result in settlement of all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission.
Under the terms of the new 15-year agreement, Nokia has been granted a license under all Qualcomm’s patents for use in Nokia mobile devices and Nokia Siemens Networks infrastructure equipment. Further, Nokia has agreed not to use any of its patents directly against Qualcomm, enabling Qualcomm to integrate Nokia’s technology into Qualcomm’s chipsets. The financial structure of the settlement includes an up-front payment and on-going royalties payable to Qualcomm. Nokia has agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA. The specific terms are confidential.
“We believe that this agreement is positive for the industry, enabling the market to benefit from innovation and new technologies,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia Corporation. “The positive financial impact of this agreement is within Nokia’s original expectations and fully reflects our leading intellectual property and market positions.”
“I’m very pleased that we have come to this important agreement,” said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm. “The terms of the new license agreement, including the financial and other value provided to Qualcomm, reflect our strong intellectual property position across many current and future generation technologies. This agreement paves the way for enhanced opportunities between the companies in a number of areas.”
Nokia and Qualcomm Plan to Develop Advanced Mobile Devices [Feb 19, 2009]
Nokia and Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) today announced that the two companies are planning to work together to develop advanced UMTS mobile devices, initially for North America. The companies intend for the devices to be based on S60 software on Symbian OS, the world’s most used software for smartphones, and utilize Qualcomm’s advanced Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) MSM7xxx-series and MSM8xxx-series chipsets for cutting-edge processing performance and ubiquitous mobile broadband capabilities. The first mobile devices based on this collaboration would be expected to launch in mid-2010 and be compatible with the forthcoming Symbian Foundation platform.
“Nokia is very pleased to be in discussions with Qualcomm around designing mobile devices that can benefit from the high level of integration found on MSM chipsets,” said Kai Oistamo, executive vice president, Devices, Nokia. “We are eager to demonstrate to the industry the possibilities that exist when innovative and open software is combined with advanced hardware solutions.”
“Nokia and Qualcomm are leaders in advanced wireless technologies, and this new level of cooperation would bring exceptional leaps in mobile performance to people around the world,” said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “We are very excited about the possibility of the substantial synergies between S60 software and MSM chipsets.”
Qualcomm Innovation Center Joins the Symbian Foundation [Oct 29, 2009]
Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QuIC) and the Symbian Foundation today announced that QuIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, has joined the Symbian Foundation and has been appointed to the Symbian Foundation board of directors. QuIC will support the Symbian Foundation with active participation on the board of directors and each of the four councils that govern the development of the Symbian platform.
QuIC’s charter is to focus on optimizing open source software for use with Qualcomm technology. QuIC brings to the Symbian Foundation a wealth of knowledge and expertise in open source and, as a Symbian Foundation board member, QuIC is committed to working with its fellow board members for Symbian’s continued commercial success. QuIC joins wireless operators AT&T, Vodafone and NTT DOCOMO; silicon providers ST Microelectronics NV and Texas Instruments; and handset manufacturers Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia on the Symbian Foundation board.
The Symbian platform comprises a complete, open source mobile operating system, user interfaces, middleware and key mobile applications used in more than 300 million smartphone devices worldwide. It includes the critical software elements a manufacturer or operator needs to build a mobile device. Symbian was built for mobile and enables mobile developers to use open SDKs to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all Symbian-based handsets.
“QuIC joining the Symbian Foundation and the Symbian Foundation board demonstrates our commitment to provide expertise and to optimize technology with the Symbian platform,” said Rob Chandhok, president of QuIC. “High-level operating systems offer the potential to unleash tremendous innovation and we are excited to help advance that process on the Symbian platform. Working as part of the Symbian Foundation, QuIC looks forward to participating in technology innovation in areas such as multi-core CPU support, Web browser and application enhancement, and CDMA and LTE support.”
“The Symbian Foundation welcomes QuIC, whose membership and board participation brings us significant wireless technology expertise and whose leadership will act as an important catalyst for the growth of the Symbian ecosystem,” said Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation. “On behalf of the Symbian Foundation board, we look forward to collaboratively evolving and rapidly expanding the Symbian open source software platform with QuIC.”
Qualcomm, HP, HTC and Nokia Executives to Keynote at Uplinq 2011 [April 28, 2011]
Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), the leading developer and innovator of 3G and next-generation wireless technologies, products and services, today announced the general session keynote speakers for the Uplinq® 2011 conference, hosted by Qualcomm on June 1-2 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. Speakers will include Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, Hewlett-Packard Company, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC and Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia.
Dr. Paul E. Jacobs will open the conference on June 1 with his keynote, “Mobile Computing: The Next Great Frontier,” which will focus on the continuing evolution of mobile and expanding opportunities for developers to take the mobile experience to new levels. In addition, Dr. Jacobs will share insights about how advances in mobile computing and other technology enablers are breaking down barriers for developers and empowering them to change the lives of people everywhere. HP’s Jon Rubinstein will follow Dr. Jacobs with a fireside chat on the opening day of Uplinq.
On June 2, the second day of Uplinq, HTC’s Peter Chou will give the opening keynote. Rounding out this lineup of wireless industry leaders will be Nokia’s Stephen Elop who will give the second keynote on Day Two of the conference.
Key message: transition from device-to-device battle to ecosystem-to-ecosystem battle
Uplinq 2011: Nokia Stephen Elop Keynote Highlights [June 17, 2011]
The Uplinq Daily Show on Qualcomm LIVE! Interview with Nokia’s Stephen Elop [June 2, 2011]
Stephen Elop’s keynote at Qualcomm’s Uplinq [June 10, 2011]
… There is an opportunity for a third and competitive ecosystem to emerge. …
It is not just the device, or the software on that device. These ecosystems that I described are so much more than what you are holding in your hand. Nokia will be contributing mapping, navigation and various location-based services… and you know what… all the manufacturers of Windows Phone will be taking advantage of that… I want HTC and Samsung to be successful with Windows Phone because our principal competitor is not each other, but Android. So we are contributing service elements for the benefit of everyone in the ecosystem.
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Equally, Microsoft is contributing a number of services and capabilities… for example: Bing, AdCenter, Xbox, Office productivity experience, unified communications (voice, video etc.) You will have heard about the acquisition of Skype ten days ago, clearly that will be part of the Windows Phone ecosystem.
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Parts of the ecosystem, as well, are the chipset and other hardware contributors. Which is why Qualcomm, ourselves, Microsoft, are all working together to deliver the best experiences for this ecosystem.
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How do we take the ecosystem beyond the mobile experience? We believe that, fundamentally, we are just at the beginning of the mobile revolution. The mobile platform, with a variety of sensors and capabilities associated with a device, is giving opportunities to create entirely new and extended experiences that are only possible on that mobile device. So we are only at the beginning of mobility and have an opportunity to extend the ecosystem in different directions to make that even more compelling.
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Of course, this ecosystem is not just about mobility and the smartphone, it is also about tablets, it’s about television sets, gaming platforms, automobiles and all the different places where people expect to have a fully connected digital experience.
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And so we at Nokia definitely recognise the importance of delivering on this broader promise of the larger connected digital experience.
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Perhaps the first and most notable of these today relates to tablets. So there’s a lot of activity and hype about tablets in the marketplace. But the market conditions are not yet optimised… Say there are 201 tablets being sold today, only one of them is being sold out a furious rate… and being very successful. The other 200 tablets… are not really landing with consumers. For Nokia, when I get asked about our tablets strategy, the first thing I say is that I don’t just want to be tablets number 202. Because, really, if we cant differentiate from that pack… then we’re not going to be successful. So as we look at it, we believe we have to do something that is fundamentally differentiated. And we have some options to do that, given our market penetration, our strengths in emerging markets… so watch this space, you will see some interesting things.
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We do have the ability to reach out to very large numbers of well identified consumers. With our existing smartphone operating system we have, today, over 200 million registered users, 60 million of whom are active in our apps and store environment on a [rolling] thirty day basis. … Around the world we have tremendous reach. It is today that we are adding 140,000 new registered users [every day]… and they are downloading 5 million items a day [now 6 million]
Now part of the reason, in many parts of the world, that this has been attractive is because of the focus we have had on monetisation enablers. I mentioned earlier the operator billing relationships – we are able to measure the uplift for developers in areas where there is operating billing, compared to those where there is not. You get a three and half times uplift in the volume of money you can make when we have an operating billing relationship. The reason is simple… it is much easier for consumers to just click the button.
A lot of other things we are doing for developers: removing the registration fees to participate in Windows Phone development, all sorts of thing to make it easier to publish and distribute your application. We are also hoping you will recognise the extended opportunity, even beyond Windows Phone, to monetise your application on other platforms [Symbian, Series 40] that reach into China, India and Russia.
Nokia picks Qualcomm for Windows phone, seeks others [Reuters, May 20, 2011]
Nokia said on Friday it was negotiating with several chipset suppliers for its future Windows Phone models after deciding to use Qualcomm in its first smartphones using Microsoft’s software.
Nokia announced in February it would use Microsoft’s Windows Phone software in all of its smartphones.
Microsoft Windows Phone operating system (OS) is available only on Qualcomm’s chips, but the U.S. software giant has said it was expanding the supplier base.
“The first Nokias based on Windows Phone will have the Qualcomm chipset,” said a Nokia spokesman.
“Our aim is to build a vibrant ecosystem around Nokia and the Windows Phone OS and with that intent we are naturally continuing discussions with a number of chipset suppliers for our futureproduct portfolio,” he said.
He said one of the companies involved in the talks was ST-Ericsson.
Nokia To Use ST-Ericsson Chips For Windows Phone 8 Handsets [May 19, 2011]
In an interview at STMicroelectronics’ annual Analyst Day, [Carlo] Bozotti [the Chief Executive of the European semiconductor maker] told Forbes that ST-Ericsson will be one of two chip suppliers for Nokia’s upcoming Windows Phones.
…
The first ST-Ericsson chipset that will appear in a Nokia Windows Phone is the U8500, a sophisticated dual-core system-on-a-chip that has been favorably compared to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line because it offers multiple wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and a fast, built-in HSPA+ modem, all in a compact format. Some later Nokia Windows Phones – the company has previously said it is planning to release 12 Windows Phone devices over the course of 2012 – will run on future versions of the U8500, said Bozotti.
The 5-years long experience of close partnership with Microsoft
– Microsoft and Qualcomm to Revolutionize the Next Generation of Smartphones [May 4, 2006]
– Qualcomm’s Collaboration with Microsoft Reshapes the Smartphone Market [Oct 23, 2007]
– Qualcomm [Snapdragon] Powers Next-Generation Windows Phones [Windows Mobile 6.5] Launching Around the Globe [Oct, 2009]
– Qualcomm Becomes the First Chipset Company to Support Microsoft Windows® Phone 7 Series [Feb 15, 2010]
The Company is working with Microsoft and multiple device manufacturers on smartphones powered by its Snapdragon™ platforms and running Windows Phone 7 Series software, currently scheduled to begin launching in time for the 2010 holiday season. Snapdragon chipsets integrate high-performance, custom CPUs with 3G and powerful multimedia capabilities in a single chip.
The latest version of Windows Phone software, announced today, is distinguished by its smart design and delivery of truly integrated experiences. Combining the capabilities of Windows Phone 7 Series software and Qualcomm’s industry-leading chipset solutions will enable a new generation of devices that redefine the possibilities of mobile experiences.
“People’s lives are not a set of discrete tasks and their phones should not be either. Windows Phone 7 Series software offers a fresh approach that integrates the Web, applications and content and brings new services such as Zune and Xbox LIVE to the phone for the first time,” said Andy Lees, senior vice president, Microsoft. “We’ve worked closely with Qualcomm on Windows Phone 7 Series software and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets are an integral partof bringing to life the rich, integrated experiences on a Windows Phone in a way that conserves battery life and provides always-on connectivity.”
“Qualcomm has a long history of working closely with Microsoft on Windows Phone, and we are continuing this collaboration to support the launches this year of exciting new Windows Phone 7 Series devices based on our Snapdragon chipsets,” said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “We are very excited about the next generation of devices that will leverage the synergy of our highly integrated system on a chip solutions and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series software.”
Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs with a new way of easy identification
Follow-up: Next-gen Snapdragon S4 class SoCs — exploiting TSMC’s 28nm process first — coming in December [Aug 9 — Nov 16, 2011]
Update: Qualcomm Snapdragon S1-S2-S3 SoCs lineup in production as of 16-Nov-2011
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S1-S2-S3 SoCs lineup in production as of 16-Nov-2011
End of Update
In the last 24 hours there has been an incredible barrage of posts about “rebranding Snapdragon”. These posts are providing a kind of summary of changes referring to Qualcomm as the source of the information but not linking to that. When one finally finds the Qualcomm source it comes out that there is no rebranding in the conventional sense just a new classification for existing SoCs. So the individual SoC identifiers are the same, there is just a possibility to refer to them by a higher level of indentification which is related to the class of systems they are targeted to.
Because this is much more important new information than the non-existant rebranding I am first copying here the Qualcomm source and then some additional important information regarding their Adreno graphics capabilities and Qualcomm’s latest strategic moves to enter mobile gaming in a very big way. A report of current assesment of that is also available: Qualcomm hopes to make game consoles obsolete [Aug 4, 2011] Anandtech has published the slides of the Qualcomm event: Qualcomm’s March into the Gaming Market [Aug 3, 2011] and draws attention to this particular slide:
Please note the “Wireless Display” option which comes via the WCN3660 companion chip to Snapdragon S4 class of SoCs from the recently acquired Atheros (now Qualcomm Atheros). That chip will support the emerging Wi-Fi Display standard (said not to be confused with Intel’s WiDi) for streaming video directly from a smartphone or tablet to a Wi-Fi enabled display or television. (See also Wireless Gigabit Alliance – WiGig where Atheros is a member which is competing with Wireless HD where one of the members is Intel)
A Simple Way to Identify Which Snapdragon System is Right for You [Tim McDonough Vice President, Marketing, Qualcomm QCT on Qualcomm’s blog: OnQ, Aug 3, 2011]
Today Qualcomm is introducing a new way for our customers, our industry colleagues and consumers to identify the Snapdragon chipset that fits their needs. Those of you who know us well know that our current Snapdragon family of processors has grown to encompass over 15 different chips with feature sets that target mass market smartphones all the way through high end smartphones and tablets. And, although our Snapdragon chips are called processors, they are really system on chip solutions. Inside each Snapdragon chip are multiple hardware subsystems including CPUs, GPUs, modems, multimedia processors, GPS, DSPs, sensors, as well as advanced management software.
And all of these components are integrated into a single small chip that is designed with mobile in mind. The result is that Snapdragon processors deliver outstanding performance and longer battery life. But with such a deep roadmap of chips, our customers and industry colleagues have told us that it has become increasingly difficult to quickly and easily identify which chips are best suited for different devices.
We have arrived at a simple solution. Now our Snapdragon processors are classified into three system classes, System 1 (S1), System 2 (S2) and System 3 (S3): Simple names which denote performance and feature set. Moving forward, we will continue to add new classes as our roadmap grows. Without further ado, I present you with the Snapdragon S1, Snapdragon S2 and Snapdragon S3.
Snapdragon S1: Mass Market Smartphones [note: Up to 3G HSPA]
Snapdragon S1 processors offer great performance and longer battery life for today’s mass market smartphones. Boasting CPU speeds of up to 1Ghz, Adreno 200 graphics and a 3G modem, Snapdragon S1 processors are powering some of today’s coolest devices.
“The HTC Wildfire S could be the darling of the affordable Android handsets……..The most important factor for us is that we’ve found the HTC Wildfire S capable to performing those core tasks without too much of a compromise.”
— Pocket-Lint’s review of the HTC Wildfire S powered by the Snapdragon S1The Snapdragon S2: High Performance Smart Phones & Tablets [note: 3G HSPA+]
The Snapdragon S2 processor is an excellent choice for high performance smartphones and tablets. The S2 class of processors have some of the same design foundations as the S1 class but with some key performance improvements including a single core Scorpion CPU that clocks to speeds of up to 1.4Ghz, the fastest single core mobile CPU in the market, and the Adreno 205 GPU, which is designed to provide a 2x performance boost over the Adreno 200 GPUs. Web browsing and multimedia performance gets a serious performance boost too. With just one CPU core, the Snapdragon S2 can offer smoother graphics than other solutions that use dual-core CPUs.
“You can see clearly in the video that Qualcomm’s 2nd generation, single-core processor chewed up YouTube’s 720p Flash content without a hitch while the others failed to keep up in a smooth fashion.”
— Phandroid– (6/2011)Snapdragon S3: Multi-tasking & Advanced Gaming [note: 3G HSPA+, 1440×900/1080p HD/Dolby 5.1, Stereoscopic 3D capture & playback]
Here’s where things really get kicked up a notch. Simply put, the Snapdragon S3 is designed to offer 2x the graphics performance of the S2 and 4x the graphics performance of the S1. The S3 class of processors also feature a dual core Scorpion CPU at speeds of up to 1.5Ghz per core. With a more powerful [Adreno 220] GPU and a fast dual core CPU, the things our customers are starting to do with the S3 are pretty incredible. Take the HTC EVO 3D, this smartphone features a front-facing camera for video calls, two cameras on the back to create 3D photos and a display that uses a parallax barrier so you can view 3D photos without 3D glasses!
This performance boost also allows our customers to create devices with bigger and sharper displays. The Snapdragon S1 and S2 are typically in devices with 3-4-inch displays that offer a resolution of 800×480. The Snapdragon S3 in the HTC EVO 3D drives a 4.3-inch display with a resolution of 960×540, while the HP TouchPad tablet uses a monstrous 10.1-inch with a resolution of 1024×768.
The Snapdragon S3 Mobile Processor and Your HDTV [Aug 2, 2011] [note the “extend that experience to a 40-inch display” both in the video and the attached caption]
To maintain great battery life while also improving performance, Qualcomm designed the S3’s Scorpion CPU cores to be asynchronous, so each core can operate at different frequencies and voltages for superior performance at lower power. The S3 class of processors also support a host of video codecs and multimedia acceleration. You can learn more about the devices that use Snapdragon processors in our Snapdragon Showcase
“It (The Snapdragon S3) has arguably the best CPU and GPU in the dual-cores…The CPU being asynchronous can be a real battery saver… including NEON and has a 128-bit pipeline rather than 64 bit found in all other CPU thus a better speed…About multimedia, Its one of the best when it comes to multimedia… Qualcomm is also known for the stability of chipsets due to the fact that everything is on the chipset itself rather than making manufacturers add it.”
— Droid Gamers—Beastly Dual-Core Android Devices: A Rundown on Each Chipset (5/2011)Coming Soon: Snapdragon S4—Next Generation Devices
The Snapdragon S4 class will include the newest generation of Snapdragon processors and will feature a new CPU microarchitecture [Krait instead of the previous Scorpion] and integrated 3G/LTE multimode. The S4 will stay true to its roots by delivering exceptional battery power—a 65% decrease in power consumption, yet at the same time boost performance by 150%. This combo is going to create mobile products that offer graphics [Adreno 225 and up] that are comparable to current gaming consoles.
You’re also going to see Snapdragon S4 processors in new form factors and running a full blown desktop operating system. We’re currently working with Microsoft so the S4 can run the next version of Windows—Windows 8.
Stay tuned for big things. Or should we say small things?
Snapdragon™ Adreno 220 GPU Powers “Desert Winds” Game at MWC [Brent Sammons, Graphics Product Manager, Qualcomm QCT on Qualcomm’s blog: OnQ, March 1, 2011]
Attendees of Mobile World Congress 2011 got to see the newest generation of the Adreno GPU, Adreno 220, in action as part of the new Desert Winds game demo at Qualcomm’s booth. The graphics performance, new 3D effects, and level of graphical realism now possible with the dual-core Snapdragon MSM8660 chipset and its Adreno 220 GPU grabbed the attention of virtually all passing by the booth.
Snapdragon’s Adreno GPU – Desert Winds Game Demo [note the “console quality” differentiation in the attached text]
Desert Winds was shown in stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic 3D via HDMI out to a 55-inch HD LCD display. As with Qualcomm’s other dual-core Snapdragon MSM8660 demos at the show, the new Desert Winds game was running on the Snapdragon Mobile Development Platform (MDP), which is a device available to developers who want early access to Snapdragon chipsets and Adreno GPUs. (Get more info on the Snapdragon MDP and how to purchase at www.bsquare.com.)
The Desert Winds game ran in interactive and non-interactive modes, giving users the ability to play the game and help the game’s heroine, Amira, slay the giant scorpion character, Alacran, and his army of scorpions.
Developed by Southend Interactive, the game showcases the console-quality 3D graphics and high-end effects made possible by the Adreno 220 GPU, such as:
- Advanced particle physics and vertex skinning
- Full-screen post-processing shader effects
- Dynamic lighting with full-screen alpha blending
- Real-time cloth simulation
- Advanced shader effects like dynamic shadows, god rays, bump mapping and reflections
- 3D animated textures
Qualcomm will continue to use the Desert Winds game to showcase the ever-evolving, advanced capabilities of the Adreno GPU, with more 3D effects, smoother stereoscopic HD gaming, market-leading performance, and industry leading power-efficient 3D graphics. Based on our research (*), the Adreno 220 GPU in Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon MSM8660 offers twice the performance of the GPU in other leading dual-core ARM9-based chips.
With more Android devices based on Snapdragon and Adreno and with over 100 games optimized for Snapdragon and Adreno, it seems clear that the mobile industry is already well aware of the many advantages that Snapdragon and its Adreno GPU.
In my opinion, it was apparent at this year’s Mobile World Congress that Qualcomm is well-positioned to continue its strong momentum in providing OEMs and 3D game developers with a powerful and efficient graphics platform that brings more of the industry’s latest and best 3D games to more smartphones, tablets and laptops everywhere.
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(*) Source Qualcomm – Average of Industry benchmarks composed of Neocore, GLBenchmark, 3DMM and Nenamark
Anandtech’s reports are not contradicting that:
– Hands on and Benchmarks of two MSM8x60 Phones – HTC Sensation 4G and HTC EVO 3D [June 3, 2011]
– Dual Core Snapdragon GPU Performance Explored – 1.5 GHz MSM8660 and Adreno 220 Benchmarks [March 30, 2011]
GLBenchmark 2.0
… GLBenchmark 2.0 is the best example of an even remotely current 3D game running on this class of hardware–even then this is a bit of a stretch. GLBenchmark 2.0 is still our current go-to test as it is our best best for guaging real world performance, even across different mobile OSes. … Comparatively, the 1.5 GHz MSM8660 with Adreno 220 is 2.2x faster than the 1 GHz MSM8655 with Adreno 205.
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Quadrant 3D and 2D
Last and definitely least (at least in my mind) on the list is Quadrant, which has unfortunately become something of a de-facto one stop shop for benchmarking Android devices, famously spitting out one easy to digest score.
… Adreno 220 shows anywhere from 2-5x performance gains over Adreno 205.
Final Words
When we first started looking at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoCs we were impressed by their CPU performance but largely put off by the performance of the Adreno 200 GPU. The 45nm Snapdragon with the Adreno 205 GPU changed things as it roughly doubled GPU performance. The Adreno 220 brings about another doubling in GPU performance. …
How Snapdragon is Changing the Mobile Gaming Industry [Brent Sammons, Graphics Product Manager, Qualcomm QCT, Feb 10, 2011]
Qualcomm Shows Strong Support of the Mobile 3D Gaming Ecosystem at GDC [Brent Sammons, Graphics Product Manager, Qualcomm QCT on Qualcomm’s blog: OnQ, March 18, 2011]
Qualcomm has been clearly demonstrating its support of the entire mobile 3D gaming ecosystem at recent conferences like this month’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. This support showed up as a press release with Gameloft; a new video with Gameloft and NAMCO BANDAI Games America; joint marketing activities with Sony Ericsson around their new PlayStation Certified Xperia Playdevice; a GDC speaker session featuring presentations by leading mobile developers Southend Interactive and Polarbit; a new Snapdragon mobile 3D gaming ecosystem video and a very well-attended and well-received party at Ruby Skye!
In the press release Qualcomm announced its agreement with Gameloft to deliver an enhanced, Snapdragon-optimized experience for Gameloft’s premier HD mobile 3D game titles like “SpiderMan Total Mayhem HD,” “Real Football 2011 HD,” “GT Racing: Motor Academy HD” and “Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus.” These will be optimized for current and future Snapdragon processors, such as the MSM8x55 with its Adreno 205 GPU (currently shipping), and the dual-core MSM8x60 with its Adreno 220 GPU.
In a video shot during GDC, Baudouin Corman (Vice President Publishing of Americas for Gameloft) and Dominic Lobbia (Senior R&D Director of NAMCO BANDAI Games America) speak to their game optimization efforts and the value that Snapdragon and Adreno bring to the table. They cite the strong adoption of Snapdragon by manufacturers of high-end Android and Windows Mobile 7 devices, the high quality and great performance of mobile 3D graphics powered by Snapdragon and Adreno, as well as the valuable graphical optimization and development tools Qualcomm offers like the Adreno Profiler. (For more information on the Adreno tools, go to http://developer.qualcomm.com/dev/gpu/tools.)
Game Developers Explain the Value of the Adreno GPU [March 18, 2011]
…
Conference attendees also had the opportunity to get the whole story about Qualcomm’s mobile 3D gaming ecosystem support via a new video that was playing just outside the South Hall Expo Floor. The video features Qualcomm’s Vice President of Product Management, Raj Talluri, who explains that there is a huge ecosystem of Snapdragon game developers and games optimized to Snapdragon, that the majority of Android phones use the Snapdragon processor, and that all Windows Phone 7 products use the Snapdragon processor. Therefore, he explains, developers are able to reach a large audience of smartphone and tablet users.
Qualcomm’s Mobile 3D Gaming Ecosystem [March 20, 2011]
“Hey, You Got Your Snapdragon Chipset in My Xperia™ PLAY” [Brent Sammons, Graphics Product Manager, Qualcomm QCT on Qualcomm’s blog: OnQ, May 27, 2011]
Unlike the chocolate and peanut butter in Reese’s chocolate peanut butter cups, it was no accident that Snapdragon and the Xperia PLAY found themselves together. This week Sony Ericsson launched the Xperia PLAY at Verizon, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon MSM8255 mobile processor with Adreno 205 Graphics Processing Unit(GPU) inside.
It is the world’s first PlayStation-certified phone (and perhaps the world’s most gaming-centric smartphone). And Sony Ericsson chose Snapdragon and Adreno to power it. If you’re wondering why, check out this recently posted Qualcomm video, featuring Aaron Duke and Kim Ahlstrom from Sony Ericsson, talking about the Xperia PLAY with Snadragon’s Adreno GPU.
Snapdragon’s Adreno [205] GPU powers the Xperia PLAY [May 26, 2011]
The Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset and Adreno 205 GPU together provide a fun and immersive gaming experience via the very device you will want to carry with you everywhere all the time – the new Xperia PLAY smartphone.
Not only does Snapdragon contain powerful graphics processing — enough to rival some in-home console systems — but it also has a lot of other valuable integrated features like video capture and playback, music playbackand a 1.4 GHz CPU.
The Xperia PLAY has a 4-inch 854×480 display, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, a VGA front-facing camera, 512 MB of RAM, and is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Perhaps more importantly, the device comes with seven preloaded games. And you can download over 50 more games via Verizon’s VCAST apps store.
I would say that another big reason that Sony Ericsson chose to work with Qualcomm is that Qualcomm is really into mobile gaming!Keep your eyes peeled in the coming days for more details on just how big into gaming Qualcomm has become.
In the case of the Xperia PLAY, Qualcomm worked closely with Sony Ericsson not only to establish connections with some of the best mobile game developers and game titles around, but alsoto help game developers make sure that the games offered on the PLAY are the best they can be, using the Adreno graphics optimization tools.
We’re very pleased that Sony Ericsson chose Snapdragon for the Xperia PLAY device. We’re confident you will be, too. The Xperia Play may not be as tasty as a Reese’s peanut butter cup, but I’d say it’s a lot more fun and lasts a lot longer! For more information on commercially available Snapdragon-based devices and on the Adreno graphics optimization tools, check out our developer site at developer.qualcomm.com.
SoC’s for 2011: [ekin , Jan 23, 2011 >>> ]
(listed in what I believe is the best to the worse)
+ ARM Sparrow: Dual-core Cortex A9 @2.00GHz (on 32nm die), unspecified GPU
+ TI OMAP 4440: Dual-core Cortex A9 @1.5GHz, SGX 540 (90M t/s)
+ Apple A5 (iPad2): Dual-core Cortex A9 @0.9GHz, SGX 543MP2 (130M-150M t/s)
+ Qualcomm MSM8660 (Gen IV Snapdragon): Dual-core Cortex A9 @1.5GHz, Adreno 220 (88M t/s)
+ TI OMAP 4430: Dual-core Cortex A9 @1GHz, SGX 540 (90M t/s)
+ ST-Ericson U8500: Dual-core Cortex A9 @1.2GHz, ARM Mali 400 (50-80M t/s)
+ Samsung Orion: Dual-core Cortex A9 @1GHz, ARM Mali 400 (50-80M t/s)
+ Nvidia Tegra 2: Dual-core Cortex A9 @1GHz, nVidia ULP-GeForce (71M t/s)
+ Qualcomm Scorpion (Gen III Snapdragon): Dual-core Cortex A8 @1.2GHz, Adreno 220 (88M t/s)Notes:
– The SGX530 is roughly half the speed as the SGX535. The SGX540 is twice as fast as the SGX535.
– The Adreno 205 (41M tri/sec) is supposedly faster than the SGX535 but slower than the SGX540 (thus, is likely to be in the mid).
– The Adreno 220 is twice the speed of the Adreno 205 but it is slightly slower than SGX540 (88M vs 90M tri/sec).
– Samsung claims ARM Mali 400 to be 5 times faster than its previous GPU (S3C6410 – 4M tri/sec), about on par (80M tri/sec) with the Adreno 220, but few leaks benchmarked it to be only slighlty faster than the SGX535 (40M tri/sec).
– The gpu used in the Nvidia Tegra2 has been quite contained (little known). I estimated the Tegra2 has 71M t/sec (Tegra 2 Neocore=27fps/55fps=Galaxy S Neocore, x62% disadvantage of screen resolution, x 90Mt/s of SGX540 = 71M t/s). And recently some inside rumors via fudzilla actually confirmed this exact figure, so therefore the gpu-chip inside the Tegra2 is roughly equivalent to the MALI 400.All of these details are based on officially announced, rumors from trustworthy sources and logical estimations, so discrepancies can be existent.
Last thoughts:
As you can see there is some diversity in the next-gen chips (soon to-be current-gen), where the top tier (OMAP 4440) is roughly 1.5 times more powerful than the low tier (Tegra 2). However drivers and software will play a lead-role in determining which device could squeeze out the most performance. And this factor may alone favour the iPad2, Playbook or even MeeGo tablets to be better than the Honeycomb tablets which are somewhat bottleneck-ed by the lack of hardware accelaration and post-transcription through the Dalvik VM. I think we’ve hit the point where we could have some really impressive high definition entertainment, and even emulating the Dreamcast at decent/fullspeed.edit2 [March 13]: “ Just re-edited the post. Apple’s A5 details are added in, its looks to be one of the best chips for the year. If I had to choose between the OMAP4440 and A5, I probably would be reduced to a head-tail coin flip!”
Well, Apple’s been boasting over x9 the graphical performance over the original iPad. There are 2 articles on anadtech, one in Geekbench and a processor-specific details from imgtech (I dug up from 12months ago). It has been found that its a modified Cortex A9, 512MB RAM and the SGX543MP2. Everything points to the SGX543MP2 being significantly faster than the SGX540, and the given number was 133 Million Polygons per second (theoretical) for SGX543MP4 which is double SGX543MP2 performance. The practical figure is always less. Imgtech said the SGX540 is double the grunt of the SGX535, benchmarks show the SGX543MP2 is (on average) five times the grunt as the iPad (SGX535). So going by imgtech (the designer of sgx chips), the theoretical value that I list above, should be 70M t/s … going by Apple’s claim it should be 200M t/s … going by benchmarks it should be roughly 130 M t/s. Imgtech’s value is definently wrong since they claimed its faster than the SGX540 valued at 90M t/s. Apple’s claim also seems biased, they take only the best possible conditions and exaggerate it even more. It seems to be somewhere in between, and wouldn’t you know it, the average of the two “false” claims is equivalent to the benchmarked value
edit3 [April 3]: “Update. The benchmark results of the Snapdragon MSM8660 are in…. and it goes further to support the list. MSM 8660 = Dualcore A9 + Adreno 220 + Qualcomm modification (for better/worse).”
The benchmarks are out for the 4th-gen QSD, which confirms everything prior. It’s competing for top place against the 4440 and A5. I’ve changed the post (only updated chip’s name). If one were to choose between the processor of the A5 and the OMAP4440, they’d be really pressed to choose between more cpu grunt or more gpu grunt.
Qualcomm roadmap reveals quad-core, 2.5GHz ARM CPU [July 6, 2011]
MSM8960 [start shipping in Q4 2011]: Adreno 225 3D/2D 125 M tri./sec (DX9.3) – said to rival the GPU powering the Playstation Vita
MSM8930 [start shipping in Q3 2012]: Adreno 305 3D 80M tri./sec (DX9.3) – take us far beyond the possibilities of the Playstation Vita and more into the realm of the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3
MSM8974 [start shipping in Q1 2013]: Adreno 320 3D 225M tri/sec (DX9.3)
While looking back one year: [Medion, Aug 19, 2010]
Samsung Galaxy uses PowerVR SGX540 (rated at 1 gigapixel fill-rate, and 28M triangles/sec)
Iphone 3GS/4 both use PowerVR SGX535 (1 gigapixel, 14M tri/sec)
Droid 2/Droid X use PowerVR SGX530 (500 megapixel, 14M tri/sec)
Droid uses underclocked PowerVR SGX530 (250 megapixel, 7M tri/sec)
Snapdragon uses Adreno 200 (133 megapixel, 22M tri/sec)So when it comes to the GPU, the Galaxy S phones kill anything that uses a current Snapdragon. The fill-rate is what is what’s really holding back the Adreno.
As for the CPU, I’ll generalize here.
Snapdragon – ARMv7 based Scorpion core (NOT an A8 like some state). Advantages over A8 is 5% faster clock for clock, and ability to be used in a multi-core configuration. Basically, it’s more future proof.
TI OMAP – stock Cortex A8, but currently running at 45nm, so better on battery life than Snapdragon (this will change with the new Snapdragons coming out)
Hummingbird – modified Cortex A8, 10-20% faster multi-threaded performance, but also 45nm so with better battery life as well.
So in terms of CPU, it’s Galaxy > Snapdragon/OMAP (depends, do you want 5% more performance, or significantly better battery life?)
So in conclusion, the Galaxy phones have more horsepower than the Incredible. If you plan to root and run custom ROMs, it should be the platform of choice.
Nokia Windows Phone to debut on August 17 at the huge gamescom 2011 event
Follow-up:
Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [Oct 26, 2011]
Note: the “affordable” Nokia Lumia 710 is the one produced by Compal (the 800 is by Nokia itself)
Update:
– DroidUser999 says: … What happened to Nokia-MS Party on Aug 17th. Did they announce anything? [August 17, 2011 at 12:42 pm]
Taigatrommel says: August 17, 2011 at 6:38 pm
It was said they’d have a “small portfolio of devices” ready this year for small launch on limited regions.
I think they talked about a touch-only phone as well as one with a keyboard. So this small portfolio would include two different devices.
– More information: – Nokia’s North America centric approach for Windows Phone 7 [Aug 11, 2011]
– @dnystedt Dan Nystedt
Nokia supplier, Compal, to start shipping Windows Phone 7 smartphones to Nokia in September, total 2 million in Q4, Taiwan media say.
12 Aug via web
– More information: First Nokia WP7 in Q4 via an ODM route from Compal [Aug 13, 2011, with updates up to Aug 17, 2011]
– GIGA Tech Gamescom Special – Zu Gast bei Microsoft Xbox Live [Aug 20, 2011] (only the short intro is in German!)
– Microsoft Unveils Mango’s New Games Hub Features And Xbox Live Titles [Aug 16, 2011]
… today Microsoft announced Avatar Awardables, which are virtual badges that represent gaming achievements. The more you win, the more your avatar begins to look like an Eagle Scout’s merit badge sash. Microsoft also introduced what the company is calling Game Add-ons, which are basically just in-app purchases for games, like buying new weapons or levels.
The next new feature will please parents more than anyone else, as Microsoft has included parental controls within the Games Hub.
– Nokia Teams Up With Polar to Launch Over 300 Mobile Apps for Major Media Brands Globally [Aug 17, 2011]:
Nokia (www.nokia.com) has entered into an agreement with Polar Mobile (www.polarmobile.com) to launch over 300 mobile apps for Nokia smartphones over the next 12 months. Polar Mobile will be launching apps on Nokia smartphones for over 300 top tier media brands globally, including the likes of Wired UK, Kompas, Advertising Age, Globe and Mail, Shanghai Daily and 7DAYS. The apps will be made available to consumers of Nokia’s Symbian smartphones, the recently announced Nokia N9 and future Nokia with Windows Phone devices.
End of updates
The invitation sent out by Nokia and Microsoft this week:
is saying:
Save the date.
Nokia & Microsoft party.
For the beginning of games week in Cologne, we would like to celebrate with you in a special location.
A live act and great dj’s guarantee amazing sounds. Exciting actions and surprises will make it an event to remember.
An invitation with more details will follow soon.
> Competition
We raffle
3x Xbox 360 250 GB console with Kinect 3x Nokia with Windows Phone (as soon as available)
The last sentence makes it clear that “Nokia with Windows Phone” might not be available by the time of “games week in Cologne”. It is also made clear, however, by the very fact of this joint Nokia & Microsoft party (note also the order of company names!) that this will be the first public showing of the Windows Phone from Nokia.
Keep in mind that at an earlier Singapore event for the local Nokia employees the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 device has already been shown. See the 2nd embedded video in Engadget’s Nokia’s first Windows Phone: images and video, codenamed ‘Sea Ray’ [June 23, 2011] post which came from a 3d party video record. And that seems to be very much an intentional leakage (although the YouTube version has been made inaccessible on request from Nokia).
There is also a kind of clarification in RUMOR: Nokia to launch its first Microsoft Windows Phone mid of August? No! [UPDATE] [Aug 1, 2011]:
As of yesterday, we’ve received further information and according to them, it’s not a launch event at all but should engage (games) developers to the Windows Phone platform as well as to Nokia and Microsoft. It wasn’t confirmed that there won’t be a Nokia Windows Phone on some kind of display but I could imagine anyway that Nokia might give a first public sneak-peek anyway.
Now, what is gamescom 2011? This is:
The world’s largest trade fair and event highlight for interactive games and entertainment
with the tag line of:
Celebrate the games
held in:
Cologne, 17.-21-08.2011, open for everyone: 18.-21.08.2011
For trade visitors [i.e. “everyone”]
gamescom 2011 is the world’s largest trade and media platform in the game sector. More information for trade visitors
For exhibitors [for whom also the first day, Aug 17 has ben reserved as a closed one]
gamescom 2011 is the ideal place to establish and maintain business relations. More information for exhibitors
as per the home page [Aug 18, 2008] of this series of events.
According to the last year’s gamescom 10: Final report [Aug 23, 2010]:
This Sunday the second run of gamescom – the largest trade fair and event highlight for interactive games – successfully came to a close. A total of 254,000 visitors experienced over 200 world, European and
German premieres on five spectacular trade fair days. At the leading European trade fair in Cologne, 505 exhibitors from 33 countries(2009: 458/31) presented their product innovations, including the hardware enhancements “Kinect” (Microsoft), “Move” (Sony) and the topic of fascinating 3D trends, which provide new momentum for the market of interactive entertainment.…
Of the 505 exhibitors, 230 companies alone came from abroad(+15%), thus increasing the internationality of gamescom on the exhibitor side to 45.7% (2009: 43.8%). The team of all major national and international companies in the industry was almost fully represented.
…
and according to the No. 11 press release gamescom with successful interim result [April 19, 2011]
* Currently 20 percent more exhibitors than at the comparable point in time in 2010
* Notable exhibitors SEGA and Capcom to return to the highlight in Cologne
* First country-specific pavilion for Mexico…
In addition to key players including, among others, Electronic Arts, DeepSilver, Konami, Namco Bandai, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Warner Bros., Take-Two Interactive and Bethesda Softworks, leading online and browser games companies such as Frogster, NCsoft, Trion Worlds, Valve Corporation and hardware suppliers such as Hama, Razer and Bigben Interactive have registered.
More information has been regularly broadcasted as well, according to the No. 21 press release gamescom tv 2011 goes live today [July 15, 2011]
– First episode today, Friday, at www.gamescom-cologne.com, www.youtube.com/user/mygamescom and www.gamestar.de/gamescomtv2011/
– Presenters Annica Hansen and Nino Kerl provide comprehensive information on the largest trade fair and event highlight in interactive entertainment of the year 2011
– More entertainment thanks to new contents and English subtitles…
In 11 episodes, gamescom tv 2011 will present all highlights of the largest games and entertainment event
Clearly the first, closed day of such an event is the ideal place to introduce Nokia’s new Windows Phone for the press as well as the exhibitors of the event. Especially so because gaming and entertainment are the biggest differentiators of the Windows Phone platform vs. the competition.
Because of the widely known connection to the Xbox platform via Xbox LIVE the gaming advantage is quite obvious. For entertainment 3d party views for ‘Mango’ version go as high as:
… Windows Phone’s music experience is rivaled by none. Whether you are talking iOS or Android or Blackberry or WebOS, nobody does music playback and discovery as well as the Zune offerings in Windows Phone.
Gaming is supported via the new Games Hub while entertainment via the new Music +Video Hub. Below are a couple of notable video demos as well as detailed information about those two enhanced and redesigned hubs for Windows Phone 7, ‘Mango’ release:
Windows Phone Mango Games Hub Preview [June 18, 2011]
The Games hub has seen a total redesign and it looks fantastic. The collection listing has smaller game tiles now and the Xbox Live section now shows your fully animated avatar right away. Sometimes he’ll actually sneak off to other parts of the Games hub panorama when he gets bored. Your friends listing, messages, profile, and achievements are now all accessible right inside the Games hub. The Friends tile actually shows some of your friends’ avatars in the thumbnail and will change periodically. You can see which friends are online and compare their scores and achievements for each game. There’s no need to install the Xbox Live Extras app anymore… for those features. The Avatar customization features and Avatar Marketplace are not directly built in and will require the installation of the new Xbox Live Extras app (which is not available yet.)
In terms of the actual games, one of the features we’ve seen demoed was the instant resume while multitasking. Unfortunately we’ll need updated games that support the fast resume feature. Right now, with current games, they’ll essentially restart themselves and then resume while using the fast task switcher.
Website: http://pocketnow.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pocketnowtweets
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pocketnow
Windows Phone Mango Music + Video Preview [June 18, 2011]
The Music + Videos hub has seen some pretty significant changes. The hub design has been slightly altered and now there’s a little “…” menu at the bottom like most other applications. The “play all” button has also been moved to the bottom. The History section is now a vertical scrolling list of square tiles rather than a horizontal panning list. The same is true with the “New” listing, and the “Marquee” of music/video apps that integrate with the Music + Videos hub is now called “Apps”.
You can tap and hold anything in the New or History section of the top-level hub in order to pin them to the start menu or (if supported) play a smart DJ mix. Unfortunately there are no “Add to Now Playing” menu commands here. It would be great if I could quickly make a playlist of the new music in my music hub, but instead you still have to navigate to the artist/album/song deep within the music library before you’ll find that “Add to Now Playing” command in a tap & hold menu.
The music, videos, and podcasts libraries are mostly the same as Windows Phone 7, however you’ll notice a couple new additions when you find an artist page. First of all the “Smart DJ” button is there at the top, and if you have a Zune pass that will create a mix of music that includes the artist you’re looking at along with streaming cloud music that really nicely goes along with that artist. You’ll also notice a new pivot tab for “Related” artists. This is another excellent feature that was imported from the Zune HD. The related tab will show nice artist tiles from musicians that you might also like if you like the one you’re looking at. This is a great way to discover new music.
Website: http://pocketnow.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pocketnowtweets
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pocketnow
Space Shuttle Landing Mission in Infinite Flight 1.8 for Windows Phone [July 21, 2011]
Find out more at http://www.flyingdevelopmentstudio.com
Download at: http://www.infinite-flight.comor by searching for “Infinite Flight” in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
WP7 Game Review: Tentacles (WMPowerUser.com) [July 21, 2011]
See more: Tentacles: An exclusive game to be proud of! [July 22, 2011]
…
Title: Tentacles
Price: $4.99
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
http://redirect.zune.net/External/LaunchZuneProtocol.aspx?pathuri=navigate%3F…
Windows Phone 7 Mobile Games | ilomilo [Feb 4, 2011]
To download ilomilo, visit the Windows Phone app marketplace: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/apps/paid-apps.aspx
See also: This week’s Deal of the Week–Ilomilo [Aug 3, 20110]:
Ilomilo is one of the cutest games on Windows Phone 7 and also may have some of the best graphics.
The Windows Phone 7 launch title has been selling for $4.99 but has been announced as this week’s Deal of the Week, so will see a temporary drop in price soon.
The game scored a very solid 5/5 in Presentation, Gameplay and also scored 5/5 for its overall score in our full review here, and is of course an Xbox Live title, so if you have not picked it up yet now may be a good time.
Ilomilo can be found in Marketplace here.
Windows Phone 7 Mobile Games | Krashlander [Feb 4, 2011]
To download Krashlander or other related Windows Phone games, visit the Apps Marketplace: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/apps/paid-apps.aspx
Xbox LIVE | Windows Phone 7 [Jan 11, 2011]
Learn more about Xbox LIVE on your WP7: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/apps/xbox.aspx
Fresh from E3: Xbox LIVE enhancements and new games for Windows Phone [Windows Phone Blog, June 6, 2011]
I know all of the gamers out there have been eagerly following all of the news coming out of the E3 expo in Los Angeles [games and voice]. Of course, I am partial to Xbox news especially when it comes to new stuff for Windows Phone. With that, I am stoked to announce some new Xbox LIVE functionality coming in the release of Windows Phone code-named Mango, in addition to some awesome new game titles.
First off, soon you’ll find an update to the Xbox LIVE Extras app, this is the new Avatar Marketplace! Now, you have more options to customize your Avatar with a wide range of props and clothing right on your phone.
Coming later this year in Mango is more native support of Xbox LIVE features in the Games Hub like:
- See your played games and unlocked/locked Achievements
- Compare Achievements with other Xbox LIVE members
- Search your list of friends to see who is online and what they are doing
- See your Xbox LIVE messages and Send/Accept/Reject friend requests
But what would the kickoff of E3 be without some new games to announce? This new line-up of Xbox LIVE games for Windows Phone will be available later this year; four of which will be available exclusive to Windows Phone! Here’s a snapshot of the games we will be previewing this week:
“Beards & Beaks” (Windows Phone exclusive!):Developed by the award-winning team at Microsoft Game Studios, “Beards & Beaks” is an all-out turf war between gnomes and crows that knows no bounds. A race of treasure heisting, a ballet of gnome flicking, and a natural disaster of very unbecoming behavior, this game is unlike any other!
“Hasta La Muerte” (Windows Phone exclusive!):In this unique 2D world, you are the emissary of death responsible for freeing souls of those whose time has come. Encounter trials, bosses and enemies in more than 30 worlds with the aid of “soulpets” in this thrilling quest.
“Tentacles” (Windows Phone exclusive!): From Press Play, the creators of “Max & the Magic Marker,” this beautifully crafted game features Lemmy, a creepy yet adorable creature who navigates through 40 levels of madness attaching his tentacles to the environments with the tap of your finger. Enjoy groundbreaking, intuitive gameplay as you guide this eyeball-eating creature through boss fights and challenges and outrun Dr. Phluff’s acid attacks.
“Z0MB1ES (on teh ph0ne)” (Windows Phone exclusive!):This is not a typo. It’s an epic 3-pack of musically charged shooters from Ska Studios which includes: “I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES 1N IT!!!1,” “Time Viking,” and “ENDL3SS ZOMB1ES!!!1” – including original music and the ability to upload a friends (or foes) face onto your zombie enemies from your photo library!
“Let’s Golf”: Gameloft presents a fun new way to golf with eight fun 3D characters with super powers, customized golfers, 108 holes across 6 locations, an in-depth Career mode, and new challenges like Shoot Out.
“Splinter Cell”:In this game from Gameloft, play as Sam Fisher, a highly skilled Special Forces operative and fight a corrupted secret agency to get your daughter back. Follow a trail of intrigue that leads from Iraq to a high-security building in Washington. Run, jump, fight, and shoot using a handgun, shotgun, AK47 and bazooka, or maintain stealth by improvising with nearby objects.
“Top Gun”: Defend the skies in the most authentic first person jet shooter game on Windows Phone, courtesy of Paramount. Become one of the few to survive the Highway to the Danger Zone! Shoot down enemy jets, dodge incoming air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles, navigate dangerous environments and obliterate the enemy’s air power.
Some great new titles coming soon to Windows Phone! I’ll be honest, I am looking forward to donning my black skin suit and night vision goggles for some Splinter Cell action on the bus. In the coming weeks, look for a deeper drill down into the Games Hub to see what’s new and hear from some of the folks behind the scenes responsible for creating it. In the meantime, happy E3 week!
Upping our game: What’s new in the Games Hub for Mango [Windows Phone Blog, June 23, 2011]
I used to play games on my Xbox only on the weekends. Now that I work on and own a Windows Phone, I play them at least once a day. As a new “avid gamer” and one of the program managers behind the Games Hub, I’m excited to take you on a gamer’s tour of Mango, the next release of Windows Phone coming this fall.
One of the first things you’ll notice about the Games Hub in Mango is its new look: A cleaner and lighter design that emphasizes your game collection and Xbox LIVE info—the heart of the hub. Responding to your feedback, we also made tweaks to improve the overall performance and speed.
Finally, the Games Hub in Mango now comes with many of the features previously found in the popular Xbox LIVE Extras app, such as 3D avatars with fun animations, a new Collection view, and more. Here’s a rundown of the changes.
Improved Collection view
When you download a game from Marketplace, it shows up in the Collection view of the Games Hub. Large icons now dominate this view. But we found this design forces some users to memorize icons to identify a game. The layout also isn’t currently consistent with the App list, located off the Start screen, where all your apps appear.
Since our guiding principle for Mango was making it easier for people to quickly and efficiently find the games they want to play, we’ve made some improvements.
In Mango, games are neatly organized in the same familiar alphabetical list view as your apps—icon on the left, name on the right. Once you’ve amassed more than 20 games—something that can happen pretty quickly on this Xbox-friendly phone—finding titles you play frequently can become a chore, requiring multiple swipes. Our customer research and your feedback told us people want to quickly and easily get back to recently-played games.
To fix that, in Mango we’re introducing a new Recent category. When your collection exceeds 20 games, the last three titles you’ve played now appear right up top, so you can get to favorites faster. (This has been very useful every time I find myself with a couple minutes to spare during the day!)
New 3D avatars with attitude
We know how much Xbox LIVE users love their avatars. In the current release of Windows Phone, the Games Hub displays avatars as a static 2D image. To flesh out your alter ego with an extra dimension, you need the free Xbox Live Extras app from Marketplace.
In the past few months we’ve received a lot of feedback from people wishing 3D avatars would be the norm on the phone. We’ve heard you loud and clear! So you’ll be happy to know that in Mango, we’ve fully integrated 3D avatars into the Games Hub.
Avatars on the phone are also now more playful: They wave at you, yawn, and perform a host of other actions. Shake your phone and your avatar dances—or even faints. Bug your poor alter ego too much and it might lash out at you (I won’t spoil the surprise by saying what it does) or pull the Collection screen into view to hide behind (my personal favorite).
Better Xbox LIVE experience
Besides better avatars, all the features previously found in the Xbox LIVE Extras app are now built into the Games Hub. These include:
- Improved Xbox LIVE messaging: Read and reply to Xbox LIVE messages sent from another Windows Phone, a PC, or an Xbox console. We’ve also added more avatar delighters here. If a message contains certain emoticons (e.g.
,
), you’ll notice your avatar’s expression change to reflect that emotion! (If a sender overloads a message with conflicting emoticons, your avatar will look bewildered.)
- Connect with Xbox LIVE friends: Find out if your Xbox LIVE friends are currently online through the friend status view. You can also search, browse, initiate, and respond to friend requests right from your Windows Phone 7.
- Integrated achievements and new comparison views: See the recent games your friends have been playing, and compare gamerscores and achievements for all Xbox LIVE games played on the phone, console, or PC.
- Edit your profile: Moved to a new city? Have a new motto in life? Now you can update your name, bio, motto, and location right from the phone.
- Improved Spotlight content: We’ve improved the news and info delivered to you via Spotlight in the Games Hub. Your window to the Xbox LIVE community will now be complemented with rich and vibrant images!
- Improved game request notifications: In Mango, you’ll receive notifications for multiplayer game or turn requests and can track them in the Requests section of the Games Hub.
It’s been fun to watch the new Games Hub go from concept to reality over the past year. I hope you’re as excited as I am about all the tweaks and improvements on the way for gamers in Mango—many of them inspired directly by your feedback. Let me know what you think!
…
Shirlene LimJune 24, 2011
Thanks for all the comments and feedback. Appreciate all the great suggestions and feature ideas. I’ll pass them on to the team for consideration in future releases. Here’s answers to some of the questions you had…
Q: Do we support push notifications for messaging on Xbox LIVE?
A: No, we do not support that for Mango. I agree it’ll be cool to have instant notification like we do for text and IM. We will look into this.
Q: What about real-time multiplayer support?
A: What about real-time multiplayer? Right now, we’re focused on delivering a great selection of Xbox LIVE games for WP7 and integrating the features that connect the community on mobile, like achievements. We currently offer asynchronous multiplayer functionality in certain Xbox LIVE games. We will continue to evolve and improve the experience in future releases.
Q: Any news on more countries being supported?
A: When Mango arrives in the fall, you’ll see a significant increase in the number of countries where Xbox LIVE service for Windows Phone is available. We’re not quite ready to announce the details yet – expect to hear more about this later this summer.
Q: Will there be a way to quickly sign in and out of different Xbox LIVE profile in the games hub or have support for multiple Xbox LIVE account?
A: No, not at this time.
Q: Will non Xbox LIVE games be integrated in the games hub?
A: Yes. You will find all games in your games hub regardless of whether they are Xbox LIVE or not.
A tour of the new Music +Video Hub [Windows Phone Blog, June 3, 2011]
From the beginning, the chief design principle for the Music+Videos Hub in Windows Phone was simple: make it easy to discover and consume the content you love.
In Mango, it only gets better.
The next release of Windows Phone introduces on-phone podcasts, new features like Smart DJ (my personal favorite), and loads of refinements and tweaks that make it easier to find and enjoy great music and video. As one of the program managers that helped conceive and design many of these new features (yes, I do get paid to listen to music all day), I thought it’d be fun to tell you not only what changes we’re making in Mango but also to give you a little insight into whywe’ve made them.
Podcasts now included
You can already listen to podcasts on your Windows Phone. The catch is you need your computer and the Zune software to actually browse and download them. In Mango, you can now do all this right on your phone (U.S. customers only). [See the comments section for explanation of this from Josh. –ed.]
In the Marketplace hub, you’ll see a new menu option: Podcasts. Tap it to see featured, top, or new podcasts and to browse by genre. Under genres, we’ve also added audio and video pivots, so you can find exactly the type of podcasts you’re interested in. You can also search for specific titles.
Once you’ve found a podcast that interests you, there are plenty of ways to enjoy it. I like Discovery Channel video podcasts but they tend to be quite large. No problem. In Mango, I can stream podcasts directly from Marketplace. Every once in a while, I want the latest episode of The Onion for a laugh but don’t need them all. That’s OK, I can download individual episodes.
I do, however, always want the latest DJ Tiesto podcast when I leave the house every Monday morning. Easy enough: I can subscribe to the series right on the phone and it will automatically download new episodes while charging overnight. Windows Phone will be the onlyphone to do this without a PC or third-party app!
When you subscribe to a podcast series, you control how many episodes you want to keep and what order the episodes play back. To save your battery life, new podcasts are downloaded only if your phone is connected to a power supply. To save your monthly phone bill, podcasts download over Wi-Fi by default (unlimited data plan customers, don’t worry: there’s a setting to change this).
If you’re already a hard-core podcast listener (like I’ve become since working on this feature), have no fear. Your existing subscriptions won’t be affected when you update to Mango. But you’ll now have the option of managing those subscriptions on your phone instead of your computer. (To make things as simple as possible, we don’t allow both the computer and phone to manage subscriptions.)
A DJ in your pocket
We all have those moments when we want to listen to some music. But not just anything. We want tunes that fit the mood. A new feature coming in Mango called Smart DJ is designed to provide just the right mix.
Smart DJ takes “seeds”—an artist, album, or song— and creates a music mix that’s similar using whatever songs it finds on your phone. If you have a monthly Zune Passmusic subscription, Smart DJ selects from the millions of tracks available in the Zune catalog.
We’ve sprinkled the Smart DJ feature all over the Music + Videos Hub: It’s available from artist cards, the music player, and every artist, album, and song in your collection via the tap-and-hold menu. Since we have a hunch that you’re really going to like Smart DJ mixes, we’ve add them to the History pivot and made them pinable to the Start screen, so you can quickly find favorite mixes again.
Find stuff in Marketplace easier
We listen closely to customer feedback, and one of the things we heard loud and clear was that searching the Marketplace is sometimes painful due to the lack of auto suggestions and jumbled results. We’ve fixed both in Mango.
Now when you start typing in the Marketplace search box, you’ll see search terms appear. Search results are also now organized by content type (apps or games, music, or podcasts). We make it even simpler to find what you want by indicating exactly what each search result is—artist, album, song, or playlist, for example. Marketplace search is also context sensitive. Start a search from the podcast Marketplace and you’ll land right into the podcast results pivot. Same goes for music.
If you’re like me, you probably also love to discover new music. We’d made that possible in Marketplace now, too. In artist results, we followed in the Zune HD’s footsteps and added a Related pivot that lists similar artists.
Changes to the Music + Videos Hub
In addition to new features like podcasts and Smart DJ, we also made a ton of smaller but noticeable tweaks to the Music + Videos Hub, much based on customer research or feedback from you. Here’s a rundown of some of the more notable ones:
- More discoverable playback options: Research showed we provided a great option—“shuffle all music”— that almost nobody knew we had! So we’ve moved the button and updated the icon to make it stand out. Ditto for the old Rate, Shuffle, and Repeat playback options, which were hidden behind album art. In Mango, they’re front and center.
- Improved History and New: These areas are designed to make it easier to find and play content. But usability studies taught us the horizontal layout and 8-item limit slowed people down. So in Mango, we’ve gone vertical— and added room for 25 items.
- Better mini-playback control: We noticed people were having trouble tapping the small buttons of our handy mini-playback control. Now when you tap the volume button on your phone you’ll see bigger, easier-to-tap music controls as well as the artist name and what’s playing. Tap on that info to launch the full music player and turn on options like shuffle or repeat.
- New lock-screen options: We thought it would be handy if you could easily control your music player while your phone is locked, so in Mango you’ll find playback controls there.
- New artist wallpapers: We also figured music lovers would like to see those great artist images in the Music + Videos Hub show up as wallpaper on the lock screen. In Mango, that’s now a settings option. (We keep this one off by default, since it does have a small impact on your battery life).
We also made a bunch of tweaks to the music player itself. These include:
- Better playback controls: The playback controls are bigger and are now aligned with the mini-playback control—so your thumbs always know where to go.
- Better artist images: We found that the background artist images were sometimes too bright, which made some controls hard to see. Our design team worked hard to find the right opacity for the images. The end result you’ll see in Mango has a great layered look and never interferes with the controls.
- More playback info: We’ve added the artist name to the music player queue so that when you’re jamming to your new Smart DJ mix, you know exactly what’s up next.
- More playback options: Tap the Repeat button a couple of times and you’ll see the addition of a Repeat Once mode for those songs you just can’t get enough of.
- New playlist option: Yep, that’s right—you can finallycreate playlists on your device. Add a mix of whatever you want to your queue or start a Smart DJ mix and save it as a playlist.
- Better data management: In Mango, Zune Pass subscribers now see an icon on the phone when they’re listening to streamed music—so you always know when you’re consuming data.
- More video options: Last but not least, for videos, we’ve added a full-screen toggle and video scrubbing (where supported) so you have quick access to the parts of your videos you love most—features we heard you ask for!
We appreciate all the feedback you gave us on the Music + Videos Hub over the past several months—and we want to hear more for Mango! Conceiving, designing and building these features has been a blast—but it’s even better when we get to watch our customers use and love them.
Josh Phillips, program manager, Windows Phone Engineering
…
Josh Phillips June 07, 2011
Wow! Thanks all for the kudos and feedback – my apologies for the delayed response! I see lots of questions and I’ll get to a few of the smaller ones later but I want to first address the podcast concerns that take up the lion’s share of the comments.
I should have been a little bit clearer on how podcasts work in both 7 and Mango. Today, you can use the Zune PC software to subscribe to any podcast series, anywhere in the world that has Windows Phone in market, and consume them on your phone. That option will not change with Mango but it will improve. Once you have synced a series subscription from your PC to your phone (using the Zune software), you can have the phone manage the subscription by tapping the “subscribe” button on the series details screen – at which point, whenever new episodes are available they will automatically be directly to your phone – without a PC! Again, this is for any podcast series, anywhere in the world with Windows Phone. Additionally, in Mango and starting in the U.S., there will be a full-fledged podcast marketplace that you can browse right on the phone. You will also be able to download or stream individual episodes and subscribe to a series without ever having to connect to a PC. We are working to bring this feature to other markets but the U.S. is the only market for which we can confirm support at this time. There are lots of nuanced and unique regulations in each region and we have to make sure that we’ve dotted all our i’s and crossed all our t’s before we can bring an on-phone podcast marketplace to additional locales.
To summarize, you’ll still be able to enjoy podcasts all over the world with Mango but, once you’ve gotten the series from your PC to device, you won’t need a PC to get new episodes (yay!). Additionally, if you’re in a region that has a supported marketplace, you’ll never need to use a PC at all as you can browse and subscribe to series right on the phone. Stay tuned as we continue to invest in bringing new features and services to new markets. In the meantime, keep up the great feedback! Thanks!
REMARKABLE first 16 hours reading results:
References:
Aug 3: 42 from the below one [hup.hu]
Aug 4, 9:30: 18 from the below one [hup.hu]
which is 60 out of 103
| ( bervi | 2011. augusztus 3., szerda – 20:59 ) |
hurráhurráéljenhurrá :)»
- 6 hozzászólás
- 243 olvasás [reads] [i.e. every 4th reader on hup.hu clicked over here]
Netbook prices starting $50 less at $200 via Intel MeeGo strategy
Preliminary reading:
– Acer & Asus: Compensating lower PC sales by tablet PC push [March 29, 2011 with comprehensive update on Aug 2, 2011] which is showing IHS iSuppli’s recent mobile broadband device forecast with constituents of Apple’s dominant position in the media tablet space as well as serious technical and market problems with the original version of Honeycomb up to now
>>> please note after reading this that for ASUStek the below $200 market trial with MeeGo netbooks is much-much more than simply to keep the netbook category alive
– Intel: accelerated Atom SoC roadmap down to 22nm in 2 years and a “new netbook experience” for tablet/mobile PC market [April 17, 2011]
Asus will ready some other experimental products in the coming weeks, such as the X101 model of its popular Eee PC netbooks. The device has attracted attention for its low price ($199) and use of the MeeGo operating system, a relatively new, open source technology project backed by Intel (and, formerly, Nokia). Shih said the X101 will also be available in Microsoft Windows and Google Android versions. Asus decided to offer a MeeGo flavor of the device so consumers could choose from a range of operating systems, he added.
Asus: Super-Thin ‘Ultrabooks’ Can Capture 50% Of Notebook Market [July 29, 2011]
Intel: MeeGo exists because Microsoft let us down [April 20, 2011]
Interview: Even Windows 7 doesn’t do enough for Atom, says chip giant
Despite saying that “Intel is very supportive of Windows,” James Reinders, Chief Evangelist of Software Tools at Intel, criticises Microsoft roundly in an interview with TechRadar.
Why? He says it’s taken too long for the software giant to make Windows run well on Atom and to make a success of Intel’s UMPC and MID ideas.
…
“Microsoft hasn’t been quite as aggressive as we might have hoped at supporting Atom, especially in the embedded space and that’s why we came up with our platform Moblin – which is now MeeGo. Intel is all about platform choice, choice of operating system and so on, and we believe in the opportunity of embedded very strongly.”
“Some of their Windows offerings are great now, but Moblin started a number of years ago when we didn’t see Windows in that space at all. We’re thrilled to death to see user mode scheduling in Windows 7 but the progress of Windows 7 still limited – it doesn’t go all the places we think Atom will go.”
Those places include smartphones, MIDs, tablets and in-car systems, for a start, and Android – or the version of Mac OS in the iPad – just isn’t enough in his view. “We feel people want an operating system that is more powerful on these devices.
What web browsers does MeeGo come with? [Dec 24, 2010]
There are two MeeGo images, one comes with Google Chrome that requires you to agree to a EULA. The other image comes with Chromium. Both images also come with Mozilla Firefox.
Chromebooks Are Doomed to Fail [PCWorld, May 15, 2011]
The Chromebook is not any lighter or smaller than a standard netbook. It boots up faster, and has longer battery life than a full notebook, but so do most netbooks. The difference between the Chromebook and a standard netbook is that with a netbook you can do everything you can do with a Chromebook, and you can still do all of things you normally do with a PC.
Essentially, buying a Chromebook is like buying a television that is only capable of delivering some of the channels, even though there are televisions available for the same price that can give you all of the channels. The Chromebooks are going to retail from $350 to $500. Funny thing about that–at BestBuy.com there are 15 netbooks listed that range from $230 to $530.
Early MeeGo devices supporting a compute continuum [July 1, 2011]
… MeeGo has a full featured PC OS at its core, with a series of device UI builds. Device manufacturers take these builds and build their own device experiences upon them. Thus with this approach MeeGo is raising the tide of all devices in a relative short time period. It is a different approach to spending years focused on one segment like handsets before stepping out incrementally to tablets. Not saying it is a better approach. It’s a different strategy, or strength, that gets a broader set of device types and experiences out there running MeeGo sooner. At this pace with IVI and embedded devices, next year MeeGo could be running on more device types than any other mobile OS.
…
In the PC world a desktop vs a laptop is a hard distinction. There’s little possibility to get those confused. With mobile devices it will be harder to have a distinction between handset and tablet, and tablet and netbook. And with TV, having devices work cooperatively for a full TV experience, it’s hard to define what is a definitive TV computing device.
For OSs that are built from the ground up with a specific device in mind this could be a problem. We see that with Windows today. It’s just about the most mature OS out there, and while you can put Windows on a tablet it’s not the best experience. The text based menus and mouse designed boxes, and file based navigation, do not translate well to touch based devices. Thus with Windows 8, Microsoft is putting a significant effort to build it from the ground up to be more touch friendly.
For MeeGo, as an OS that can be easily tweaked to work for a new devices segment, this is an opportunity. As device categories blur lines; as tablets get keyboards, as netbooks get touch screens, as OLED screens come out and devices can wrap, bend and extend their shape, it will be hard to define what is a handset verses another device. Device manufacturers will have flexibility with MeeGo, to quickly pull together what they need for the device they are shipping.
Update: Asustek expects better business performance in 2H11 [Aug 17, 2011]
Asustek Computer expects its performance in the second half of 2011 to be better than that of fellow Taiwan-based companies, according to CFO David Chang.
Asustek is likely to hit record quarterly revenues in the third
quarter and is optimistic about business operation in the fourth mainly due to the launch of second-generation Eee Pad Transformer tablets and ultrabook notebooks, Chang said.Asustek aims at a 14% market share for notebooks in China, and
became the largest vendor in Eastern Europe’s notebook market in the second quarter. In addition, Asustek is poised to make forays into Latin America, especially Brazil and Mexico.Asustek expects to ship 14 million notebooks and 4.5-5 million Eee PCs in 2011, Chang indicated. Asustek shipped 11.4 million motherboards in the first half and expects to ship 22.5-23 million for the year.
Asustek begins marketing Eee PC X101/X101H netbooks [July 29, 2011]
Asustek Computer will begin marketing its low-priced Eee PC X101/X101H netbooks in the US, Taiwan and other markets by the end of July. For the US market, the Eee PC X101, which runs on Intel’s MeeGo OS, is priced at US$199, while the X101H, powered by Windows 7 Starter, is available at US$299.
Since global sales of netbooks have been pressed down drastically by the launch of tablet PCs, the roll-out of the Eee PC X101/X101H will be crucial for other vendors to decide whether they should continue to bring out new netbooks, according to industry sources.
More information from elsewhere:
| Eee PC X101 from Eee PC X101 product site | Eee PC X101H from ASUS Product Guide (July-August 2011) | |
| Operating System | MeeGo | Genuine Windows® 7 Starter |
| Display | 10.1″ LED Backlight WSVGA (1024×600) Screen | 10.1″ LED Backlight WSVGA (1024×600) Screen |
| CPU | Intel® Atom™ N435 [Q3’11, single core, 1.33GHz/0.5M cache]]/N455 | Intel® Atom™ N455 [Q2’10, single core] (1.66GHz)/1M cache [?0.5M cache?] |
| Memory | DDR3, 1 x SO-DIMM, 1GB (Maximum 2GB ) | 1GB DDR3 RAM |
| Storage | 2.5″ SATA 8GB SSD HDD, 2 GB DropBox cloud storage |
250GB |
| Wireless Data Network | WLAN 802.11 b/g/n@2.4GHz*1 Bluetooth V3.0*1 |
Integrated 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 |
| Camera | 0.3 M Pixel Camera | Built-in Webcam |
| Audio | Stereo Speakers | |
| Interface | 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x Audio Jack (Headphone/Mic-In), 1 x Card Reader : SD/ SDHC/ MMC |
|
| Battery | 4hrs (3cells, 28W/h) battery life* *Operation lifetime subject to product model, normal usage conditions and configurations. For more information, please visit our web site. |
3 cell battery, 2600 mAh |
| Dimensions | 262 x 180 x 17.6 mm (WxDxH) | 262 x 180 x 22 mm (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 0.92 Kgs (w/ 3cell battery) | 1.02 Kgs (w/ 3 cell battery) |
| Color | Texture : Red, White, Brown | Texture : Red, White, Brown |
| Note | *1 : Availability is dependent on selected model, country or operator support. Check with your local ASUS website for more details. |
Eee PC X101H from ASUS Product Guide (July-August 2011)
The ASUS X101H is not just another netbook, it’s a social media machine. Super lightweight weighing less than 1.02 Kgs and only 22 mm thin, it still packs in the latest Intel® Atom™ CPU for exceptional performance. It comes in two flavors: the all-new MeeGo operating system, which boots up in seconds and integrates all your favorite social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr into one convenient and easy to use home screen, and the popular Windows® 7 OS, which has ASUS Instant On technology so you can resume your session in 2 seconds. Offered in a variety of stylish colors, it’s the perfect accessory for wanting to stay connected when traveling.
Eee PC X101 from Eee PC X101 product site
Colorful and light, right at your fingertips
· Wing-shaped inspired design, under 17.6mm
· Easy-use MeeGO operating system for real netbook usage
· Have fun with asus @vibe and asus app store for cloud content enjoyment
Slim profile
The X101 was designed to be thin and lightweight, for maximum portability. Boasting a profile that’s less than 17.6 mm thick and weighing less than 920 gram, it easily slips into bags without adding much bulk. Featuring a comfortable chiclet keyboard for typing and large responsive touchpad, the X101 just screams to be used.
Your social networking companion – MeeGo OS
Today’s digital life is all about staying connected. We write blogs, upload photos and stay connected with friends on countless social networking sites. The new MeeGo Operating System on the X101 brings the internet to you in a new intuitive interface, integrating Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media sites onto the homepage for quick access so you can stay connected even faster.
English learning application
The X101 isn’t all play; it’s also a learning tool. Included with the MeeGo OS is the British Council English Language Learning application, designed for people from non-native English speaking countries who aspire to improve their English. The product takes the form of a content bundle of interactive games, videos and mp3s which are preinstalled on the X101. Over 300 pieces of material was developed by English Language Training (ELT) leaders and the British Council, with the application designed by Intel’s award winning Performance Learning Solutions.
Cloud computing for everyone
The X101 is preloaded with not only the MeeGo OS, but also the ASUS App store so you can download applications and stay productive and entertained. Discover apps, games, extensions and themes for the Google Chrome web browser on the Chrome Webstore. Also available is access to asus @vibe, which provides a fun, easy and convenient center filled with rich cloud computing content. As an added bonus, the popular Dropbox online storage is preloaded so you can easily and seamlessly sync files across your desktop, netbook or smart phone.
Chip Shot: MeeGo Netbooks Based on Intel Atom Arrive at Computex [Intel, May 31, 2011]
The ecosystem around MeeGo-based netbooks expands with the introduction of devices including the Acer Aspire One Happy 2, Asus Eee PC X101, Samsung N100 and Lenovo IdeaPad S100 at Computex. These systems are based on the new, 1.33 GHz single-core Intel® Atom™ processor N435. These netbooks will provide new levels of affordability for market expansion. Acer and Asus netbooks will come pre-loaded with the Intel AppUpSM center in select countries. Also at Computex, Acer demonstrated a MeeGo-based tablet on stage at the Intel netbook, tablet and software focused satellite event.
Intel officially unveils Atom N435 chip for low cost netbooks [June 1, 2011]
The Intel Atom N435 is a 1.33 GHz single core chip with 512K of cache and an estimated TDP of about 5W. As expected, it’s basically the newest and slowest member of the Intel Atom Pine Trail family. The next step up the ladder are the 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 and N455 chips which were introduced last year and which have TDP’s of 5.5W and 6.5W respectively.
Intel is making an interesting move by launching a new Pine Trail chip this summer. The company is pushing its new Oak Trail platform for tablets and will start shipping next-generation Cedar Trail chips for netbooks and notebooks soon. So why launch a new chip using last year’s tech and offering lessperformance?
In a word: price. The Atom N435 is a budget chip which makes dirt cheap netbooks like the Eee PC X101 possible. You also don’t need a blazing fast processor to offer decent performance with MeeGo Linux, an operating system optimized for Atom and other low power chips. I also suspect that Windows 7 will run reasonably well on the 1.33 GHz processor… I just wouldn’t expect good results with HD video playback.
Intel’s New Atom Processor to Lower Netbook Prices [PC World, June 1, 2011]
Intel on Wednesday [June 1] said it has introduced a new Atom processor to bring down the price of netbooks in emerging markets to under US$200.
…
Netbooks are generally priced above $250. New netbooks using the N435 will provide “new levels of affordability for emerging markets,” said Suzy Ramirez, an Intel spokeswoman, in an e-mail [to PC World].
…
Lower prices could also help draw renewed interest in netbooks, which are small and low-powered laptops for basic word processing and Internet surfing. After a phenomenal take-off in 2008, netbook shipments have stumbled in the last year, partly due to a growing interest in tablets.
ASUS “INNOVATION BEYOND EXPECTATIONS” AT COMPUTEX 2011 [Asustek, May 31, 2011]
…
Eee PC evolved
ASUS evolves the Eee PC further with new models that take netbooks to ever-greater heights. The new Eee PC X101 has been designed from the start to be the perfect ultraportable for modern mobile users, with its Intel® MeeGo operating system incorporating full support for a wide range of social networking services. Eee PC X101 Series netbooks are also offered with the Windows® 7 operating system, and models ship with both solid state and mechanical hard drive storage configurations.
…
ASUS Unveils New Innovations at Computex 2011 [Asustek, June 2, 2011]
…
New Eee PCs
ASUS are committed to developing the Eee PC range and bring users three new options for fully functional computing on the go.The 10.1” Eee PC X101 is a true ultraportable with the Intel MeeGo OS and the latest Intel Atom 435 processor. Offering a QWERTY keyboard, wireless and full support for social networking it is the perfect companion for computing away from home.
The 10.1” Eee PC X101H is the X101’s big brother, with the added choice of either Intel MeeGo or Windows 7, and the option of either HDD or SSD drive. Featuring Instant On technology to bring the netbook to life in just seconds (and last 2 weeks in standby) plus a range of stylish colours, users can make a statement across the entertainment, work and fashion worlds.
…
There’s a reason the $200 Eee PC X101 will be so cheap [May 30, 2011]
… now that more specs are available, it turns out that Asus isn’t just keeping the price low by using open source software instead of paying for a Windows license. The company is also taking a page out of it’s 2008 playbook and offering the MeeGo Linux version of the Eee PC X101 with a small battery and very little storage.
Asus Eee PC X101H lands at the FCC [July 19, 2011]
Here’s a comparison between the Eee PC X101H (above) and the X101 (below) and you can see the difference in thickness, and port choice:
Thanks to MeeGo, Asus Makes Good on Its $200 Laptop Promise [PC World, July 28, 2011]
Reportedly due to begin shipping in September, the Eee PC X101 was first spotted earlier this week on several U.S. retailers’ websites, as Liliputing pointed out on Tuesday. At PCSuperStore, for instance, it’s now available for preorder at a price of $199.73, while at Directronit’s listed at $208.98.
Now there’s also an official product page for the machine on the Asus site, and the netbook turned up on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Exhibits List as well, complete with photos and a user manual.
Samsung launches new Super-Light N100 Netbook [July 21, 2011]
The N100 Netbook demonstrates Samsung’s continued innovation while delivering superior quality, mobility and satisfaction to our customers.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd,a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced the launch of the N100 Netbook in India. Containing a powerful Intel Atom processor within a highly portable ultra-durable casing, the N100 is the answer for users looking for a simple, practical and connected device to use on-the-go.
“The N100’s design is based on our tremendously successful N150P Netbook, which has sold over 3 million units to date. The N100 Netbook demonstrates Samsung’s continued innovation while delivering superior quality, mobility and satisfaction to our customers. The N100 continues our line of high-quality Netbooks and represents superb value for money,” said Mr. Ranjit Yadav, Country Head, Samsung Mobile& IT.
Durable Design with an Anti-Reflective Screen
Despite weighing just 1.03kg, the integration of Samsung’s scratch-resistant Duracase ensures the Samsung N100 is durable and robust. The device delivers long-lasting reliability, which has been demonstrated through an exhaustive testing process. This durable portability ensures the device can be used for long stretches whilst on-the-move. However durability doesn’t have to come at the cost of design and the N100 is stylish and elegant and available in either black or white.
High quality video and pictures can be enjoyed both inside and outdoors with the device’s anti-reflective 10.1” LED display. The display contains a matt surface designed to reduce ‘mirror effect’, which allows longer use without undue strain on the eyes. The screen is also more resistant to scratching, enabling a higher quality viewing experience for a longer amount of time.
A User-Friendly Experience
Usability is at the heart of the N100’s design. The device includes Intel’s innovative MeeGo™ operating system*1 (OS), to deliver an efficient and enjoyable user experience. The interface has been designed to enable easy access to online and offline contents, while social networks can be viewed at a glance – meaning that it’s easier to stay connected. A fast boot-up process and energy-efficient design means that MeeGo™ is perfect for those on the move. A free DOS or Genuine Windows® 7*2 operating platform is also available as a factory option.
While the N100 may have a compact form factor, this does not impact upon the device’s usability. Thanks to the inclusion of an ergonomic keyboard with intelligent key spacing, typing is easier, faster and more accurate. The user experience is also enhanced through improved connectivity options; two USB ports enable the connection of additional peripheral devices as well as a VGA port to connect a larger external monitor.
Performance & Satisfaction Guaranteed
The N100 is powered by a
dual[single] core Intel Atom processor, which combined with an Intel GMA 3510 graphics processor delivers a swift, responsive experience. The Intel Atom processor is also incredibly energy-efficient, making better use of the battery life and extending usage time when on-the-move. Power reduction is reduced by up to 50 times.Pricing and Availability
The Samsung N100 Netbook is priced at Rs. 12,290/- [US$278]. With the addition N100, Samsung has a range of eight netbooks in its portfolio priced between Rs. 12,290/- to Rs. 21, 990/-.
Specifications
Display 10.1” (1024*600) WSVGA, Anti-reflective LED Operating System* MeeGo CPU* Intel® ATOM™ Processor N435 (1.33GHz) Memory* 1 GB DDR3 HDD* 250 GB (5400 rpm) Graphic Intel GMA 3150 Port GA, Headphone-out, Mic-in, 2 x USB 2.0,4-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC), RJ45(LAN), DC-In(Power Port) Battery 3 Cell (40 Watt) Dimension 264 x 188.0 x 26.7~34.7 mm (10.3” x 7.4” x 1.05” ~ 1.36”) Weight 1.03 kg (2.27lbs)
![clip_image001[6]](https://lazure2.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/clip_image0016.gif "clip_image001[6]")
Tackling the Android tide
Remarks by Larry Page on the quarterly earning calls [July 14, 2011, see also Larry Page to boost Google even more as becoming CEO again [April 2, 2011]]
We have tremendous new businesses being viewed as “crazy” Android We actually have a new metric to report of 550,000 Android Devices activated a day!
[See the full post by Larry Page later]
Follow-up:
Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [Oct 26, 2011]
Note: the “affordable” Nokia Lumia 710 for 270 EUR [US$ 376] is the one produced by Compal (the 800 is by Nokia itself)
Updates:
Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility [Larry Page, Aug 15, 2011]
We recently explained (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-patents-attack-android.html) how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/April/11-at-491.html) and it is currently looking into (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903635604576476430510833852.html) the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.
Is Google buying Motorola for its 24,000 patents? [April 15, 2011]
Motorola Mobility Holdings’ CEO Discusses Q2 2011 Results – Earnings Call
Transcript [July 28, 2011]
… we own one of the strongest and most respected patent portfolios in the industry. We have over 17,000 patents granted and over 7,000 patents pending with particular strength in 2G and 3G essential, non-essential patents important to the delivery of competitive products in the marketplace, video particularly compression, decompression and security technologies and finally, a leading position in 4G LTE essential.
With new entrants to the mobile space resulting from the convergence of mobility, media, computing and the internet, our patent portfolio is increasingly important. …
@parmy Parmy Olson [Forbes’ London bureau chief]
Microsoft buying Nokia doesn’t seem like such a wild idea anymore. #Google #Motorola
2 hours ago via TweetDeck
Google’s Motorola Deal Could Give Windows An Opening [Forbes guest post, Aug 15, 2011]
Nokia says Google-Motorola deal may help Windows Phone [Aug 15, 2011]
This further reinforces our belief that opportunities for the growth of Nokia’s smartphone business will be greatest with Windows Phone. This could prove to be a massive catalyst for the Windows Phone ecosystem. Additionally, with our respective intellectual property portfolios, Nokia and Microsoft are working together to build and nurture an innovative ecosystem that benefits consumers, operators, developers and other device manufacturers.
Quotes from Android partners [Larry Page, Aug 15, 2011]
“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”
– J.K. Shin
President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division
“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Bert Nordberg
President & CEO, Sony Ericsson
“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”
– Peter Chou
CEO, HTC Corp.
“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D
President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
Google acquisition of Motorola likely to benefit Taiwan production partners, but potential uncertain [Aug 17, 2011]
Share prices of Taiwan-based companies known to have strong business relations with Motorola staged a rally on August 16, one day after Google announced its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility as investors expect the deal will bring more orders for those companies. However, some industry watchers commented that Google may eventually release Motorola’s hardware business, forcing Taiwan handset ODMs, and parts and components suppliers to face more uncertainties.
The deal should help improve the financial structure as well as
business of Motorola, which will then release more orders to its production partners in Taiwan, said the sources, indicating the potential beneficiaries include Arima Telecommunications, Compal Communications, Merry Electronic, Ichia Technologies and Chi Cheng Enterprise.Arima is currently a major ODM of feature phones for Motorola, while Compal and Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) are smartphone ODMs for the vendor. Motorola’s focus on Android phones after being merged with Google will benefit all three ODMs, said the sources.
Motorola is expected to outsource a total of 11-13 million handsets to Taiwan ODMs in 2011, with more than 90% being feature phones, said the sources, indicating that shipments of smartphones to Motorola have more growth potential.
However, the sources pointed out initial orders from Motorola after being merged with Google are unlikely to increase substantially as Google has said it will run Motorola as a separate business and will treat all Android partners equally. This means that Motorola will be able to increase its orders to production partners if doing so remains competitive.
Motorola, operating as an independent handset vendor under Google, still also posts a potential threat to HTC and other Android phone vendors. Google is likely to compete directly with HTC or Samsung Electronics unless it sells or terminates Motorola’s hardware business eventually, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
Taiwan handset PCB and chipset vendors hail Google acquisition of Motorola [Aug 17, 2011]
Taiwan-based handset PCB and chipsets makers have applauded Google’s announcement of acquiring Motorola Mobility, expecting that a growing Android mobile device market will help boost their sales.
Unimicron Technology and Compeq Manufacturing are currently two Taiwan-based PCB suppliers for Motorola, but supply volumes take only a small portion of their total shipments, according to industry sources.
Taiwan-based handset chipset vendors MediaTek and MStar Semiconductor have been developing handset solutions for Android models because Apple has a preference of buying handset chips from players outside Taiwan.
MediaTek has also been cooperating with Motorola for some time and so the integration between Google and Motorola is certainly good news for MediaTek as well as MStar from a long-term point of view, the sources asserted.
IHS iSuppli News Flash: Fast Facts on Google’s Purchase of Motorola Mobility [Aug 15, 2011]
The Motorola Mobility acquisition puts Google Inc. in a stronger position in any potential patent dispute with Apple Inc. “From an intellectual property (IP) standpoint, the acquisition bolsters Google’s negotiating position with Apple, in the event that Apple goes after Android-based products the same way it did with Samsung in Europe,” said Francis Sideco, principal analyst, wireless communications, for IHS. “If nothing else, Google will be able to assert Motorola’s IP for the 3GPP and 3GPP2 cellphone specifications, which are used in both the iPhone and iPad.”
Motorola’s product development capabilities also may have made it an attractive acquisition target for Google. “Motorola has been closely following Google Android’s operating system release schedule,” said Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications, for IHS. “Whenever Google releases a new version of Android, Motorola almost immediately has a device ready with the latest revision of the software, reflecting the company’s prodigious product development capabilities.”Google previously has used new HTC and Samsung products to demonstrate the latest capabilities of the Android operating system. For example, the HTC MyTouch and Samsung Nexus S served to show off the operating systems’ capabilities so other OEMs could follow the example. Now, Motorola is the company that will set the example.“
Motorola can serve as Google’s product R&D department as Android spreads into new markets,”Teng added. “Motorola has engineering expertise in a wide range of products where Android will be used, including set-top boxes and televisions. The addition of Motorola’s engineering and intellectual property will accelerate Android’s time-to-market in these areas and potentially revitalize the Google TV business, which so far has met with little success.”
The acquisition could prompt some Android licenses to increase their focus on alternative operating systems, such as Windows Phone.“ Although Google has said Motorola will continue to operate as a separate company, this development has to raise questions among the other Android licensees as to the level of support they will get from Google in the future. Even before this announcement, Motorola already had gotten preferential treatment, receiving first access to Honeycomb on the tablet side. While it’s unlikely that the other licensees will abandon Android, they could shift their priorities and focus more R&D toward Windows Phone from Microsoft.”
Motorola ranked sixth in the global smartphone business in the second quarter. The company held a 4 percent share of global unit shipments. Company shipments amounted to 4.4 million, up 7.3 percent from 4.1 million in the first quarter, as shown in the table below.
Since hitting bottom in the first quarter of 2009, Motorola has been experiencing nearly uninterrupted quarterly growth in smartphone shipments. Quarterly company shipments have expanded sequentially for the past nine consecutive quarters, with the exception of the first quarter of 2011, as shown in the figure below.
Motorola once was the world’s No. 2 cellphone maker. As recently as the first quarter of 2007, Motorola was the world’s second-largest cellphone shipper after Nokia on the strength of its stylish RAZR product line. However, because of its difficulties in offering compelling new models following the success of the RAZR, Motorola’s share of global cellphone shipments went into decline. Following a precipitous and sustained drop in shipments and market share, the company made a strategic decision to shift its focus away from low-margin, mass-market cellphones and toward higher-profit smartphones based on the Android operating system, like the Droid and Backflip.
Motorola Inc.’s XOOM media tablet introduced early this year represented the first legitimate match for Apple Inc.’s iPad 3G, in terms of features and pricing. The IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis service’s dissection of the device determined the Motorola XOOM carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $359.92, based on pricing in March 2011, compared to approximately $320 for a 3G iPad with 32GB of NAND flash memory, based on pricing from April 2010.
Learn More > Low-End Smartphones Boost Market Growth
Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? [The Register, Aug 15, 2011]
Larry Page’s Moto bluff fails to convince
Analysis It’s all about patents, says Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page. Google insists that it bought Motorola to shore up its Android platform, which is caught in a litigious pincer movement from old buddies Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison. Microsoft is merely egging them on the sidelines as the manbags fly, shouting: “Fight!”
But analysts I’ve spoken to are already wondering how much due diligence Google performed before the announcement, or whether the Motorola acquisition will turn out to rival Terra’s legendary, rushed purchase of EMI. Here’s why.
Android is a copycat platform. The APIs copy Java, and the UI copies Apple’s iPhone. Oracle believes Google has violated Java IP, which it acquired with Sun Microsystems. Google says the language, and a third of Android’s API’s are “derivative” of Java. On the other warpath, Apple has launched three dozen lawsuits relating to usability and UI. Apple is hurling these lawsuits at Android licensees, rather than at Google itself. Google has refused to indemnify its partners, causing much nervousness.
But Motorola’s IP war chest does not help Google here. It is poor where it needs to be rich. It is no help at all in the Oracle battle, which (alas) as many people have forgotten today, is largely about copyrights not patents. The Motorola patent war chest could only help Google against Apple by opening up a new front, with retaliatory litigation which threatens every rival handset manufacturer. But have a look where Motorola patents’ strengths are: radio engineering and design. The most vital radio patents are already covered by existing patent pools.
Bear in mind, too, that Nokia has a patent portfolio that is as strong as – or stronger than – Motorola’s. Nokia executives believed it was so strong it would derail the Cupertino upstart. But when Nokia and Apple settled last month, Nokia barely came out ahead, with a one-off payment of €430m.
These radio and design patents of legacy manufacturers such as Motorola or Nokia really aren’t worth quite as much as their owners think they are.
Google has paid $12.5bn for a negotiating chip that appears to be almost impossible to redeem. In this light, the acquisition looks like panic, rather than a calm and carefully deliberated strategy. Google didn’t take IP seriously, bidding silly numbers (such as pi billion dollars [1]) for the Nortel patents. Then it realised it might be in trouble, and so went out and bought some IBM patents. Now it has splurged $12.5bn, truly believing the IP is going to be useful.
…
Hats off again to Motorola’s leadership, though. The company has been trying to sell its phone division for over three-and-a-half years [3] – and nobody wanted to know. “Who would buy a
loss-making mobile maker?” we asked in 2008.Moto merely had to whisper to Google: “We can solve your patent woes,” and its shareholders were rewarded beyond their wildest hopes. Google’s offer price has a huge premium over the market’s valuation of what Motorola is worth.
With the right timing and the right sales seduction, it is amazing what the right mug punter can be prepared to pay.
End of Updates
Regarding the Apple vs. Android situation in the tablet space see:
– Acer & Asus: Compensating lower PC sales by tablet PC push [March 29, 2011 with comprehensive update on Aug 2, 2011] which is showing Apple’s dominant position as well as serious technical and market problems with the original version of Honeycomb up to now
– Update: Apple hikes 2H11 iPhone orders to over 56 million units [Aug 15, 2011]
Apple has upward adjusted the total order volume for iPhones,
consisting of iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4 CDMA and iPhone 5, for the second half of 2011 by 12-13%, from 50 million units originally estimated at the end of the second quarter of 2011 to more than 56 million units. iPhone 5 will account for 25.5-26 million units, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.iPhone 5 orders for the third quarter of 2011 have been lowered from seven million units to 5.5-6 million units, while fourth-quarter orders have been raised from 14 million units to more than 20 million units, the sources pointed out. Total orders for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4 CDMA for the third quarter exceed 20 million units, and fourth-quarter orders have been
reduced to eight million units, the sources indicated.Total shipments iPhones in 2011 will reach 95 million units, the sources noted. While Taiwan-based supply chain makers will benefit from increased component orders, they are expected to see pressure for price cuts from Apple, especially touch panel makers which account for the largest proportion of total production costs, the sources said.
What about Windows Phone 7 chances to compete with that?
The chances are suddenly becoming quite good as:
1. The Next Release of Windows Phone, codenamed Mango, is coming
Designed to be the best Windows Phone yet. Check out how the next Windows Phone release, codenamed Mango, will deliver smarter and easier mobile apps, web, and communication. Coming Fall 2011 to a Windows Phone mobile smartphone near you. Tons of new features and everything you love about Windows Phone 7.
More: Meet the next release of Windows Phone: Smarter and easier communications, apps, and web
Update: Mango phones to compete with new iPhone in September [July 29, 2011]
Branded handset vendors including HTC, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics all plan to launch Microsoft’s Mango-based smartphones in September, competing neck and neck with the forthcoming iPhone which is also slated for the same month, according to industry sources.
Other vendors to unveil Mango phones at the recently concluded Microsoft’s 2011 WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference) included Acer, ZTE and Fujitsu Toshiba, the sources indicated.
In cooperation with Fujitsu Toshiba, Japan-based mobile carrier KDDI has unveiled its first Mango phone, the IS12T, which features a Qualcomm MSM 8655 processor, 3.7-inch touch screen and 13.2-megapixel camera.
HTC is expected to roll out a number of Mango phones, powered by Qualcomm 1.5GHz single-core CPUs with display sizes ranging from 3.8- to 4.7-inch, the sources noted.
Nokia is expected to unveil its first batch of Mango phones at Nokia World 2011 to be held in October, at a time when fellow vendors have already heated up the market for Mango phones, which will probably be a good strategy for the handset vendor, commented the sources.
But the very latest legal problems with Android could become an even more decisive factor:
2. Android legal losses reportedly prompt exodus to Windows Phone and MeeGo [July 19, 2011]:
HTC’s recent legal loss in the ITC Apple patent case, along with Microsoft’s aggressive patent push amid Android OEMs, has reportedly left manufacturers increasingly wary of Google’s open-source OS. According to the 21st Century Business Herald, growing Chinese brands like ZTE and Huawei are looking to adopt Windows Phone Mango either as a placatory measure toward Microsoft or the first step in a transition from over-reliance on Android. However, the platform spat could also have an unlikely beneficiary: MeeGo.
Chinese analysts have pointed to the relatively closeness of MeeGo’s system kernel and that of Android, suggesting that both hardware and apps could be reasonably straightforward to migrate. MeeGo’s under-the-radar legal situation, and backer Intel’s extreme willingness to find new partners – now that Nokia has all but abandoned MeeGo in favor of Windows Phone – could make the platform a safer bet for spooked Android OEMs. Interestingly, rumors have already surfaced earlier in the year regarding the possibility of a ZTE handset powered by Intel processors.
However, just as Nokia has left the N9 to helm its fledgling MeeGo effort, more manufacturers are expected to look to Windows Phone. Although Microsoft charges a roughly $15-per-device licensing fee for Windows Phone 7, versus Google’s free distribution of Android, there are suggestions that should Apple, Oracle and others win their patent cases then $15-20 royalty fees may become commonplace for Android phones and tablets. HTC is already believed to pay Microsoft roughly $5 per Android device in licensing, while Samsung is supposedly being chased for up to $15 per Android device.
Of course, whether Apple would agree to licensing its technologies remains a sleeping-dragon issue. HTC has already announced that it has “alternate solutions” to the systems Apple alleges are infringed, perhaps in unspoken admission of the fact that the Cupertino company is likely more interested in squashing and hamstringing its rivals than it is in clawing license fees from them. Forcing Google back to the drawing board to identify and replace elements of Android found to overstep into iOS IP would certainly sap some of the platform’s current momentum.
DETAILED INFORMATION
Some key Microsoft sites to watch:
- App Hub down July 18 for service upgrades
- Windows Phone Blog
- Windows Phone Developer Blog
- Windows Phone Newsroom
- Windows Phone Marketplace [Windows Marketplace for Mobile]
- Zune Marketplace
- Xbox LIVE
- Windows Phone Videos Channel on YouTube
- Meet the next release of Windows Phone: Smarter and easier communications, apps, and web [“See what’s coming this fall” campaign site]
Joe Belfiore shows off Windows Phone Mango [May 23, 2011]
- A Web experience that goes beyond the browser [00:40 or separate excerpt]
Windows Phone Mango has the power of Internet Explorer 9 built-in and the ability to localize the Web based on where you are. Corporate VP of Windows Phone, Joe Belfiore, demonstrates how Windows Phone Mango takes mobile internet to the next level.
Bing serves you better than a hotel concierge. Use Local Scout to find cool restaurants, sights, and shops—then buy tickets or make reservations on the spot.
- A smarter approach to apps [04:45 or separate excerpt]
Smart app integration is built into Windows Phone Mango, so mobile apps show up when and where you need them. Corporate VP of Windows Phone, Joe Belfiore, demonstrates how to get the most from your mobile apps on Windows Phone Mango.
Thousands of apps and counting. Rather listen to music? Create playlists, download podcasts, or track down that tune you can’t place with Music search. Live Tiles are more dynamic and informative in the next release of Windows Phone, codenamed Mango.
- Easier to connect and share [07:10 or separate excerpt]
Windows Phone Mango communications features are organized around the person or group you want to interact with, not the app you have to use. Corporate VP of Windows Phone, Joe Belfiore, shows how access to mobile Facebook and Twitter has never been easier with Windows Phone Mango.
Texting, Facebook chat, and Windows Live Messenger—now in one seamless experience. Create Groups to send your messages, videos, and pics to friends or family at warp speed. Groups and Threads coming to Windows Phone this fall, make it easier to stay connected with friends and family.
Remarks by Larry Page on the quarterly earning calls [July 14, 2011, see also Larry Page to boost Google even more as becoming CEO again [April 2, 2011]]
We have tremendous new businesses being viewed as “crazy”
Android
We actually have a new metric to report of 550,000 Android Devices activated a day!
That’s a HUGE number even by Google’s standardsChrome
It’s the fastest growing browser
With over 160 million usersPeople rightly ask how we will monetize these businesses?
And of course I understand the need to balance the short term with the longer term needs because our revenues and growth serve as the engine that funds our innovation
But our emerging high usage products can generate huge new businesses for Google in the long run, just like search And we have tons of experience monetizing successful products over time
Well run technology businesses with tremendous consumer usage make a lot of money over the long term
I think about our products in three separate categories
First, there is search and our ads products, the core driver of revenue for the company. Nikesh and Susan are going to talk more about ads later in the call
Next, we have products that are enjoying high consumer success–YouTube, Android and Chrome. We are investing in these in order to optimize their long-term success
Then we have our new products–Google+ and Commerce and Local. We are are investing in them to drive innovation and adoption
Overall, we are focused on long term absolute profit and growth, as we have always been–and I will continue the tight financial management we have had in the last two years, even as we are making significant investments in our future
Exclusive: AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega on Which Smartphones Are Winning [June 4, 2011 — Excerpt 1 ]
AllThingsD: You guys have always offered the broadest range of smartphones. What are the trends?
De la Vega: They definitely are buying a lot less feature phones than they used to. We’ve seen a dramatic shift from feature phones and quick messaging devices, which were texting devices only, into smartphones. We love that.
Android is becoming more popular. Our Android business is doing very, very well. I think what’s happening is people have latched on to smartphones. I think over time there will be fewer and fewer feature phones.
There are a million Android devices. Do you want to see more customization? I know at Mobile World Congress you said that you would carry the HTC device that is very Facebook-centric. Do you want to see more devices like that, that are a little more specialized?
De la Vega: I think you are going to see more people put a different UI on top of Android, like HTC has very successfully done. I love what they have done with their UI. It’s very simple, but it is still Android. I hope others will step up to the plate and Android itself will get better.
…
What have been the positive surprises? We talked about how BlackBerry has had a rough time and with Windows Phone, even though you like the product, the volume hasn’t been maybe what you hoped for.
De la Vega: iPhone and Android. I’ve been very pleased with HTC. HTC has come out with the HTC Inspire and it is selling extremely well in our stores. I think HTC has done a great job with the user interface. You go in and it is distinctive and I think other players are going to have to step up to that. So, Android and Apple are really the hot products right now.
Microsoft’s Android Plan: Evil Genius Or Just Evil? [July 13, 2011]
Buried in all the intrigue surrounding the Nortel patent auction was an interesting tidbit: Microsoft did not have to bid on the patents, but they did anyway. Why? As far as I can tell, it’s one of two reasons. One is evil. The other is evil genius. Either Microsoft really wants to kill Android. Or, if Android continues to thrive, Microsoft wants to be the ones that make billions of dollars off of its success.
…
… they’d prefer that Android (which killed Windows Mobile) would die and Windows Phone would take it’s place. But the next best option is to catch a free ride on the Android train. Patent licensing deals already in place with HTC, General Dynamics, and others could mean revenues of over $1 billion by next year, as Forbes reports. And if they’re able to convince Samsung to sign one as well (which could effectively force every Android partner to sign one), we could be talking multiple billions of dollars of revenue each year.
…
Microsoft’s intent here is pure evil genius. “It’s not like Android’s free. Android has a patent fee. You do have to license patents,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said last year. What he didn’t explicitly say is that you’d have to pay Microsoftand not Google for those patents. Think about this for a second: it’s entirely possible that Microsoft is going to end up making more money — perhaps significantly more — from Android than Google will. A year ago, such a statement would have seemed like a joke. But now it’s becoming reality. And it must be the ultimate nightmare for Google.
By being a part of the winning team, and not allowing Google to get Nortel’s patents, Microsoft put themselves in a win-win situation. If their continued threats to Google’s Android partners force those partners to reconsider their Android commitments, well there’s Windows Phone waiting with opened arms. If the threats lead to licensing agreements and the continued rise of Android, well there’s a huge pile of money from each participating OEM.
So no, Microsoft did not have to bid on the Nortel patents. But doing so may prove to be one of the best moves Microsoft has never made. And strangely enough, they have Apple to thank. Of course, they’re likely playing their own little game in this situation. Keep your enemies closer. Or keep them fighting.
Behind Microsoft’s $15 Samsung Android royalty claim [July 6, 2011]
…
Samsung is reported to be trying to lower the payment to $10.
The source for this report is the South Korean Maeil Business Newspaper, which quoted unnamed industry officials.
The Samsung story follows a week in which Microsoft named three OEMs as having agreed to license its patents for devices they make and sell running Android.
A fourth manufacturer was named on Tuesday this week, only this time Google’s Chromewas added to the Android mix. Microsoft said it had signed a deal with Wistron on tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer devices that use Chrome in addition to Android.
…
Microsoft is giving manufacturers two choices: pay up over the long term or incur years of high legal fees. You decide which your board or your investors like best.
That’s a tough choice given patent and IP cases can drag on for years and can cost billions of dollars. It’s a hard course of action to take when, given the fashion-driven nature of consumer devices, the product you’re battling over stops selling or gets canned. It’s an even tougher decision to fight cash-rich Microsoft alone while the maker of the thing you’re fighting over, Android, doesn’t want to step in to back you up.
…
Microsoft is putting other Android OEMs on notice that it’s coming after them for some easy patent money. That’s the first “win”.
The second? Microsoft will be hoping it can influence the courts in the Barnes & Nobel and Motorola cases – and in any future cases – by saying: if you don’t believe us on Android violating our patents, just look at all those who accepted we were right and agreed to pay up.
Nortel Announces the Winning Bidder of its Patent Portfolio for a Purchase Price of US$4.5 Billion [June 30, 2011]
Nortel Networks Corporation [OTC: NRTLQ] announced that it, its subsidiary Nortel Networks Limited (NNL), and certain of its other subsidiaries, including Nortel Networks Inc. and Nortel Networks UK Limited (in administration), have concluded a successful auction of all of Nortel’s remaining patents and patent applications. After a multi-day auction, a consortium emerged as the winning bidder with a cash purchase price of US$4.5 billion. The consortium consists of Apple, EMC, Ericsson [USD 340 million], Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony.
The sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents. The extensive patent portfolio touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets as well, including Internet search and social networking.
“Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio”, said George Riedel, Chief Strategy Officer and President of Business Units, Nortel. “The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world.”
The sale is subject to applicable Canadian and U.S. Court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11, 2011. Nortel will work diligently with the consortium to close the sale in the third quarter of 2011.
As previously announced, Nortel does not expect that the Company’s common shareholders or the NNL preferred shareholders will receive any value from Nortel’s creditor protection proceedings and expects that the proceedings will result in the cancellation of these equity interests.
On the very latest legal problems with Android:
ITC says HTC violating two of Apple’s patents [July 15, 2011]
The ITC administrative law judge’s initial determination was that HTC infringed on two of the 10 patents Apple had filed a complaint over in March 2010, according to an HTC statement. The ITC still needs to make a final ruling on the complaint. A loss carries the threat that HTC’s products would be banned from coming into the U.S., and Apple only needs to get a favorable decision on one of the patents.
…
The latest development is also a major blow to HTC, which has made strides in building market share and a brand with its line of Android-powered smartphones, many of which feature the company’s own Sense user interface. HTC was the first Android supporter that Apple went after, signalling the growing threat of Google’s software to iOS and the iPhone franchise.
On Monday, Apple had filed a second complaint with the ITC, claiming that five additional patents were being illegally used, including one used for scrolling operations, another for programmable tactile touch-screen displays, and one for a double-sided touch-sensitive panel, all of which are used in another complaint against Samsung.
The other relates to the ability to scroll, zoom, and rotate content on a screen, while the last references “portable computers.”
The five additional patents weren’t a part of this ruling.
…
HTC is considered the most vulnerable legally of the Android partners because it lacks a robust portfolio of patents that act as a potential shield. Earlier this month, HTC purchased S3 Graphics, largely because of a collection of patents that the ITC administrative law judge recently determined were used illegally by Apple.
Apple, meanwhile, is still in the middle of a similar patent fight against Samsung Electronics.
Apple Notches Patent Win Against HTC [July 18, 2011]
Apple Inc. netted a victory in its legal dispute with HTC Corp., as a U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled the Taiwanese cellphone maker infringed two patents that Apple had cited in a March 2010 complaint to the agency.
The patents relate to multimedia processing technology and data detection technology that lets users dial a phone number that appears in their email. Apple originally alleged that ten of its patents were used in smartphones from HTC, which uses Google Inc.’s Android mobile operating system. The ITC ruling Friday only applied to four patents.
Apple, which helped reshape the mobile phone market with its hit iPhone, has been grappling with the rise of competing smartphones that run Android.
The ruling comes as a blow to HTC, and could have implications for other Android phones that offer similar functionality. Apple has squared off in other patent cases against smartphone makers such as Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for HTC said it plans to appeal the decision. “We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible,” she said, adding that “this is only one step of many in these legal proceedings.”
A spokesman for Apple reiterated its previous statement that “competitors should create their own original technology and not steal ours.”
Taiwan’s HTC rejects fresh Apple patent claim [July 11, 2011]
Taiwan’s leading smartphone maker HTC on Tuesday dismissed fresh patent infringement claims by US giant Apple as the legal battle between the rivals escalated.
Apple Monday filed a complaint against HTC with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) — which is already reviewing three other disputes between the two — over five cases linked to technology used in the iPad and iPhone.
It has also lodged a suit in a US District Court in Delaware.
“HTC is disappointed at Apple’s constant attempts at litigations instead of competing fairly in the market,” said HTC general counsel Grace Lei in a statement.
“HTC strongly denies all infringement claims raised by Apple in the past and present and reiterates our determination and commitment to protect our intellectual property rights,” she said.
Shares in HTC closed limit-down seven percent at Tw$915.0 ($31.5) in the Taipei bourse.
“Sentiment was hit by Apple’s fresh legal action as well as heavy losses in the international and regional markets,” said Alex Huang, an analyst at Mega International Investment Services.
HTC touts its own brand of smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including the Nexus One unveiled by Apple rival Google.
Apple in March 2010 called on the ITC to investigate the Taiwan company over iPhone patents. That was followed months later by HTC filing for a probe into possible software patent abuse by the California-based firm.
Patent lawsuits are a regular occurrence among technology giants and Apple is currently being sued by Nokia for patent infringement. Apple has fired back a countersuit against the Finnish mobile phone giant.
And last week Apple hit back at an infringement claim by Samsung by calling for the South Korean company to be investigated.
— Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story —
ITC judgment of HTC infringement of Apple patents arouses concern in China handset industry [AFP from Taipei, July 19, 2011]
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has made an initial ruling that Taiwan-based smartphone vendor HTC has infringed two of Apple’s 10 patents related to iPhone, and this has caused concern among China-based vendors and white-box vendors of smartphones mainly because almost all of these smartphones are based on free and open-source Android, according to China-based 21st Century Business Herald.
Some of these vendors worry about the risk of becoming embroiled in patent infringement due to adoption of Android, and have drawn up three strategies to cope with potential impact. The three strategies are enhancement of support to Microsoft Mango operating system, promotion of smartphone customization by mobile telecom carriers for protection through binding common interest (especially carriers partnering with Apple and Microsoft), self-development of own operating systems, the source pointed out. China-based smartphone vendors Huawei Device and ZTE have planned to adopt Mango, the source indicated.
However, other vendors hold the opinion that China-based vendors are not so competitive and important in the global smartphone market as to become targets of Apple’s or Microsoft’s patent infringement lawsuits, the source indicated. They also think the ITC ruling will push up cost of adopting Android and this will benefit white-box vendors because it is impossible for them to pay royalty fees to Apple or Microsoft, the source noted.
Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 Information:
Steve Ballmer: Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 [speech transcript, July 11, 2011]
… Phones, we’ve gone from very small to very small, but it’s been a heck of a year. (Laughter.) And you’re going to see a lot of progress in that market competitively as we move forward.
…
… A year ago, Microsoft had no Windows Phone. In the last year, we’ve sold millions of phones. When we survey our users, nine out of ten of the people who bought a Windows Phone absolutely would recommend it to a friend. It’s certainly a very busy, active, competitive market. We’ve got a lot of work to do to break through. And yet, the people in the phone business believe us. We’ve already had over 20,000 applications built for Windows Phone in eight months. That’s a faster ramp than either Android or iPhone had. Nokia, who had a choice this year to bet on themselves, to bet on Android, or to bet on Windows Phone said for their bet the company strategy, they’re going with Windows Phone. They saw our roadmaps. They saw what we’ve done. They saw what we’re planning on doing. They’re pushing us. They’re pushing us to go broader geographically with Windows Phone. They’re pushing us to hit new price points with Windows Phone. But, they believe.
Others believe, too. Gartner and IDC both did predictions this year that said Windows Phone would be the No. 2 phone in the market by 2015. We’ve already shipped two major updates since we launched Windows Phone less than a year ago. The update that we just made available, “Mango,” which will be on phones this fall, has over 500, 500 new features. We know we’ve got a lot to do, but like the cloud, like NT many years back, we’re all in when it comes to mobile devices. And whether it’s phones or slates, or PCs, or console devices, we’re certainly pushing extremely far, and extremely fast.
Windows Phone 7 ‘Mango’ video demo YouTube [July 13, 2011]
The 3 main things about ‘Mango’:
- Connecting and sharing more easily with people
- Making apps smarter
- Taking the web beyond just the browser
Andrew Lees: Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 [speech transcript, July 12, 2011]
… there are some key trends that are fundamentally changing the world of devices. Now, they’re going to have a huge impact in the technology that we provide, and the solutions that you build. And it starts right at the core of the devices themselves, the core technologies.
… we’re at an inflection point in Moore’s Law, where you can put all of the key things required to run a computer into a single chip, a system-on-a-chip. That means that you can have full PC compute power available in whichever form factor that you like. And that’s part of the reason why we’re seeing all of these different form factors.
… Another advantage of moving everything onto a single chip is that the price comes down dramatically. And, in fact, if you look even at the price of smartphones, a year ago all smartphones cost over $400 when they left their hardware manufacturer. Today, they’re down to about $200, and next year, a smartphone that can run something like Windows Phone 7 will actually be down to $100 to $150. So, you’re seeing a dramatic price reduction. …
…
… a lot of people have asked me, are we going to produce a phone that is a tablet? You know, are we going to use Windows Phone 7 to produce tablets? Well, that is in conflict with this strategy. We view a tablet as a sort of PC. We want people to be able to do the sorts of things that they expect on a PC on a tablet, things like networking to be able to connect to networks, and utilize networking tools, to get USB drives and plot them into the tablet. To be able to do things like printing, all of the things using Office, using all of the things you would expect from a PC and provide a hybrid about how you can do that with the tablet, as well.
And so at the Build Conference in September we will talk about how we can provide the bet of the PC and the tablet. And our strategy is not just limited to that. We are aiming to provide coherence and consistency across the PC, the phone, and the TV, particularly with Xbox. That’s through providing new types of scenarios, things like the way in which we make the user experience more common, as you saw yesterday in the demonstration of the user experience that you have on Windows 8, Windows Phone, and also on Xbox. But, also sharing key pieces of technology.
You see if you looked at the update that we’re providing to Windows Phone this year, we include a new browser. It’s Internet Explorer 9. It’s the same technology that we have on the PC. It’s not similar. It’s the same. So, we can take the advantages that we provide on the PC and immediately leapfrog and provide those across different types of devices.
This is very important to you, because it protects the investments that you have made with ustogether, and your customers have made in key elements of the technology, not only the device, but the infrastructure, the productivity, and the solutions that are used to feed those devices to enable those business and consumer scenarios.
So, for a phone the strategy here is not to provide a business phone, or a consumer phone, but to have them all be the same thing. There’s only one thing. And so there’s a few key things that we’re delivering with our phone strategy:
The first one is that we need to provide what end users desire and what they require. These personal scenarios like music and games, and communications, personal communications, social networking, build them into the phone, but also enabling a line of business solutions, business productivity, getting access to information inside of your company. And we may need to make sure that it works with the existing infrastructure and we provide the same tools for you to provide solutions to customers.
… what is “Mango” all about? Well, it’s about three main things. The first thing is communication, the second thing is about applications, and the third thing is the Internet.
You see, the phone has always been a communications device, but people today are communicating in lots of different ways. Communications, email, instant messaging, sharing pictures and laugh-out-louds, and social networking; even checking in is a type of communication. Rather than doing all of that in individual applications we build those core capabilities into the phone. It is the easiest and simplest way to communicate across a variety of different services, and to go from phone to phone, phone to PC, or phone to Xbox.
The second area is applications. The problem with applications is they all run in silos. So, with “Mango” we let applications break out of their box. It means that information from the application is available throughout the phone, and also, the application participates in the total experience.
Then finally with the Internet, the challenge here has always been to provide a desktop-type experience on the phone. And we deliver that by including things like Internet Explorer 9, in with “Mango.” But, we go one step further, and we say imagine if you could take the power of the Internet and deliver that beyond the browser, in a way that enables you scrape the Web so that you can quickly find answers and get things done, find information to be more productive. …
… IDC recently did a study; first of all, they’re predicting that Windows Phone will be the number two smartphone in 2014. More about that in just a second. But what they’ve also done is looked at the revenue attach opportunities that there are for partners when they go through to provide infrastructure that feeds the phone, through things like management, security, and enabling these types of scenarios. The second thing is productivity through delivering things like Office 365, Office itself, et cetera, to make employees more productive, SharePoint, and then solutions, line-of-business solutions, that you develop. And the opportunity here is just mind-blowing. …
So, the message here is make sure that the phone is a key element of your strategy for how you’re providing productivity, infrastructure, and solutions for your customers.
The second area is with operators. And here what we want to do is provide the largest geo-footprint that we can. We’re going to more than double the size of the market that we have in “Mango.” We significantly increased the number of countries, and we will lower the price of the phones by half, increasing the total addressable market very, very dramatically.
And, of course, we’re doing that in partnership with the handset makers. There will be a whole new range of phones that are available this fall around “Mango” at different price points, with different features, particularly from the partners that we have already been working with, Samsung, HTC, and LG. But I’m also very excited about the partnership that we announced in February with Nokia, and this is where they’re going to move to exclusively rely on Windows Phone as their platform.
Microsoft Reveals New Windows Phone 7 Mango Handsets From Samsung, Acer, And More.flv [July 12, 2011]
Steve Guggenheimer: Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 [July 12, 2011]
[see the above video excerpt]
Andy talked about Acer, Fujitsu, and ZTE as new phone providers. I’m happy for the first time ever to have one of each of the phones up here and running. All of these are running live “Mango” builds. Acer brings one of the large OEM brands into the phone space on Windows 7. I think this Fujitsu brings a little bit of lightheartedness and life along with a waterproof design. Great capability in terms of the camera. And the ZTE brings one of the largest manufacturers in the phone space into the Windows Phone 7 world. So, as we see the technology move forward in Derek’s great demo, we’re going to have devices that take advantage of it.Last, but not least, I’m very happy to show, this is the first time, this is the new Samsung that’s coming. It’s very thin, and light, and that’s the theme you’re going to see as the processors get thinner and better battery life, as the screens get better, we’re going to see phenomenal screen resolutions, great battery life, lightweight devices across the phone.
Fujitsu to launch first Windows Phone Mango handset in… August? [July 16, 2011]
Say it ain’t so — not only is a phone not delayed, it’s actually planning to come out earlier than its quoted launch window? This particular miracle is the exception much more than the rule, but Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone OS (nicknamed “Mango,”) might come out prior to the anticipated fall release. According to Nikkei, Fujitsu will offer the very first Mango device, a waterproof phone called the IS12T, on KDDI “as early as late next month.” The phone is to be sold for 30,000 – 40,000 yen ($378 – 505), a reasonable amount of coin for what will likely be a higher-end device. And — if it’s the same handset showcased at this week’s Worldwide Partner Conference — a pink version will be on sale. So, what’s more enticing: a Hello Kitty-flavored Windows Phone, or a Samsung Galaxy S II lookalike running Mango? It’s a tough call.
Microsoft slips Windows Phone Mango ready by September
Microsoft spoils WP7 Mango launch timing
Microsoft’s Imagine Cup account on Twitter inadvertently gave away timing for the first Windows Phone 7 Mango devices through a Twitter post(since deleted). The company promised that the finalists in the student competition would all get “Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.” Every winning student would get a phone with the new OS “by September.”
The statement doesn’t directly equate to a full, public launch of Mango in September, but it does hint that the OS will at least be ready by the same time. Microsoft is holding its Build developer event the same month and will probably want a complete OS, if not production hardware, to show.
Outside of the new misstep, Microsoft has only ever committed to fall for the new WP7 update. Its timing may depend on new hardware. This year, the hardware partners are expanding significantly and include very regional companies like Fujitsu and ZTE along with returning veterans like HTC, LG, and Samsung. [via Mobility Digest]
Microsoft President Announces New Partner Benefits and Underscores Opportunity With Windows Phone ‘Mango’ [feature story, July 12, 2011]
During a keynote address at WPC, Lees also emphasized that now is the time for partners to join and benefit from the expanding Windows Phone ecosystem.
Lees highlighted a number of new featurescoming to the next version of Windows Phone, code-named “Mango,” that build upon the unique design of Windows Phone and deliver integrated experiences with the company’s massive business user base of more than 750 million Microsoft Office users, 150 million Exchange users and 100 million licensed SharePoint users.
As the only phone to offer Microsoft Office Mobile and Outlook Mobile built-in, the next version of Windows Phone, available later this year, will enable greater productivity by allowing businesses to extend their IT infrastructure and utilize Microsoft cloud-based services such as Office 365while increasing opportunities for partners around the globe, Lees said.
…
At WPC, Lees unveiled a range of new benefits and opportunities for members of the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN).
Lees announced an exclusive discount program that makes it easier for MPN members worldwide to obtain and experience Windows Phone. The new discount program, which begins immediately, is available to all MPN memberswith at least one Microsoft competency.
Lees also unveiled a new MPN app for all Mobility Competency partners that enables them to easily access exclusive technical and sales contentfor Windows Phone while on the go.
“When people try Windows Phone, they love it,” Lees says. “But it’s more than selling phones. Our goal is to equip partners with what they need to be successful, giving them the guidance and tools they need to bring compelling experiences to their customers.”
As a specific benefit to Mobility Competency partners, Lees announced a special MPN logo, available today, that partners may use to distinguish their apps from others in the Windows Phone Marketplace and App Hub.
Lees also announced that the next round of MPN updates in the fall will include a new way for partners that build mobile apps to attain the Mobility Competency certification by developing an app that meets specific business criteria.
For another view of the partner news shared about Windows Phone during WPC 2011, view the Windows Phone Mobility Partners video of Microsoft Partners discussing the opportunities for building Windows Phone applications and solutions.
Mango Provides Sweet Opportunities for Windows Phone Partners [July 12, 2011]
[Author: Paul Bryan – Sr. Director, Product Management, Business Experience on the Windows Phone team.]
I’m at Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Los Angeles today, which this year is hosting almost 15,000 Microsoft Partners from around the world. Today, Windows Phone Division President Andy Lees addressed attendees on the opportunities for partners with Windows Phone. It’s an exciting time for the Windows Phone business and we’re thrilled to see the great things people are saying about our next major update – code-named Mango. Take the great new product capabilities coming in Mango, combined with new partner benefits just announced and there’s never been a better time to join the rapidly growing Windows Phone ecosystem.
Expanding Windows Phone Partner Ecosystem
We launched Windows Phone 7 last fall with the help of our partners and have seen the ecosystem momentum build rapidly ever since. We’ve received great customer feedback about their experiences across the range of devices being offered by our hardware and mobile operator partners. More than 42,000 developers worldwide have registered with the Windows Phones Marketplace. To date, these developers have added more than 22,000 apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace, greatly expanding the range of experiences for Windows Phone customers. From hot consumer apps like Angry Birds, ESPN Scorecenter and Netflix, to business-focused apps like CWR Mobile CRM 2011, and PushBI, the Marketplace is growing stronger each day with the help of our partners.
Additionally, with our agreement with Nokia finalized, work is well underway to deliver Nokia phones on the Windows Phone platform before the end of the year.
Sweet, Sweet Mango
There’s a lot of buzz around our upcoming Mango update, which will add hundreds of new features and capabilities that build upon the unique design and integrated experiences of Windows Phone. If you’re a partner building solutions with Exchange and SharePoint, Mango adds a number of new Outlook and Office Mobile productivity features bringing even more value to your solutions on Windows Phone. Mango will also add built-in support for Office 365 and a free Lync Mobile app, making communication and collaboration a snap for companies whose infrastructure is on premises or in the cloud. Mango will also offer added functionality for organizations to make the most efficient use of resources, allowing IT departments to use existing infrastructure to manage phones or distribute their own applications using Targeted App Distribution in Marketplace.
For developers, Mango adds a range of new capabilities for delivering richer more compelling apps. In addition to support for SQL Linq, sockets, and background processing, Mango brings new ways for app developers to make the user experience more engaging and seamless through Live Tiles and integration with Bing search services.
Not only do these new features in Mango extend the premier productivity smartphone experience, but they’ll help partners to grow their business. In fact, a new study by IDC study suggests that by 2012 Windows Phone has the potential to generate annual attached software and service revenue of nearly $300 per Windows Phone device for partners. In other words, Windows Phone for the long-term is a huge opportunity for partners to attract new customers and grow their business.
For app and solution developers, a familiar platform and enhanced development tools in Mango will enable partners to create and distribute new solutions and applications. Partners will continue to leverage familiar tools such as Silverlight, the XNA Framework, Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend, to bring new apps to market quickly. Some good examples of this are Yellowbook and REALTOR.com. Additionally, Yammer announced today they will be bringing their enterprise social networking app to the Windows Phone Marketplace later this year.
We also recently released the Windows Phone Mango Beta 2 Developer Tools so developers could try out the new capabilities and get a jump on building and testing new apps for Mango.
Revamped Mobility Competency and Added Discounts for Microsoft Partners
As part of WPC, we are happy to announce several new benefits designed to help partners experience Windows Phone and promote their Windows Phone expertise to customers.
First, we’re making it even easier for partners to obtain and experience Windows Phones with a new Windows Phone Discount Program. Partners with at least one Microsoft Competency can take advantage of exclusive discounts from mobile operators and hardware vendors for all of their employees worldwide.
We’re also making it easier for partners to stay informed through a new MPN app for Windows Phone, which provides access to exclusive technical and sales content.
In addition, we’re revamping the Mobility Competency certification. Partners can earn the Microsoft Mobility Competency for their organizations through newly revised Windows Phone training. And for the first time, beginning with the next round of MPN updates this fall, partners will be able to obtain the Microsoft Mobility Competency certification for their company by developing an app that meets specific criteria as a business application. Through the Mobility Competency, partners can become and stay proficient in Windows Phone app development and solution deployment. They will also be able to utilize a special MPN logo, available immediately, to distinguish their apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace and App Hub.
Exciting times indeed! With new partners, new products, new platform capabilities, new partner benefits and more great apps and solutions being delivered every day, it is a great time to be part of the Windows Phone ecosystem and take advantage of the tremendous opportunity ahead.
For information about the opportunities with Windows Phone Mango or the Marketplace, visit our Partner site. To view sessions from Worldwide Partner Conference, visit here. For more information, we encourage you to check out this feature on Microsoft News Center.
To learn more about the Windows Phone partner news shared today, we encourage you to check out this video that features Microsoft Partners discussing the opportunities for building applications and solutions for Windows Phone.
The Weekly Wrap: Marketplace tops 25,000, Windows Phone goes Hollywood, Garmin’s new app [Windows Phone Blog, July 8, 2011]
Marketplace tops 25,000 While estimates differ, unofficial Marketplace counters now peg our app inventory at somewhere north of 25,000, as multiple bloggers noted last week. Regardless of whose numbers you trust, the bottom line is that Marketplace is going gangbusters. But buzz about the overall app count overshadowed what I think was the week’s most exciting news: the boatload of brand-name apps that poured in. WPCentral counts at least 52 marquee titles in the last two weeks. Liveside.net, meanwhile, compiled its own handy list (complete with download links) of standouts. Check it out
Devices’ information:
WP7 Mango: HTC Eternity Windows Phone 7 Specs and Release Date [Jul 13, 2011]
The images leaked online provides glimpses of new HTC Windows Phone 7, currently being called ‘Eternity’. HTC Eternity will land as one of the first most smart phones running Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Mango (WP7) operating system.
HTC reconfirmed its commitment to Windows Phone 7 based smartphones in a statement at Global Technology Summit in Paris by HTC Head European Nations, Florian Seiche to to Reuters that they will keep developing Windows Phone 7 smart phones like HTC Eternity and HTC Omega, despite of Microsoft Nokia deal:
It will not change our commitment to Microsoft. With a new player entering, it should actually help to elevate the relevance of that platform. We actually feel that we should be able to benefit. The long-term opportunity with Nokia entering will definitely bring Windows back to critical mass.
There were few news leaks back in May 2011, which failed to attract much attention, but this time there are enough details to be given weight. The new HTC Eternity appears to have a big 4.7 inches WVGA Super LCD display screen, bigger than on the Samsung Infuse 4G. So if a large screen is what you wish for, the HTC Eternity might be the phone you want to wait on. Other than that, HTC Eternity seems to have a typical spec sheet for a mid-to-high level device, beside running Windows Phone 7 (WP7 Mango).
HTC Eternity is said to have a single core 1.5GHz processor, 4.7 inch screen with WVGA resolution, 8P autofocus camera with dual-LED 720p video recording capabilities, 1.3 MP front camera and 16GB internal memory. There was also a DLNA, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, 1650mAh battery. Here under is the HTC Eternity Windows Phone 7 complete specs:
WP7 Mango: HTC Eternity Windows Phone 7 Specs Microprocessor Chipset CPU:Clock: 1500 MHz
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255Memory,_Storage+capacity RAM+capacity: 512 MiB
ROM:capacity: 14.9 GiBDisplay Display Type: Super LCD , 16777216 scales Display:Diagonal: 4.7 ”
Display:Resolution: 480 x 800Sound Microphone(s): stereo
Loudspeaker(s): Supported
Audio-Output: 3.5mmCellular Phone Cellular_Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS900, UMTS2100 Cellular-Data-Links: CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+
Call Alert: 64 -chord melody
Vibrating+Alert: Supported
Speakerphone-: SupportedControl+Peripherals Positioning:Device: Multi-touch screen Primary Keyboard: Not supported Directional+Pad: Not supported
Scroll-Wheel: Not supportedInterfaces Expansion:Slots: Not supported USB: USB 2.0 client, 480Mbit/s
micro-USB Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Wireless LAN: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n Infrared:Gate: Not supportedMultimedia+Telecommunication Analog Radio Receiver: FM radio (87.5-108MHz) with RDS Digital+Media-Broadcast_Tuner: Not supported Satellite Navigation Built-in-GPS module: Supported Complementary GPS-Services: Assisted GPS Built-in-Digital-Camera Main-Camera: 8 MP Autofocus-(AF): Supported Optical+Zoom: 1 x Macro_Mode: Supported Built-in Flash: mobile light (LED) Secondary-Camera: 1.3 MP Additional Details Built-in-accelerometer: Supported Battery: removable Battery Capacity: 1650 mAh WP7 Mango: HTC Eternity Windows Phone 7 Release Date
Release Date and Price of the new Windows Mobile 7 based HTC Eternity are yet officially disclosed by the HTC, but reportedly HTC Eternity will be released in fall 2011.
HTC to tap tablet boom with many models [Reuters from Paris, May 17, 2011]
Smartphone maker HTC plans to roll out a range of different tablet computers to gain a foothold in the fast-growing market, a company executive said on Tuesday.
The global market for tablets, started only last year with Apple’s iPad, will likely grow to 108 million devices next year, compared with just 17.6 million in 2010, according to research firm Gartner.
“I really believe that the tablet market is really going to be a big market in the future and this is just the start,” HTC Europe head Florian Seiche told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.
“In five years’ time, schools will have tablets probably instead of physical notebooks. I think that’s going to be such a massive wave of additional penetration in society… I think we can’t even guess the potential.”
Seiche said HTC’s first tablet, the Flyer, had made a good start in terms of sales.
“It’s early days but we feel very good about it,” he said.
NOKIA BOOST
HTC should benefit from Nokia’s deal to start using Microsoft’s software in its smartphones as this will boost Windows’ share of the smartphone market, Seiche said.
“It will not change our commitment to Microsoft,” he said. “With a new player entering, it should actually help to elevate the relevance of that platform … we actually feel that we should be able to benefit.”
Microsoft’s mobile platform has rapidly lost appeal among consumers who have instead picked iPhones, BlackBerrys and phones running on Google’s Android platform, which became market leader in the last quarter. It now controls only around 3 percent of the smartphone market.
“The long-term opportunity with Nokia entering will definitely bring Windows back to critical mass,” Seiche said at the summit at the Reuters office in Paris.
HTC uses Microsoft software, although its growth has mostly come from smartphones using Google’s Android platform.
“Android has had tremendous growth and we believe that this trend is going to continue, definitely,” Seiche said. “Android’s growth … is going to expand further to Asia and the emerging markets.”
Seiche added that he expects HTC to roll out its first mobile phone using near-field communications (NFC) technology for mobile payments within the next 12 months.
NFC is a short-range way to swap data wirelessly, meaning mobile phones can become a way to pay for goods, store e-tickets or swap photos and business cards.
Samsung GT-i8350 with Windows Phone Emerges [July 11, 2011]
South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics is reportedly gearing up for the launch of a new Windows Phone handset, one that would become the direct successor of the company’s Omnia 7 handset.
Samsung was named among the launch partners for Microsoft’s Windows Phone Mango OS, and we knew that the vendor was preparing the release of new devices based on the platform, but no specific info on the handset was available until now.
However, a user agent profile (UAProf) of the Samsung GT-i8350 shows that the company might have this device included among the first series of Mango-powered handsets.
What the said agent string shows is that this mobile phone will arrive on the market with the IE9 browser on board, which leaves little room for speculation when it comes to the operating system it would be based on.
Windows Phone Mango was unveiled previously this year with the new Internet Explorer Mobile 9 on board, and this is the platform the Samsung’s GT-i8350 will land on shelves with.
Moreover, the said UAProf (found by nanapho) unveils that the new device will arrive on the market with a screen capable of boasting a 800 x 480 pixel resolution, and that it would sport Bluetooth 2.1 and HSPA+ connectivity capabilities as well.
As UnwiredView notes in a recent article, the new mobile phone was already added to the handset vendor’s website, though its page does not offer any info at the moment.
Last year, Samsung came to the market with more than just one Windows Phone device, and chances are that it would launch more than one such device this year as well.
This means that Samsung GT-i8350 will soon be accompanied by more new Windows Phone devices on the company’s website, most probably targeted at various segments of the market.
However, it remains to be seen what hardware Samsung would pack inside these mobile phone since nothing was confirmed on it for the time being.
Samsung GT-i8350 may be the WP7 Mango-running successor to the Omnia 7 [July 11, 2011]
Steve Ballmer has said that a new wave of Windows Phones is due out for release before the end of this year, and as we’re approaching that deadline, the leaks are starting to come in. Today we have what is probably going to be one of Samsung’s new WP7 handsets, one to run the Mango update (which will likely be called either WP 7.1 or 7.5) from day one.
Japanese site Nanapho has uncovered a user agent profile (UAProf) of the Samsung GT-i8350, and apparently its Web browser will be IE9. Now, those following Microsoft stuff closely know that Mango is the first version of WP7 to come with what the company is branding IE9, so that can only mean that this new device will run just that.
The GT-i8350 will have an 800×480 resolution screen (which is the standard resolution for WP7), and will come with support for Bluetooth 2.1, and HSPA+.
The i8350 has also received its very own (blank, for now) page in Samsung’s UK support database, pretty much confirming that it’s real. You can see a screengrab of that above.
WMPU speculates that this may be the successor to the Omnia 7, Samsung’s first WP7 device released last year, which has the model number GT-i8700. However, that may not be the case. The i8350 may just be a lower-end device to accompany that successor onto the market. This is also pure speculation, but let’s keep in mind that Samsung likes to increment model numbers for sequels (successor devices). So, for example, the Galaxy S II is GT-i9100 whereas the original Galaxy S was GT-i9000. If Samsung hasn’t just changed that strategy, logically it means that the i8350 should be part of the WP7 lineup, yes, but not a successor to the Omnia 7. Perhaps the Omnia 7 will get a higher-specced successor that will be called i8750, or i8800. That would make sense.
Then again, these are all just (almost) random numbers anyway, so Samsung may have just chosen to do things differently this time. We’ll let you know as soon as we find out for sure.
New images of ZTE’s Mango device destined for China [July 16, 2011]
During WPC11, we saw the first glimpse of ZTE’s entry into the Windows Phone field. Now a few more images have come forth, posted by ZTE’s Dr. Luo Zhongsheng, who evidently is their head of smartphone development.
The phone can be seen sporting some art on the start screen as well as localized Chinese language support. In addition, it looks to have Weibo built in instead of Twitter, which is blocked in China. Weibo is described as “a Chinese microblogging site akin to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook…”. The device itself looks like a prototype as opposed to the more polished version demonstrated at WPC, though as NanaPho suggests perhaps different color schemes will be offered. No other device specs are currently known.
This coincides nicely with the leak about the Toshiba-Fujitsu phone release in August, suggesting that indeed these phones are coming earlier than expected an the Asian market is gearing up for release.
Update: Evidently it’s not Weibos that’s built, but rather a standalone app running the service.
Fujitsu IS12T with Windows Phone 7 Mango coming next month [July 18, 2011]
At Microsoft’s 2011 Partner Conference , the company had a handful of unreleased smartphones on display running the Windows Phone 7 Mango update. The quartet included models from Samsung, Acer, ZTE, and Fujitsu, and it was thought that the phones would launch sometime in September when Mango is due to be released. The Fujitsu IS12T, however, appears to be ahead of schedule and could be the first to market — launching in August on Japanese carrier KDDI.
Details on the new smartphones remain scant so far, though the Samsung SGHi937 looks an awful lot like a Galaxy S II — one of the most popular non-iPhones in the world right now — running Windows Phone 7 instead of Android. If the internals remain unchanged, then we know exactly what kind of hardware the SGHi937 will pack.
When it comes to the Fujitsu IS12T, there’s not quite as much information. The IS12T won’t sport a massive display like the Samsung’s 4.5″ — instead, it’s a more modest 3.7″ screen that’s expected. There’s also a very good chance the IS12T will feature a 12 megapixel camera, based on its model number, Fujitsu’s past 12MP offerings, and the company’s statement that the phone will feature “great capabilities in terms of the camera.” In addition to a stellar camera, the IS12T is going to be waterproof.
While snapping high-quality digital pics in the rain is cool, it’s even more amazing to think that a manufacturer may actually be releasing a smartphone ahead of schedule for once — instead of repeatedly delaying its launch. Pricing has yet to be revealed for the IS12T, but it’s safe to say this won’t be one of those $100 Windows Phone 7 devices Microsoft talked about.
More at WM Power User and Nikkei
Acer reveals its first Windows Phone Mango device [May 31, 2011]
Acer W4Windows PhoneAcer has revealed its first Windows Phone Mango device at Computex this week.The device, expected later this year, will be named the Acer W4. Acer’s Windows Phone includes a 5PM camera, 8GB storage and DLNA support. Chinese blog zol.com.cn published images of the device on Tuesday after discovering it on display at Computex this week. Microsoft previously revealed that Acer was a new hardware parter for Windows Phone Mango devices during a VIP event last week.
Acer’s W4 specifications:
- 3.6-inch WVGA
- Screen Resolution: 480×800
- 5mp Camera with auto-focus
- HSPA 850/1900 or 900/2100 /GSM quad band 850/900/ 1800/ 1900 MHz Support
- Qualcomm MSM8255 running at 1GHz
- Wifi, Bluetooth 2.1
- DLNA Support (DMC)
- Windows Phone Mango
- 8GB Storage
Acer W4 Windows Phone Mango device
Image credits: zol.com.cn
What a difference from the current offering!
From Buy your phone [US] site and HTC’s past press release:
|
Vendor and model: |
Date: |
Highlights: |
Display: |
Processor: |
Carrier(s) and store(s): |
|
HTC HD7 |
Friday, December 03, 2010 4:51 PM |
•Seamlessly brings together work, play and family. •Features the largest screen on a Windows Phone. •Enjoy Netflix, T-Mobile TV, and Slacker Radio. |
480×800 (4.3”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: T-Mobile, Microsoft Store, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart Singapore [Oct 12, 2010], Malaysia [Oct 13, 2010], Hong Kong [Nov 11, 2010], Australia: Telstra [March 29, 2011]
|
|
HTC Arrive™ |
Friday, March 18, 2011 9:58 AM |
•Sliding full QWERTY keyboard •Tilt-up display •5MP camera and 720p HD camcorder [access to Zune, Xbox LIVE and Netflix] |
480×800 (3.6”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: Sprint, Microsoft Store, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart |
|
Samsung Focus™ |
Sunday, August 01, 2010 5:50 PM |
•Thinnest, lightest Windows Phone. •Brilliant 4″ Super AMOLED WVGA screen. •Audience Noise Reduction for crystal clear calls. |
480×800 (4.0”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: AT&T, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Costco, Walmart |
|
LG Quantum™ |
Friday, October 08, 2010 3:52 PM |
•Full QWERTY keyboard for faster, easier texting. •16 GB internal memory. •Play To (or DLNA) software that lets you easily transfer photos & videos to your home entertainment system. |
480×800 (3.5”) |
1 GHz Snapdragon [Qualcomm QSD8250] |
US: AT&T, Amazon.com, Costco, Walmart |
|
HTC Surround™ |
Monday, October 04, 2010 2:51 PM |
•Slide-out speakers with SRS Dolby Mobile surround sound. •Surround yourself with entertainment, wherever you go. •Kickstand for hands-free viewing. 16 GB internal memory. |
480×800 (3.8”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: AT&T, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart |
|
Dell Venue Pro |
Sunday, September 26, 2010 3:58 PM |
•Vertical QWERTY keyboard provides quick access. •Scratch and shatter resistant screen. •Available on the T-Mobile network, exclusively from Dell. |
480×800 (4.1”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: Dell |
|
HTC HD7S [largely = HD7 but with a Super LCD screen, it is exclusive to AT&T in the USA ] |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 10:13 AM |
•High resolution 4.3” WVGA Super LCD Screen •Slim, premium design with kickstand •5 MP camera with auto focus and dual LED flash (records 720p HD video) •Voice-activated, location-aware Bing search engine |
480×800 (4.3”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: AT&T, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart |
|
HTC Trophy™ |
Thursday, May 19, 2011 1:09 PM |
•3.8” touchscreen for optimal gaming [harnesses the power of Xbox LIVE® for epic gaming] •HD video •5 MP camera with autofocus and flash |
480×800 (3.5”) |
1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 |
US: Verizon, Microsoft Store, Amazon.com, Best Buy Singapore [Oct 12, 2010] |
wikipedia HTC HD7: The HD7 shares nearly all its specifications with its older Windows Mobile 6.5-running brother, the HD2, including the screen resolution and size (4.3 inches diagonal and WVGA 800×400 resolution).
HTC GOES BIG WITH MICROSOFT; LAUNCHING FIVE NEW WINDOWS PHONE 7 SMARTPHONES [Oct 11, 2010]: … HTC 7 Surround, HTC 7 Mozart, HTC 7 Trophy, HTC 7 Pro and HTC HD7 …
HTC 7 Mozart („a phone powered by high-fidelity audio”): Singapore [Oct 12, 2010], Malaysia [Oct 13, 2010], Hong Kong [Nov 11, 2010]
From List of Windows Phone devices (wikipedia):
Product |
Release Date |
System on Chip |
Memory (RAM) |
Display |
Weight (g) |
Carrier |
Notes |
Dell Venue Pro |
November 8, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
512MB |
4.1″, WVGA 800×480 AMOLED |
165 |
AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Rogers (Pending) |
Has vertical slide-out keyboard |
HTC 7 Pro |
January 17, 2011 |
QSD8250 |
576MB |
3.6″, WVGA |
185 |
Sprint, US Cellular, Cellular South |
CDMA: HTC ArriveHas slide-out keyboard |
HTC 7 Surround |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
448MB |
3.8″, WVGA |
165 |
AT&T, TELUS |
Has slide-out speaker |
HTC 7 Trophy |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8650 |
576MB |
3.8″, WVGA |
140 |
Vodafone UK, Vodafone Australia, Vodafone NZ, Verizon |
LCD, 8GB, Yellow back on International version.SLCD, 16GB, Red back on Verizon. |
HTC 7 Mozart |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
576MB |
3.7″, WVGA |
130 |
Orange U.K., Telstra |
Camera: 8 megapixels + Xenon flash |
HTC HD7 |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
576MB |
4.3″, WVGA |
162 |
T-Mobile USA, O2 UK, Bell |
Largest screen on a WP7 device |
LG Optimus 7 |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
512MB |
3.8″, WVGA |
157 |
TELUS, Vodafone UK, Optus |
DLNA |
LG Quantum |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
512MB |
3.5″, WVGA |
178 |
AT&T, Bell |
Has slide-out keyboard |
Samsung Focus |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
512MB |
4.0″, WVGA Super AMOLED |
115 |
AT&T, Rogers |
Storage may be expanded with a compatible microSD card |
Samsung Omnia 7 |
October 21, 2010 |
QSD8250 |
512MB |
4.0″, WVGA Super AMOLED |
138 |
Orange UK, 3 UK, Optus |
Developers’ information:
Developer News: Beta Mango Tools Available Today [Windows Phone Developer Blog, July 8, 2011]
Today Microsoft is showing off many of the new features coming in the next version of Windows Phone, code named Mango. We highlighted a few features like hardware accelerated IE9 with HTML5, increased multitasking capabilities and the addition of Twitter to the People hub at Mobile World Congress in February. During April’s MIX11 event, we gave developers a deep dive into new Mango capabilities and opportunities and promised new tools in May.
I’m pleased to announce that the beta release of the Windows Phone Developer Tools that support Mango will be available for download today, in just a few hours! We also have some exciting news to share about Windows Phone Marketplace.
First the tools. Developers can use this beta release to get ready for the upcoming Windows Phone OS release. The new application platform capabilities coming in Mango deliver the top features you have asked for:
– Background processing- New profiler and emulator for testing- Use of Silverlight + XNA together- Silverlight 4- IE9 web browser control- Live Tile enhancements: use of back of tiles and ability to update Live Tiles locally – Deep linking into apps from notifications and Live Tiles- Additional sensors; direct camera access, compass & gyro- Fast application switching- Networking / sockets for communications- Local SQL database for structured storage- Access to calendar and contacts for apps You also asked us for new ways to keep customers engaged with your apps, so we’ve taken steps in Mango that will help keep great apps front and center. The Mango release allows you to create a new wave of apps and games that appeal to consumers by further extending the popular Windows Phone design system. Mango also helps apps remain engaged with the customer and contextually relevant through integration with the Bing Search, Pictures and Music & Video experiences, as well as added functionality for the Live Tiles that live on the Start screen. For example, with Bing Search, when searching for products, movies, events or places, the customer will see among the results a link to a “Quick Card” for that specific search. That card contains an “apps” panel (formerly known as the “extras” panel). This panel will display both installed and non-installed apps associated with that search query term. This is just one example of how the app experience is different on a Windows Phone in ways that give you a unique opportunity.
With Mango we are not only improving the way we merchandise your apps within our Marketplace, we are also exposing your apps as a part of our customers’ everyday experiences. You want more ways for consumers to find your apps; and consumers have been raving about the Windows Phone design. In short, we are listening and investing accordingly. You should expect us to continue to deliver technology and services unlike anyone else.
Below is simple graphic to help show how new tools and resources are unlocking additional developer capabilities:
Another way we’re growing the Windows Phone ecosystem is by expanding geographically. With Mango, Windows Phone Marketplace will expand from 16 to 35 countries where both app submission and app purchase are supported locally.
Today Adding with Mango Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea (South), Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan
In addition, Windows Phone Marketplace now supports app submission in China, Israel and Luxembourg. For those countries that are not yet locally supported by Marketplace, we continue to expand the Global Publisher Program we announced in early March. Today, developers in 69 Middle Eastern and African countries can submit applications via Yalla Apps. App Port supports 13 countries in East Asia. APPA Market is available to developers in 19 central European countries. And both Device7 and MTel service China.
To better reach customers worldwide, I’m also pleased to announce today that Mango will offer a new web version of Windows Phone Marketplace. This will enable customers to shop, share and buy/download apps and games from any PC and send them directly to their phones. You get more visibility for your apps with no extra work. The Mango Marketplace will bring several new features and capabilities that Todd Brix will be expanding upon here a little later.
We’re extremely grateful for all that the Windows Phone developer community has accomplished in a few short months and we’re excited to see what you can do with Mango. Today we offer more than 17,000 apps, and with 42,000 registered developers and counting, plenty more are on the way. We recognize that the strength of our developer community and the Windows Phone ecosystem is a big reason why analysts are so optimistic about the Windows Phone ecosystem in predicting sales of hundreds of millions of units by 2015. With the release of beta tools for Mango, we hope we’ve taking another big step toward giving you exactly what you want from a platform so that you are inspired to create the next generation of amazing Windows Phone apps and games. In the coming weeks we will announce the date when App Hub will begin accepting Mango apps for certification.
Whether you’re a new or existing Windows Phone developer, now is the perfect time to take the next step and be what’s next in mobile. The checklist is simple:
- Register on App Hub at http://create.msdn.com
- Start a Windows Phone project and get ready for Mango with the new Beta Windows Phone Developer Tools 7.1 [WPDT]
Thank you, Matt Bencke General Manager, Windows Phone Developer and Marketplace Experiences
More information:
– Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Beta2[June 29, 2011]
The new Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Beta2 (renamed from WPDT) can be used to develop Applications for both 7.0 and 7.1 version of Windows Phone OS releases.
… The Windows Phone SDK includes the following
- Windows Phone SDK 7.1 (Beta2)
- Windows Phone Emulator (Beta2)
- Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Assemblies (Beta2)
- Silverlight 4 SDK and DRT
- Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Extensions for XNA Game Studio 4.0
- Microsoft Expression Blend SDK Preview for Windows Phone 7.1
- WCF Data Services Client for Window Phone 7.1
- Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone 7
– SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone [June 9, 2011]
The SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone 7 adds a new SketchFlow template for Expression Blend* users that makes creating a prototype of a Windows Phone app quick and easy. * Please note: To use the SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone 7 you need to be using Blend 4 with SketchFlow enabled (this is the version of Blend that comes with both Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate) you also need to have the Mango developer tools Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Beta2 for Windows Phone installed.
– Developers Get Goody Basket Full of Mangos [Windows Phone Developer Blog, June 29, 2011]
Over the course of the past six months, the Windows Phone team has been working very hard to ensure that there is a great experience for all of our customers with the upcoming Mango release of the Windows Phone OS. That means educating consumers, empowering developers, and working closely with our hardware and carrier partners to bring it all together with great devices.
Just last week, the first reviews of Mango started landing in press and blogs and the early sentiment is very encouraging. People get that Mango is a big step that dramatically enhances the core experiences that we all rely on our phones for every day; messaging and communication, use of any of our more than 20,000 great apps and games, and great use of the Web. AllThingsD wrote that the OS “is a mix of elegance and whimsy that’s a treat to use.” Gizmodo went so far as to say that Mango feels “complete.” However, it was The Daily that offered some bigger picture perspective in noting that, “it took Android nearly two years before hitting critical mass and three years to begin carving out a significant chunk of the smartphone market.” We’ve got a great product in Windows Phone and we feel we’re right on track, in fact we’ve already seen reports showing that in only a few months we’ve surpassed the more established RIM marketplace in the number of real apps available to customers.
Since beginning this journey with the new Windows Phone developer platform, we have aspired to be transparent, easy to build for, and easy to partner with.
We know that one of the most impactful things we can do for developers is to help them get their hands on the actual product. For Mango, that starts today with an early access program for developers. We’re still working out some final kinks in the distribution and support infrastructure for delivering Mango to all of our registered developers around the world, but are inviting the most eager developers to come get Mango today, for their retail devices, as part of our early access program! We expect the full distribution infrastructure to be fully operational in the next couple of weeks. For now, consider yourself a beta tester for the distribution process. Registered developers will get invites to the Microsoft Connect site, which will give them access to Mango. This build of Mango should also be viewed as beta quality, so there are still consumer features missing, but you can now start building apps and testing them against retail devices. Here’s what you need to do:
- Download the Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta 2 – You will need to update your developer tools to update your phone and to deploy your apps, so run…get them now.
- Read the instructions before updating – These are very important steps which you need to follow to the letter. We’re committed to supporting our developer community with such an early access program, so if you have questions, start with the forums, which we are monitoring.
This is especially well timed for the tens of thousands of student developers who have registered through DreamSpark or related programs. Just as our Spring Cleaning program encouraged developers to finish up their projects over the past few months, delivering thousands of new apps, summer break is the perfect time for student developers to relax and have some fun with Mango. With the free Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta 2 and free access to Mango, now is the perfect time to see what you can do with Windows Phone. To make it even more interesting for students looking for a great summer project, we’ve set aside 50 Mango phones for those students who are building the next big thing on Windows Phone. Want one? Here’s what to do:
- Make sure you’re registered for DreamSpark
- Download and install Expression Studio Ultimate and the new Mango Windows Phone Developer Tools (available free as a member of DreamSpark)
- Get the free Sketchflow Template for Windows Phone and create a Sketchflow mock-up of your app
- Post the Sketchflow mock-up somewhere online and tweet out the link using the hash tag #WPAppItUp
- We will review all prototypes and will contact the developers who submit the best ones and send them a special Mango developer device
There’s lots to like in Beta2 of the developer tools, and some new goodies as well. You can find the release notes here, but I also wanted to talk about the new Advertising SDK June 2011 Update that was released for Windows Phone 7 earlier this week. The June update makes it even easier for developers to earn money and build ad-enabled mobile apps with streamlined Ad Control APIs and other new features.
Lastly, we got a lot of questions in email and on twitter as to why reviewers got Mango first. In short, it was to allow us to get you Mango today. Bringing a product to market requires a healthy balance between marketing features and empowering the ecosystem. Striking that balance is all about sequence. Microsoft believes in developers like no other company, but not even we want developer tear downs serving as the foundation for how consumers ultimately understand Mango. To get Mango to you today, we had to first set some context so that the market would have a good understanding of the product and not define us only by those features that developers uncovered. Think of it this way: if you could choose which path to go down, would you rather have a tightly selected group of influential people write your first reviews of your amazing app, or leave it to the customers with the fastest fingers?
So what now? First, go get the tools. Second, update your retail phones to Mango. Third, go rub it in your friends’ faces that you have Mango and they don’t. Fourth, start building your Mango apps using some of the cool new functionality like fast app resume, updated Live Tiles, Motion Sensor, Live Agents, sockets, background audio or raw camera access. There will be a tools update in the coming months which will have the go-live license you need to publish Mango apps to the Marketplace, but don’t wait. With the tools and the ability to test on Mango enabled phones, you should all be in really good shape when Mango is released later this year.
For the early access program, here are the countries which are explicitly supported – meaning that should your device become unusable as a result of updating, we will be able to process it for fixing once the full distribution infrastructure is fully operational in the next couple of weeks:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States
– Windows Phone around the world: Language support in Mango [Windows Phone Blog, July 6, 2011]
At launch last year we supported 5 display languages: English (US and UK), French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
In Mango, we’re adding 17 more: Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish.
The Zune software will be available for the same set of languages.
…
Displaying some of these new languages required new phone fonts. Specifically, we’ve added 4 beautiful new fonts for the East Asian languages:
…
… The 20 new keyboard options are: Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, and Ukrainian.
The keyboard languages shown in italics regular [here] also support text prediction, which makes typing on your phone faster and easier. Even better, all these input languages are available on any Windows Phone, regardless of which display languages come with it.
The new East Asian keyboards—which were developed in Asia by the same team that creates them for Windows and Office—are especially neat. We’ll explore them in more detail in a future post.
…
This fall you’ll see a significant increase in the number of new countries where the Xbox LIVE service for Windows Phone is available. The Zune Marketplace for music, video, and podcasts is also expanding to more markets. We’re not quite ready to announce specifics just yet—expect to hear more later this summer.
Finally, we get many questions about specific phone features—especially ones related to searching and mapping— and where they’ll be available. Here’s a list of ones we hear about most:
- Bing search (accessed from the phone’s hardware Search button) is available in 33 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States. (Elsewhere, handset and mobile operators can configure the hardware search button to a locally-relevant search site).
- Local search results show up in 6 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Maps is supported in 19 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Voice-to-text and Voice-to-dial is available in 6 countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and the Unites States.
- Voice search is supported in 4 countries: France, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States.
…
Extending services such as Marketplace or Xbox LIVE to more markets, on the other hand, is a very different type of challenge—as much legal and organizational as it is technical. But we’re working hard to scale up our engineering effort from a couple dozen countries to the entire world.
…
Application Certification Requirements for Windows Phone
Windows Phone
June 24, 2011
This section provides the policies and technical requirements that a Windows Phone application or game must meet to pass certification and to be eligible for listing in Windows Phone Marketplace.
A core principle that is applied in designing the certification process is that each individual policy or requirement is clear, objective, and testable. This transparency is designed to help developers easily design and test applications to meet these requirements.
The following list shows the pillars of the certification program:
- Applications are reliable.
- Applications make efficient use of resources.
- Applications do not interfere with the phone functionality.
- Applications are free of malicious software.
1.1 What You Need to Know About the Submission and Certification Process
When your application is ready for publication, it must go through the certification process before it is eligible for listing in Windows Phone Marketplace. Your application does not have to be signed before submission.
The certification process involves static validation and automated testing of your application to verify that it meets all the policies and requirements. The following list shows the five major categories of policies and requirements:
- Application Policies
- Content Policies
- Application Submission Requirements
- Technical Certification Requirements
- Additional Requirements for Specific Application Types
The following is a simplified illustration of the submission and certification process.
1.1.1 Process Outline
The following is a brief outline of the submission and certification process:
- Sign in to your account in App Hub.
- Create a new application submission.
- Upload the application XAP file.
- Enter the metadata for the application, such as title, description, category, and iconography.
- Select the distribution countries/regions and pricing.
- The XAP file is validated while you are entering metadata.
- If the XAP file validation succeeds, the submission process continues to Step 8; otherwise, the process terminates and you get a notification. Select the option to publish immediately after passing the certification process or to wait until you decide to publish.
- The XAP file is repackaged as described in Section 4.1.2.
- The repackaged XAP file is deployed to a phone for the certification testing. Certification involves the automated and manual verification of the meeting of the requirements that are described in Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
- If the application meets all the requirements, the repackaged XAP and assembly files are signed, and the application is eligible for publication according to the option selected in Step 8.
- If the application fails one or more of the requirements, you get a failure report and the application is not published.
Important Note:
When you submit an application update for certification, it goes through the same process as the original application. 1.1.2 Code Signing
Code signing occurs automatically once the application has successfully passed the certification testing without any failure. The application and repackaged XAP files are signed with the Authenticode® certificate assigned to you when you registered for App Hub membership. Any signatures in a submitted application or XAP files will be replaced and are not retained.
All applications must be signed with the Microsoft issued Authenticode certificate before they can be installed and run on commercially available Windows Phone devices.
– Zune to Expand Multiscreen Entertainment Services Into International Markets [Sept 10, 2010, as Zune Marketplace was originally only available in the United States]
Microsoft Corp. today announced the further international expansion of Zune, its digital entertainment service. This fall, Zune will expand its music and video footprint and bring the free Zune software, Zune Marketplace online store, Zune Pass1 music subscription service and enhanced features on Zune.net to new markets, providing a comprehensive entertainment experience on Windows-based PCs, on the go with Windows Phone 7 and in your living room through Xbox LIVE.2
“The integration between Zune, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE is an exciting expansion in our entertainment offerings,” said Craig Eisler, corporate vice president, Interactive Entertainment Business Group at Microsoft. “Zune enables users to access the entertainment they want, wherever they want it — and now, more people than ever will be able to enjoy the freedom and flexibility that the Zune service offers.”
Zune software has been upgraded with new features and functionality and will serve as the Windows Phone 7 synchronization client. The new software (version 4.7) will be available to download for free in more than 20 countries, including the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain, to easily manage your personal collection of movies, music, podcasts and pictures. Zune software continues to set the standard for entertainment software, providing best-in-class experiences to organize, discover and enjoy digital media with a variety of exclusive features. For example, the Quickplay menu enables immediate access to recently played content and personal favorites, and Smart DJ 3 automatically creates playlists from your personal music collection and takes the extra step of mixing in suggested music from the Zune Marketplace. The updated Zune software will also enable instant streaming of high-definition movies, allowing you to watch some Zune Marketplace movies in HD, with no download time, directly on a Windows PC.
Zune Marketplace online store is accessible from within the Zune software and offers the ability to purchase millions of individual songs or albums from its catalog, all in MP3 format. Here, consumers can also subscribe to Zune Pass,4 which provides unlimited downloads and music streaming capabilities from the Zune music library, including content from major music labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group, as well as thousands of independent labels. Zune Marketplace also has a large library of videos from major studios such as Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution for purchase or rental. Video purchases will be accessible through Xbox LIVE and Windows-based PCs, and can also be added to a Windows Phone 7. Simply buy your favorite video from Zune Marketplace and watch it on the screen of your choice.9
Zune.net is the perfect resource for consumers as it allows them to download the software and set up a Zune account with a new or existing Windows Live ID.5 Zune.net will also provide Web access to Zune Marketplace so you can purchase music or use a Zune Pass to stream music directly through an Internet browser,6 as well as purchase video content.7
Zune Expansion to New Markets
As Zune expands internationally, its music and video service will be tailored for each market. Genre experts will custom program Zune Marketplace and feature the top songs, videos, movies and unique promotions for each country.
The fall 2010 international expansion of the Zune music and video service includes the following:
Zune Marketplace will extend services to several markets in Europe and beyond.
• Zune Pass (U.K., France, Italy and Spain). The monthly music subscription service will be available for 9.99 euros /8.99 pounds per month for unlimited download and streaming access to the Zune music catalog and will be accessible on Windows-based PCs, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE. The offer in the U.S. will remain at $14.99 per month for unlimited downloads and streaming access, with the ability to keep 10 MP3s per month.8 • Music purchase (U.K., France, Italy, Spain and Germany). Expansion to these markets will enable consumers to purchase MP3s and listen on their Windows-based PC, Windows Phone 7 or any other device that supports MP3 format. Users will also be able to purchase music videos to enjoy on Windows-based PC, Windows Phone 7 and Zune on Xbox LIVE. • Video purchase (U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). Consumers will now be able to purchase movies to download and watch anywhere — on the big screen in the living room with Xbox LIVE or their Windows-based PC as well as sync it to their Windows Phone 7 to enjoy on the go.9 • Movie rental (U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). In addition to Zune video on Xbox LIVE, consumers in these countries will now be able to rent movies for viewing on their Windows-based PC or choose to sync the rental to their Windows Phone 7. The global expansion of the service is the latest step in a series of milestones for Zune, including powering Bing music search results, the added ability to purchase music and video on Zune.net, and the forthcoming integration with Xbox LIVE and Kinect for Xbox 360. By continuing to integrate Zune across the most important screens to consumers, Zune provides an all-in-one music and video service for users to discover, enjoy and experience their entertainment wherever they want.About Zune
Zune is Microsoft’s music and video entertainment service that provides an integrated digital experience across Zune devices, Windows-based PCs, Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone 7. The Zune platform includes a line of portable digital media players, elegant software, the Zune Marketplace and Zune.net online stores, the Zune Social online music community created to help people discover music, and the ZuneOriginals.net online media player customization store. More information can be found online at http://www.zune.net/en-us/press.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
1 Zune Pass available in U.K., France, Italy and Spain.
2 Zune Pass on Xbox 360 requires an Xbox LIVE Gold membership and a Zune Pass subscription.
3 Only available with Zune Pass.
4 Zune Pass is a music subscription; some Zune Marketplace songs and content are not available via Zune Pass. Available content may vary over time.
5 For cross-screen functionality, the same Windows Live ID needs to be used on the Zune software, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE accounts.
6 Internet browser support for Silverlight required.
7 Service features may vary based on market availability.
8 Keep 10 MP3s per month feature available to U.S. Zune Pass subscribers only, on their PC or Windows Phone 7.
9 Content available for download on multiple devices may vary over time. Availability of content and video resolution will vary by device.
On Windows Phone 7 history:
Thoughts on Windows Phone 7 Series (BTW: Photon is Dead)[Feb 17, 2010]
The real Windows Mobile 7, that is, Photon as it once was called, is dead. Windows Mobile 7 was supposed to be an evolution of Windows Mobile 5 and 6. It was supposed to be built on the paradigm that previous generations of Windows Mobile had been created from: a Start-menu centric application experience, two soft keys on bottom, and applications that acted as they would on the desktop (often with a close button). Well Photon was scrapped, probably around 2008 when the Mobile division of Microsoft saw a big reorganization. With that, Microsoft started from scratch to build the next generation of Windows Mobile, or Windows Phone as they began calling it in 2009. Also at that time, they decided to extend the life of Windows Mobile 6 to buy some time, and a year later we saw 6.5. And despite rampant criticism, 6.5 shipped on a lot of really awesome devices like the HTC Touch Pro2 and HD2, Acer neoTouch, and Samsung Omnia II.
Back in 2007, as you may or may not recall, I wrote about Windows Mobile 7 after having seen it at a Microsoft event. If you want to go back and see the text, it’s still available at MobilityToday. I contended that what Microsoft had in store for the next version of Windows Mobile was awesome, and that it could succeed. But I also warned that if they didn’t bring the product to market before the target late 2009 launch, it would fail. It would fail because by that time, two years later, iOS, Android, and other mobile platforms would be wildly evolved, and that Photon would seem like more of the same, instead of a breakthrough new operating system that the market would so desire.
I also saw Photon two years prior to 2007. Back then, it was pretty much the same as we know Photon to be today. It’s very possible that work began on Photon as early as 2004, which begs the question: how could a company with such vast resources and fantastic human talent take nearly half a decade to roll out a product? The answer could come down to mismanagement or lack of investment. My guess is that Microsoft didn’t truly understand how big the mobile category would grow, and how fast it would happen. …
Behind the scenes: Windows Phone 7 [June 17, 2010]
… The launch of the new phones is critical for Microsoft, which is trying to play catch-up with Apple and Google. Despite having been in the phone business far longer than either of those two rivals, complacency, lack of focus, and bad bets have left Microsoft an afterthought in the cell phone business. It now has just a single-digit percentage market share among smartphone operating systems, trailing Symbian, RIM’s BlackBerry, Apple’s iPhone, and Google’s Android, according to Gartner. Windows Phone 7 is the big bet to reverse years of decline, assuming it’s not too late.
Leading that effort is vice president Terry Myerson, the 37-year-old former head of the Exchange Server development team. Myerson is the rare Microsoft exec who knows what it’s like to be an underdog. He came to Microsoft in 1997 through the acquisition of his own Web analysis company [Interse’ see Terry Myerson [Duke Pratt School of Engineering, Oct 16, 1998]] and went to work on Exchange back when it was badly behind IBM’s Lotus Notes software.
… Myerson, who agreed to take on this job in October 2008, has picked up the pieces on a next-generation mobile operating system that Microsoft has been developing in fits and starts for several years now, switching leadership and approaches several times along the way.
Despite its long and winding road to fruition, Windows Phone 7 has a chance, Myerson says with a quiet conviction that sounds more like an engineer sure of his work than a salesman looking to close the deal. Myerson is convinced that Microsoft can get back in the game if Windows Phone 7 really nails the set of things that it does tackle–merging personal and work contacts, integrating Xbox Live games and Zune music and video, including mobile versions of Office and aiming to bring together photos from various social networks.
…What they’ve already done hasn’t been easy. Although it retains Windows CE at its core, Windows Phone 7 has a completely new look and interface. The overhaul was so significant, that when it was first outlined in early 2009, the project’s leaders handed out a bottle of Pepto Bismol to the several hundred people on the development team. “The entire user experience of Windows Phone 6 was built on a certain graphics framework,” Myerson said. “We decided to change that to a different one. We sort of decided that top down and teams just had to digest that, so it was sort of a joke that people were given that.”…“I think we are going to have something very high-quality and different this holiday,” Myerson said. “We won’t be better on every dimension and we won’t be better on a feature point on all of the dimensions we wish we could… I think about this really as a first release, a first release for this team.”
…
A blunt assessment
Catching up with the market leaders, Myerson figures, is a multiyear project, something he warned both executives and colleagues when he took over the project. “We’re going to reset, but it is going to take us five years to build a product we all want to have,” he said.
Myerson’s less-than-rosy assessment scared off more than a few people. “There were people that looked in the mirror a year ago and said, well, if we aren’t going to win next year, I am out of here,” he said. “There were people that looked in the mirror and said what a great fun project to spend the next three to five years of my life on and kind of buckled down for it…Those are the people you want because that’s how long it is really going to take. The company has that level of commitment.”
If anything, Myerson hopes that is what he is bringing to the team–clarity, along with enough resources to get the job done.
“If you invest in people as craftsman and give them great tools, I think they will build great products.” Myerson said. “Probably the most important thing we can give these guys is a clear plan. If the plan changes every three months, it’s hard to do great engineering.”
With that in mind, the company decided more than a year ago to start over yet again, with a new approach and a firm target–holiday 2010–to have the all-new Windows Phone on the market. “I think when we look back on the release five years from now, this was a foundational release, not the release that broke through,” Myerson said. “We’ve got some tough competition.”
In particular, Microsoft will need to make a good impression with carriers–the companies like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile–who decide which phones will get the prime shelf space and the big ad campaign, and which will not make the cut at all.
“They take all the burden of support calls and all the burden of selling it,” he said. Given that “they want it months ahead of time so they can learn how to sell, learn how to support it.”
…
Having to coordinate among chipmakers and Microsoft and hardware makers and carriers is a lot of work, Myerson acknowledges. It requires a lot more companies working together than is the case with Apple, which now even designs the iPhone’s main processor.
“The OEM partnership model we have is more complicated,” Myerson said. “We aspire to have the same level of end-user finish as Apple, but getting that level of user finish requires a level of partnership.”
The idea of partnering with phone makers like Samsung and HTC is to get the benefit of their ideas as well as have more models than Microsoft could if it built the hardware itself. But add that to a business model that also includes 180 different carriers across the country as well as other components and it’s a lot to juggle.
“Between Qualcomm and Broadcom and Samsung and LG and HTC, AT&T and T-Mobile, it’s just very partnership-complex, it just is,” Myerson said. “I don’t know any other way to describe it.”
Microsoft has considered but rejected the idea that it should go it alone in the phone business, building its own hardware to better take on Apple. Among other reasons, it’s just how the company prefers to do business. Although it makes the Xbox and Zune, the company prefers to build software that is used a wide range of hardware makers.
“We’ve made it work many times in the past and as you know, there’s times in the past where it hasn’t worked out so well,” Myerson said. “We’re aspiring to do it well, which unfortunately does take more time.”
But time is running out for Microsoft, which needs to get the first devices to carriers soon if it wants the devices to be on sale by the holidays. Hence, the conference rooms inside Microsoft this day are filled, not just with folks from Microsoft, but also from its many partners.
As the work day draws to a close, the hours-long meeting between Qualcomm and Microsoft engineers beaks up. Myerson meets in his office with Torrey Harmon, a Qualcomm senior vice president. The conversation is informal–a mix of some subtle salesmanship and small talk and venting about some of the project’s more challenging aspects and people.
Between trading jabs at various partners and competitors, the two turn their attention to their own companies’ partnership, discussing how they might further reduce the amount of friction between the teams working on the chips at Qualcomm and those working on the software at Microsoft.
“We want you to see us as an extension of your team and we’re trying hard to figure out how to do that,” Harmon said. Qualcomm recently hired one of the members of the Windows 95/98 development team to help the company in that effort. “We’ve made a lot of progress and still we’ve got a ways to go. We’d like just to look like another one of your technology groups, that’s our goal.”
As the conversation continued, they talked about the battery life issues on a particular prototype. “Usually it runs out by about 2 o’clock,” Harmon said, although, that’s better than before a recent software build. “It was running out at about 11 o’clock when I first got it. It’s better already than it was.”
As it often does, Myerson’s mood this day shifted quickly between optimism and pessimism. “I just want to survive this launch,” Myerson told Harmon. “If I can get out there and get some respect, for lack of a better word, from consumers, everything will get easier. Right now things are hard.”
Windows Phone 7: A Fresh Start for the Smartphone[Microsoft feature story for the press, Oct 11, 2010]
The goal for Microsoft’s latest smartphone is an ambitious one: to deliver a phone that truly integrates the things people really want to do, puts those things right in front of them, and either lets them get finished quickly or immerses them in the experience they were seeking.
“When you first get the phone, the stuff that’s more obvious makes you smile,” says Andy Lees, Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business president. On the phone’s Start screen, “live tiles” show users real-time content, such as social media updates and contacts. “The features sort of scream out at you,” says Lees. “But the other thing that is even deeper for me is the elegance of the experience, which you only appreciate if you’ve used the phone for some time.”
The result is Windows Phone 7, which will make its debut in some European markets on Oct. 21 and in the U.S. Nov. 8. The phone uses an elegant operating system that is very different from the current trend toward app-focused phones. Instead it provides active and configurable interface elements called tiles that update on the fly with real information, allowing users to place the tiles that interest them most where they want on their Start screen. Facebook photos, music and contacts are pulled into the phone and distributed appropriately across Hubs. It also brings together many of Microsoft’s popular offerings from other platforms, including Xbox, Zune, Office and Bing.
The new phone is an important step for Microsoft in three ways. To begin, it is a completely fresh start for Microsoft in smartphones. Second, it represents a new approach from Microsoft toward integrating products and services from across the company into the phone to create a richer experience and greater productivity. Hence the presence of Office, Zune and Xbox LIVE and their integration within the Hub model. And finally, the new phone approach is critical to Microsoft’s efforts to make new gains in the huge smartphone market, which despite the success of the iPhone and Android is still relatively untapped globally.
As people use their phones, they’ll discover lots of thoughtfully designed features and perks. Holding down the camera shutter button, for example, lets the user take a picture even if the phone is locked – as Lees says, “unlocking your phone can sometimes mean the difference between missing the moment or not.”
The phone’s interface features Hubs for categories such as People, Music and video, Photos, Games and Office. These Hubs are never more than a few screens away, no matter how deep the user navigates within the phone. The People Hub, for example, pulls in Facebook status updates from friends as well as providing the more obvious contact information and phone numbers. Users can take actions like responding to updates or sending a text message right from the People Hub rather than having to find and launch a particular app. The Hubs also update live, pulling in pictures and information so that in many cases a glance and a couple of clicks will be all that users need to bring themselves up to date with phone messages, e-mail and what is happening with friends and colleagues.
“We think people want to get updates from their social networks, they want to get contact information, they want to get e-mails from a variety of different places, they want to share music — but they want control over it,” says Lees.
Plus, says Lees, “They want one thing that they can access their work e-mail on and then put in their bag and go to the party, and they want it to be easy to use. That’s exactly what we’re delivering.”
Applications will be available for the phone as well via a Hub called the Marketplace. But, unlike other smartphones, they won’t be required for the majority of everyday tasks.
Smartphones are increasingly a part of our lives. It is incredibly seductive to be constantly connected, to be able to communicate with and interact with friends and associates at any time. Or to be able to dive into the sea of information on the Internet at any time. But the current smartphone designs aren’t helping. People either take too long to find what they need on their phones or they get distracted and drawn in to unproductive activities simply because they have to click in and open apps to see things.
To highlight the problem, the company is launching a provocative advertising and marketing campaign, showing how Microsoft’s new phone is different. The new Windows Phone 7 is designed to help users connect with the people and information they care about most, then let them return to the real world as fast as possible.
Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone engineering at Microsoft, led the development group for the new phone. “We had this list of things we knew we wanted – e-mail, a browser, games, a music player,” says Myerson. The team knew that they wanted the phone to be versatile and deliver exactly what the customer wanted out of a phone. But its greatest asset is something less tangible than a single feature or access to a program. “Using this phone is truly a delightful experience,” says Myerson.
Creating this ease of use was one of the design team’s primary goals. “We talked a lot about smart design when we talked about this phone,” says Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Windows Phone program management. Belfiore joined the project shortly after Myerson and oversaw, among other things, user experience. “We wanted this phone to be able to anticipate what you want and give it to you before you ask for it.”
New phones in a variety of hardware designs will be available from Samsung, HTC, LG and Dell.
Microsoft is so committed to the new phone that it has arranged for every full-time employee worldwide to be able to switch to the new phone as soon as it launches in their market. And while executives say they are thrilled with the final product, they also acknowledge there is a lot more to be done. When the phone is released, they plan to enjoy the moment – but not for long. “There’s so much more of Microsoft we’ve got to bring out in the phone,” says Myerson. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Exclusive: AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega on Which Smartphones Are Winning [June 4, 2011 — Excerpt 2]
Nokia has made this huge bet on Windows Phone. One of the reasons, they have said, is to have a bigger presence then they have had in many years in North America. How interested are you in adding them to your lineup?
De la Vega: We already have Windows Phone 7 in our lineup. We actually like that software very, very much. It hasn’t sold as well as Microsoft or we would want it to, but I think having the Nokia hardware capability with the Microsoft software capability is a really good combination. They have to prove it by bringing some great devices to market. But I would love to have a great Nokia device with Microsoft Windows Phone 7.
Windows Phone 7, is it a hard sell, or are their features that are missing?
De la Vega: Keep in mind this is the first product that Microsoft has come out with since Microsoft redid their OS. I think for the first thing out of the chute it is pretty good. I think they just need to make it better. If you listen to what Steve Ballmer is saying (Mango, the next version), is going to add about 500 features. I think they are going to make it a lot better. Giving customers more application choices, having a bigger app store with more functionality on the phone, I think that is all that it needs.
Actually, I loved Windows 8. That looks a lot like a Windows Phone screen, with the tiles. I think that’s a huge win for Microsoft. Now they have their same look and feel on their PCs and tablets as they have on their smartphones.
Building the Next Great Mobile Software Developer Opportunity [by Terry Myerson, Feb 14, 2011]
On Friday Feb 11th our two companies announceda partnership that we believe will shake up the mobile phone market. Together Nokia and Microsoft are bringing to bear significant and complementary strengths in global smartphone and mobile phone market reach, hardware, software and services. Based on these strengths, we will build a new, global ecosystem that creates a wealth of new opportunities and innovative experiences.
However, we can’t do it alone. We need you: our developers. Over the years, you, our developer communities, have created great experiences for your customers. You’ve also given us feedback that you want new opportunities, accelerated innovation, and access to more consumers. We are going to realize this future based on a shared set of principles about what developers want and deserve:
- Opportunity: a large number of customers with unparalleled global reach
- Feedback: so that you can improve your applications and games
- Ovi Store and Windows Phone Marketplace: a great shopping experience, where your creativity can be discovered
- Flexibility: in how you are compensated for your work– in dollars or notoriety
- Amazing tools: to take creativity from idea to sale
- Structure: a prescriptive roadmap that balances opportunity and diversity while maintaining the stability of the platform
- Innovation: combining services assets to drive innovation including putting Nokia’s Ovi Maps at the heart of key Microsoft assets like Bing and AdCenter
We appreciate that applications and games are many peoples’ livelihoods, and that developers deserve respect and transparency. We further understand that choosing a mobile platform is a serious commitment of time and energy that we must earn. This new conversation is just starting and we would like it to be an open and continuing dialogue.
To that end, we want to make clear that our alliance represents a long-term commitment to developers. Nokia developers working with Qt or Java will continue to do so and enjoy healthy demand for those. Nokia has an installed base of 225 million Symbian devices, and plans to sell 150 million more, and Series 40 has an addressable market of 600 million devices today. Nokia continue to enhance and innovate on those platforms and in Qt tools. Nokia, and now Microsoft, are committed to making sure that your contributions to and investments in the Nokia ecosystem will be worthwhile. In the coming weeks we will provide more information about programs that will help you access the Symbian and Qt opportunities more effectively.
Nokia’s Windows Phone portfolio will support the existing, free Windows Phone Developer Tools. Nokia and Microsoft will support Symbian developers wishing to port their application to Windows Phone. Both Nokia and Microsoft manage rich application and game commerce platforms in Ovi Store and the Windows Phone Marketplace. We believe that both platforms bring distinct strengths to the alliance, and we are planning to combine these strengths into a single great commerce experience for developers and consumers alike.
We still have much work to do and we will provide you, our developers, with more details in the weeks and months to come. We will ensure that developers can count on timely and prescriptive guidance on the implications and opportunities of this new alliance. For now, we hope that you are as excited about the long-term potential of this alliance as we are, and that you are already thinking of new application and games that you’ll bring to market to take advantage of the significant volumes of Nokia Windows Phones, as well as the existing and future Symbian and Series 40 devices from Nokia.
If you’re interested in learning more about developing for Windows Phone, please visit http://create.msdn.com. For the latest guidance to Nokia developers, visit http://forum.nokia.com. Sincerely Tero Ojanpera, Executive Vice President, Services, Nokia Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President, Windows Phone Engineering, Microsoft
Reindeer Antlers and Reykjavik: How Microsoft and Nokia Are Getting Down to Business Together[July 11, 2011]
“We’ve spent the last couple months working really closely together to get first products really materializing,” Nokia’s Jo Harlow, who is in charge of Smart Devices at the phone giant, said in an interview. “We all feel confident about where we are.”
… Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has been boasting for a while that he is carrying something along those lines, and a recently leaked video shows him with an early version of the hardware.
Harlow declined to comment on that leak, but says she is increasingly confident in the first product that will arrive this year, and that the company may yet have multiple devices for sale before the end of the year. The first Nokia phones are expected to arrive this fall alongside Mango, the first major update to Windows Phone 7.
“I’m committed to one model this year,” Harlow said. “More would be great.” For next year, though, Harlow said there will be a steady stream of releases — something that Microsoft badly needs as it tries to keep up with rivals, particularly Android devices, which are released on a constant basis.
If Microsoft was close to the latest hardware when it released the first Windows Phones last fall, it is fair to say that its models now look dated when stacked up against the latest Android models, some of which boast 3-D screens, dual-core processors, high-definition video recording and other features. “I’m hoping that won’t be an issue next year,” Myerson said. Harlow said her goal is that Nokia will have more frequent hardware updates, keeping the company, and by extension Windows Phone, front of mind with phone shoppers.
… For its part, Microsoft said it has shifted its priorities to make sure that Nokia’s needs are being met first. The company has increased its focus on going global more quickly, as Nokia counts on Windows Phone to quickly fill a gap created by the rapid decline in its existing Symbian phone business. “We had been focused on North America and Western Europe,” Myerson said of the company’s early efforts. That, he said, has now changed.
Although Microsoft is also working with its other partners, Myerson isn’t shy about saying that he is pouring more energy into his partners in Finland. After all, while HTC and Samsung build Windows Phones, they also make phones running Google’s Android software. Nokia, meanwhile, has pledged to make Windows Phone the core of its smartphone strategy. “We are prioritizing work proportionate to Nokia’s commitment to Windows Phone, which is unlike anything we have had before,” Myerson said.
On Andy/Andrew Lees’ promotions:
Microsoft Announces New, Expanded Roles for Key Executives[Feb 14, 2008]
Microsoft Corp. today announced a series of executive promotions — seven new senior vice presidents and seven new corporate vice presidents — reflective of the company’s commitment to build and maintain a strong and dynamic management team across its unique portfolio of businesses.
… “Along with attracting world-class talent from outside the company, one of my top priorities is growing Microsoft’s existing leadership team,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Each of these executives will play a critical role in leading Microsoft into the future. Today’s promotions are a result of their ability to think strategically on a global scale, the respect they’ve earned from their peers, customers and partners, and their significant contributions to the company.”
… Andy Lees, senior vice president, Mobile Communications Business. Previously corporate vice president of the Server & Tools Marketing and Solutions Group, Lees will oversee the development, marketing and sales of software and services that power mobile devices for business and consumer customers worldwide. Lees will fill the role previously held by Pieter Knook, who made the decision to leave Microsoft to pursue new opportunities.
… Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president, Original Equipment Manufacturer Division. Previously general manager, Application Platform Marketing, Guggenheimer will move to a new role leading the group that manages Microsoft’s relationships with the makers of personal computers and other devices.
Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform. Previously general manager, Guthrie will continue to oversee several development teams responsible for delivering Microsoft Visual Studio developer tools and Microsoft .NET Framework technologies for building client and Web applications.
Microsoft Announces Retirement and Transition Plan for Robbie Bach [May 25, 2010]
Underscoring the strength of the leadership teams in place for the entertainment and mobile businesses, the company announced that Senior Vice President Don Mattrick will continue to lead the Interactive Entertainment Business and Senior Vice President Andy Lees will continue to lead the Mobile Communications Business. Each will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer effective July 1.
… Bach will remain with Microsoft through the fall, working with Ballmer and his leadership team to ensure a smooth transition. …
… Lees has led the Mobile Communications Business since February 2008 and has been instrumental in reinvigorating Microsoft’s mobility efforts, bringing in new business and development talent and overseeing the creation of both KIN and Windows Phone 7. A 20-year Microsoft veteran, he previously served as corporate vice president for Server & Tools marketing and sales, led a variety of worldwide sales and marketing functions, and began his career in Microsoft’s U.K. subsidiary. “One measure of a leader is the team he assembles around him, and Robbie built an incredible team.
Don and Andy are exactly the right leaders to carry our entertainment and mobility efforts forward,” Ballmer said.
Microsoft also announced that J Allard, senior vice president of Design and Development for E&D, will be leaving Microsoft after 19 years, and will take an official role as an advisor in a strategic role for Ballmer and his leadership team. “J has brought a game-changing creative magic to Microsoft for years, from Windows to Xbox, from Zune to KIN,” Ballmer said. “He was one of the key drivers in our early work on the Web, and we’re absolutely delighted that J’s role with the company will evolve in a way that lets all of Microsoft benefit from his business insight, technical depth and keen eye for consumer experience.”
Microsoft Announces New Leadership Promotions[Oct 1, 2010]
Microsoft Corp. today promoted Kurt DelBene to president of the Microsoft Office Division, Andy Lees to president of the Mobile Communications Business, and Don Mattrick to president of the Interactive Entertainment Business. … As President of the Mobile Communications Business, Lees, 45, will continue to oversee the overall marketing and product development for Microsoft’s mobility efforts. Lees, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, has led the Mobile Communications Business since February 2008 and was at the center of the company’s efforts to rebuild the mobile business, including the development of the upcoming Windows Phone 7 to be released this holiday season. Windows Phone 7 is designed to make every-day tasks faster by doing more in fewer steps and providing timely information in a “glance and go” format.
Microsoft Mobile Communications Business is now the Windows Phone Division[June 16, 2011]
Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business (MCB) is no more. The group itself still exists, but is known officially, as of this week, as the “Windows Phone Division.” I noticed the change on the bio page for the division President Andy Lees. (Until yesterday, Lees was listed as President of MCB. He’s now President of the Windows Phone Division.) A Microsoft spokesperson said that only the name of the unit has changed and that there’s no change in the unit’s responsibilities or charter.
Say it ain’t so — not only is a phone not delayed, it’s actually planning to come out earlier than its quoted launch window? This particular miracle is the exception much more than the rule, but Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone OS (nicknamed “Mango,”) might come out prior to the anticipated fall release. According to Nikkei, Fujitsu will offer the very first Mango device, a waterproof phone called the IS12T, on KDDI “as early as late next month.” The phone is to be sold for 30,000 – 40,000 yen ($378 – 505), a reasonable amount of coin for what will likely be a higher-end device. And — if it’s the same handset showcased at this week’s Worldwide Partner Conference — a pink version will be on sale. So, what’s more enticing: a Hello Kitty-flavored Windows Phone, or a Samsung Galaxy S II lookalike running Mango? It’s a tough call.
Nokia N9 UX [?Swipe?] on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
Update as of August 10, 2012: After acquiring the Qt commercial licensing business in March 2011 from Nokia, the Helsinki based, ~1000 people strong Digia, with 2011 sales of 121.9 million Euro,yesterday acquired all the rest of the Qt business from Nokia. More details in the Digia extends Its commitment to Qt with plans to acquire full Qt software technology and business From Nokia [Digia’s Qt Commercial Blog, Aug 9, 2012] and Digia Committed to Thriving Qt Ecosystem [KDE.NEWS, Aug 9, 2012] posts from Digia’s R&D director Tuuka Turunen. With this all pre-Windows Phone software platform commitments except the Java based S40 (evolved in the new Asha range) have strategicallybeen revoked by Nokia.
Nokia N9 Journey [Oct 24, 2011]:
A story about the making of the most beautifully simple smartphone.
Follow-up:
– Designing smarter phones–Marko Ahtisaari (Nokia) and Albert Shum (Microsoft) [Nov 23, 2011]
Updates:
– 3 Minutes with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop [YouTube, Oct 27, 2011]
[About N9 and Qt:] Elements of N9. The things that really define that product you will see continue on. The reason we continue with N9 is because we believe we could learn a lot about certain things that actually make the N9 unique in the way that it is. … What remains unanswered, and will remain unanswered for today, is when I say ‘elements of the user experience’ or ‘the Qt environment’. What does that mean? That’s still something you’ll see ahead from Nokia.
– Goodbye MeeGo, Hello Tizen [Sept 28, 2011]
By now, you may have read that The Linux Foundation, with the support of several other companies, announced a new project, Tizen [tizen.org], to build a new operating system for devices. This new project is first and foremost open source, and based on Linux. So it begs the question: why not just evolve MeeGo? We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5. Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been. Emphasizing HTML5 means that APIs not visible to HTML5 programmers need not be as rigid, and can evolve with platform technology and can vary by market segment.
More info [meego.com]
there is not mentions of Qt in the article 😦
– Limo Foundation And Linux Foundation Announce New Open Source Software Platform [Limo Foundation press release, Sept 28, 2011]
LiMo Foundation™ and the Linux Foundation today announced a new open source project, Tizen™, to develop a Linux-based device software platform. Hosted at the Linux Foundation, Tizen is a standards-based, cross-architecture software platform which supports multiple device categories including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems. The initial release of Tizen is targeted for Q1 2012, enabling first devices to come to market in mid-2012.
Tizen combines the best open source technologies from LiMo and the Linux Foundation and adds a robust and flexible standards-based HTML5 and WAC web development environment within which device-independent applications can be produced efficiently for unconstrained cross-platform deployment. This approach leverages the robustness and flexibility of HTML5 which is rapidly emerging as a preferred application environment for mobile applications and the broad carrier support of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC). Tizen additionally carries a state-of-the-art reference user interface enabling the creation of highly attractive and innovative user experience that can be further customized by operators and manufacturers.
…
About LiMo Foundation
LiMo Foundation™ is a dedicated consortium of mobile industry leaders working together within an open and transparent governance model—with shared leadership and shared decision making—to deliver an open and globally consistent handset software platform based upon mobile Linux for use by the whole mobile industry. The Board of LiMo Foundation comprises ACCESS, Panasonic Mobile Communications, NEC CASIO Mobile Communications, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, SK Telecom, Telefónica and Vodafone. A full description of LiMo Foundation can be found at www.limofoundation.org.
How does Tizen relate to MeeGo and LiMo?
Tizen builds upon best practices and technologies from MeeGo and LiMo to deliver a complete cross-device open source software platform and will result in broader, stronger ecosystem support from leading service providers and OEMs. Intel will be working with partners to help them transistion from MeeGo to Tizen. In order to enable successful transition, sustainng engineering support will continue for MeeGo v1.1 and v1.2 releases into 2012. Intel will fold its ongoing MeeGo development efforts into the new Tizen project.What are the key differences between MeeGo, LiMo and Tizen?
The key differences are Tizen’s comprehensive, standards-based HTML5 application solution, broader industry support and a hardened mobile device stack.
– Nordic System Integrators Welcome Open Source Initiative Tizen [Sept 28, 2011]
According to Pasi Nieminen, CEO of Nomovok, the leading MeeGo integrator, “For the past two years Nomovok has been working on Steelrat, a commercially optimised version of MeeGo, and today we are pleased to join with this industry-lead project to help make Tizen a commercial reality.”
– Notes taken on Qt Dev Days 2011 in Munich [Oct 24-26, 2011]
…
Nomovok has a stand there. I discussed with the guy and he confirmed that they are providing the integration of Qt into Tizen. They see Tizen as MeeGo + the HTML5 additional overlay, and clearly not as MeeGo minus Qt. To them,
there is no reason why things we were able to do with MeeGo should not be feasable with Tizen. They meet every second week with Intel to work about the integration of Qt into Tizen. Looks damn promising!…
Talk by Marco Argenti (SVP Developer Experience, Nokia) about “Qt and the broader strategy”.
– 100 millions Qt-enabled smartphones on the market.
– Strong emphasis on N9 being the best ever device for developers.
…
– Big opportunities for developing apps for the “next billion”
– ex[ample]: India: 800 millions mobile suscribers => those users will mainly experience the web through apps => Qt is core to achieve this!…
“Qt Roadmap, Open Governance and Qt5”, by Lars Knoll, Qt Chief Architect:
– Nokia definitely is backing up Qt! That has been said and hammered extensively during this talk.
– Nokia has a growing interest in Qt, increasing its investment into it. Plus, there are job openings.
– Transition from Qt4 to Qt5: will not be as painfull as the transition from Qt3 to Qt4, as most of the stuff is implemented all right. Basically a matter of running a script for adapting header files and minor tweaks to the build system.
– Qt5 to be split into “Essentials” and “Add-on odules” (including widgets, Qt Webkit, part of Qt Mobility,…
– Qt Quick 2 built and optimized for OpenGL, with dramatic performance improvements
– Qt5 timeline:
>> Feature freeze by early 2012
>> Beta by March/April 2012
>> Done by 1st half of 2012
– Qt Widgets supported in Qt5 (but to some extent, development on widgets is shifting towards community efforts, through Qt-Project)
– After Qt5: plan is to release twice a year, at fixed time periods (more predictable)
– In response to a question about Symbian and MeeGo:
>> Symbian STAYS on Qt 4.8 = Symbian NOT supported on Qt5!
>> MeeGo: tests done, works well so far, so shouldn’t be a problem. (He would not tell more than this)
– Development opportunities:
>> Desktop: yes, clearly in the focus
>> Mobile: You will see something coming… This is all Nokia is ready to say now! (Seems clearly to indicate some big announcement by tomorrow at the Nokia World event!!)[Later the same person:] Apparently nothing as of yet. The Nokia World has been sharply focused of the Lumia (WP7) and Asha (S40) launches.
…
Session about developing with MeeGo on N9, by Yoann Lopes. Quote: “N9 is awesome, but it misses one thing: you, your apps”. 75 minutes is a too short time to go very deep, but the guy basically showed the whole process, step by step, and some of the possibilities (demoed: applications “MeeSpot”, “Trafikanten”). A few security-related questions were raised (about preventing an app sending over-priced SMS’s), which didn’t lead anywhere, by lack of enough informations about the topic. Again, question asked about the incentive for developing for a “dead platform”: “Can’t say anything about this, but if you develop for MeeGo now, you definitely will be able to reuse your skills.” (not quoting exactly, just what I remember from it). He mentioned also again “next billion”…
– Tizen Summit Asia 2011 coming! [Oct 27, 2011]
Nomovok organizes Tizen Summit Asia 2011 at Beijing Marriott Hotel City Wall 8-9 December. The event gathers together Open Source Vendors, OEMs, operators and other Tizen project contributors, together with local Open Source contributors in China. Check the event website and register here!
– Dear Intel & Samsung, Can Tizen have some Qt ? [Oct 24, 2011]
So Qt Developer Days is kicking off in Munich today and I feel sad. As if something is not right. Something is missing. Tizen has recently began its Qt-less journey and this does not seem like a sensible move to me. Many would argue that Qt is supported in the Netbook version and yes it is for now, but there are no guarantees that it will survive for the future.
Is alienating a whole group of Developers that bought into the MeeGo dream the best way forward? These are Developers that have invested time, money and effort into the integration of MeeGo and Qt and now are floating away to develop for Android / Symbian and possibly iPhone. Surely having YOUR developers developing for the already established competition a bad thing ?
Is banking everything on HTML5/JS/CSS3 the best way forward ? I think Not. Could we not have HTML5 + Qt Support in Tizen ? Already Nomovok have announced that they will provide Tizen with integrated Qt, but for this to work we need it to be adopted by the project as a whole. If we lose Qt then we Lose a lot of Developers that believe in it and NOT in HTML5 and have not bought into being able to make the move to HTML5. For the wholesale of applications HTML5 seems like the one, but for more specialist applications Qt is a Development Framework that a lot of development companies prefer and that is a fact that you can’t get away from.
Tizen launched with it trying to appeal to the same target audience as MeeGo, Everyone, So shouldn’t we also try to appeal to as many developers as we can ?
With Tizen we also now get Samsung which has been the silent giant in all of this and that makes us all nervous. Very nervous. No press releases, Nothing actually stating what Samsungs vision / Intentions are for Tizen. Samsungs existing Linux Platform uses EFL (http://www.enlightenment.org) and Tizen will also use this. Is there an issue with trying to support both EFL and Qt / QML on Tizen? Surely it can be overcome.
When Nokia Dropped MeeGo on Feb 11 it caused major rifts between them and several companies including intel but now with the recent move of Qt being an Open Source Project with Open Governance can we not overcome issues of the past ?
There are many that are fighting the Qt cause in Tizen. I wish them good luck and hope Tizen has a Qt future.
….
sleeve says: October 26, 2011 at 10:33 pm
@uncle steve: now intel says no to qt?
no, samsung says no to qt as it is open source LGPL and any improvement or deployment would help Nokia tiny 1% – Samsung afraids. Samsung is happy with its vaporware BSD-licensed englightement without even one stable release in 11 years because the license allows to close any single bit if needed. If enlightenment fails samsung will use the backup tech aka HTML5 as already plans and no qt at all. Again, because in their flawed perception that would give nokia a point. All in samsung’s SLP/Limo – 4 bloody years without even single flawed release. The korean giant is strong in pushing hardware that’s all about it. Otherwise bada would be such a success for them.
Yeah Intel apparently HAPPILY supports qt on its part of tizen on its hardware and in AppUp stores. Intel wants apps SO qt will give what enlightenement wont.
– Marko Ahtisaari’s speech about ‘Patterns of Human Interaction’ at Copenhagen Design Week [Sept 8, 2011] EXCELLENT!
– Very detailed summary of the above presentation: Video Marko Ahtisaari On N9 – I know We Have Out Simplified The iPhone [Sept 9, 2011] EXCELLENT!
– N9 is becoming available on Sept 30 for ~ US$700 list price
as per Предварительный заказ на Nokia N9 [excerpted on Aug 17, 2011]
See also the PDF copy (in case when the page is not available anymore):
N9 with Swipe in Kazakhstan — 17-Aug-2011
(99.999 Kazakhstani Tenge is US$683 as of today’s exchange rate. Samsung Galaxy R is advertised for the same price, note that Galaxy R is currently available in Sweden for US$634)
– Nokia Styles Comeback Plan [Aug 30, 2011]
With the release of its first Windows-based smartphone coming soon, Nokia Corp. is making a big bet: that the innovative design of its new phone will help it stand out and draw attention away from software problems the company has faced as it struggles to compete in the lucrative market.
…
Anyone interested in the look and feel of Nokia’s future handset design should examine the N9 launched in June—the first smartphone to replace the traditional home button with a swipe of the hand. It is made from a colorful polycarbonate material and although it appears rectangular, it has a curved glass screen.
The N9 features the MeeGo operating system, in which Nokia has already lost interest. But Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia’s head designer, says the design is an indication of where the company is headed. “We will drive this trend toward reduction and more natural forms. Compare that to the black, grey and metallic rounded-corner rectangles you are seeing in the market,” Mr. Ahtisaari says during an interview.
…
Mr. Ahtisaari says today’s touch-screen phones are inappropriately immersive, and that he would like to design in a way that allows users to keep their heads up again.
“When you look around at a restaurant in Helsinki, you’ll see couples having their heads down instead of having eye contact and being aware of the environment they’re in,” he says.
“Designing for true mobility…makes it easier for people to have more eye contact and be aware of their environment, and is an example of what people would not explicitly ask for but love when they get it,” Mr. Ahtisaari says.
For Mr. Ahtisaari and his design team, which numbers several hundred people in Finland, China, the U.K. and the U.S., innovation is about designing better and more natural ways to use a phone through careful observation of users and their environments. Mr. Ahtisaari adds that frequent prototypes, from paper sketches to 3-D wax models to real phones, are crucial to achieve the simplicity and precision needed.
Nokia’s hardware success stems from distinguishing features that often depend on the types of materials used in handsets. Polycarbonate with inherent color is key to the company’s current designs. “The inherent color in the polycarbonate allows us to do color in an interesting way, and that will continue to be important as a simple symbol of choice,” Mr. Ahtisaari says.
Customers can expect more touch-screen phones with physical keyboards, such as the E6 and C3 handsets. “It’s a very rich area for Nokia to innovate in years to come, as many people still want keyboards,” Mr. Ahtisaari says.
He also plans to add value by “linking the phone experience to maps and information about where you are, mapping the world in a way that we have not even imagined possible.”
End of Updates
The Nokia N9: a unique all-screen smartphone [June 21, 2011]
Nokia today announced the Nokia N9, built for people who appreciate a stunning blend of design and the latest smartphone technology.
The Nokia N9 introduces an innovative new design where the home key is replaced by a simple gesture: a swipe. Whenever you’re in an application, swiping from the edge of the display takes you home.
The three home views of the user interface are designed to give fast access to the most important things people do with a phone: using apps, staying up to date with notifications and social networks, and switching between activities.
So, going to Windows Phone 7 or not it has happened as communicated back in last December:
Nokia to enter design pattern competition for 2011 smartphones with MeeGo [Dec 9, 2010]
…
Note: Version 1.2 of MeeGo OS is scheduled for April 2011 but the smartphone product won’t happen, either on Intel or ARM until around June 2011. See my post on Intel Oak Trail to beat ARM with MeeGo specific prices [Nov 25]
This is all according to its SVP Design and User Experience, Marko Ahtisaari [the indicated timing is for the video record of his plenary speech at LeWeb 2010 on Dec 8, also linked later on]:
| 1. [2:25] Elegant, simple, extremely blown out – the iOS design pattern. Essentially a screen or screens full of apps and a physical homekey like the mouse key. You click it, you take your hand off the screen to do something on the screen, then may leave to go home. Beautifully elegant, extremely simple to learn with a few steps. And think of a forefront of a house where if you want to go from the kitchen to the dining room you know how you go to the front door. And if after dinner you want to go to the living room you again know how to do that, you go to the front door. Of course the physical button is this mouse click has been loaded with more and more functionality, but essentially a beatifully elegant system that is fantastically constrained. [3:18]. | 2. Multiple personizable homescreens where the bet is that the process of personalizing (filling out these home screens) is so simple and organic that it just happens over time and you end up using the device by these home screens – the pattern shared by both Symbian and Android, also the fastest growing pattern. There is not only one physical button but there are many, in fact there are many different configurations that are quite fragmented, as many people commented. And there is some way to flip to where you launch apps, but essentially it is about these personalizable home screens for both shortcuts and live information, or using tabs or so on those widgets. [4:08] |
| 3. [4:20] Windows Phone 7 has introduced an interestingnew pattern, too early to tell [how successful it will be]. But it just shows that there is demand for other patterns. [4:26]One important remark by Sofpedia’s Nokia Poised to Change Mobile UI Approach with MeeGo Devices [Dec 8] report: “Marko Ahtisaari suggests that the future would bring different UI patterns to devices, and that one of them would be based on notifications.Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 OS was built based on notifications.” | 4. [4:28] This is basically what is the design team in the Nokia Design Studios is spending most of its time on doing: is introducing a new pattern. This will be launched with MeeGo in 2011. … [To give the idea:] … If you look at touchscreen immersive experiences, so most touchscreen devices, and what you start thinking is this way: you will see this at every single moment – so you walk in Paris, you see in cafe, [where] you see a couple [who] have been together for 10-15 years – they will be there head down, pitching and zooming. Touchscreen interfaces are immersive, they require our full attention. [5.15]I think we are missing a trick and also we are not doing good enough design unless we give people their head up again. What do I mean by that? Better one-handed use, better ways to use the devices, without them demanding our full attention. This means more eye contact, more ability to be present both with the people you are around, with right now the physical environment, as well as when you are navigating the physical environment and using maps. I think this giving people their head-up again is extremely important. [5:45] |
This is how Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia talked about Nokia’s smart phone strategy on the Nokia Connections 2011 event in Singapore (from a 3d party video record [June 21, 2011]):
[0:05] I’am going to jump right in and talk about our progress and talk about the progress and advances in smart devices. As we’ve shared our primary smartphone platform strategy is the focus on Windows Phone. I have increased confidence that we will launch our first device based on Windows Phone platform later this year. And we will show our products in volume in 2012.
Now I’ll tell you we have these devices in hand now, we have them working and those who have viewed our early work are very optimistic about the devices Nokia will bring to market. In fact — to quote — the CEO of a leading retailer, and I quote, this device is an absolute beauty with a very fast user interface. The combination of a best of Nokia with a great user interface will have a tremendous impact on the market. [1:00, then in the record comes Marko Ahtisaari with N9 intro, but in reality Marco Argenti was preceding him with Qt [cute] related announcements which are well expressed on the following post on the Nokia Developer]
The future of Qt: Bringing apps to the next billion [June 21, 2011] (emphasis is mine)
Exciting news for the developer community today, and in particular for those who are focused on Qt: At the Nokia Connection 2011 event in Singapore, Nokia Senior Vice President, Developer Experience Marco Argenti confirmed that Nokia will “make Qt core to bringing applications to the next billion,” and he reassured developers that investments made in Qt today will live on in the future with Nokia.
During his presentation, “Qt and the Next Billion”, Argenti noted the following:
- “Qt-powered Apps have serious momentum on Ovi Store. Our consumers are downloading more Qt-written apps on over 100 million devices worldwide. And today I’m happy to announce that we will make Qt core to bringing great applications to the next billion.”
- “Why did we pick Qt? Qt is a great cross-platform framework. Qt is modern and efficient. Qt Quick bridges the design phase with the production phase – making it incredibly easy to design, prototype and develop new applications. With QML, the interface markup language, web developers can feel right at home creating great UI’s.”
- “Qt is widely supported by an active community of over 1/2 million developers. And Nokia will continue to invest in Qt, as we’ve recently released Qt SDK 1.1, and we’re actively involved in contributing to Qt 5.”
This means developers will have both a large existing audience to target with Qt-based mobile apps (100 million Symbian-based phones, plus our first-ever pure touch smartphone, the Nokia N9).
Argenti also noted that: “We will disclose further details in due time; today we want our developers to see the opportunity that the future of Qt brings as part of our mobile phones strategy.”
Learn more about developing for the Nokia N9 and developing with Qt.
And before Ahtisaari was invited by Elop to introduce N9 he actually said according to the official webcast (emphasis is mine):
[42:23] When we’ve determined that that we will shift our strategy we’ve assessed we could bring our innovation and technology to the market three times faster than we’ve had in the past. … [now he says that Symbian Ana, Windows Phone, dual SIM products are showing that] … But we are also breaking through with new forms of innovation. As we’ve said on February 11 we intend to launch an exciting experience around user interface, the industrial design and the developer platform. As part of that work we’re exploring technology to create a better phone. [43:10, after which Ahtisaari is invited on the scene and delivers what could see from the already mentioned 3d party video record from 1:00]
Then, at another event [for the employees] after N9 introduction by Marko Ahtisaari and before the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 has been shown (from a 3d party video record, the 2nd embedded into Engadget’s Nokia’s first Windows Phone: images and video, codenamed ‘Sea Ray’ [June 23, 2011]):
So, I have to say a special thank you as Marko did to everyone working in and around the MeeGo effort. It’s been a challenging time for that team as well. And yet look at the quality of work that’s been done.
Now one of the big questions we get is, yes you’re launching this device but we know you are transitioning to Windows Phone, what’s the point? What is the point?
The point is this. There’s a whole collection of innovation available in the N9 that is going to live one. So — for example — Marko talked about the work in and around Qt [cute] and the development of Qt applications [see between 13:20 and 13:55 in the N9 announcement video record embedded below], and as we’ve already said yesterday, Qt lives on and actually strengthenes because of its engagement in the next billion. So that’s really good. Innovation in that device lives on.
Another example is the user interface and user experience. We’re not saying precisely what device, and when and how. The user experience you see here is something that will live on as well.
A third example of innovation that will live on is the beautiful industrial design. So now I’m going to just ask everybody to put away your cameras, turn off all of the recording devices. I’am serious because I’m going to share with you something … because this is something that is super confidential and we do not want to see out in the blogosphere, wherever it is. We think it is important for all of you to understand how this innovation lives on, and how well we as a company are today executing.
Let me show you another new device from Nokia. … So what is it? It’s sort of looking at it and then say that is what Marko has shown us. Beautiful design, Gorilla glass … Carl Zeiss” 8mpixel camera … you notice there is as one extra button on the top. So you notice that is not the same device. … What this is, is a product that is code-named Sea Ray, and it is Nokia’s first Windows Phone device. [2:34, then comes a quite detailed WP7 part, until 21:45]
So from all these it is quite obvious that with February 11 decision the only thing which Nokia immediately had thrown out of the boat was the MeeGo operating system itself. And indeed in an interview to Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday Elop delivered a a quite clear message: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rules out possible comeback of MeeGo [June 3, 2011]
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop promised that the company will soon introduce a range of new inventions and innovations, with which it will improve the competitiveness of its mobile phones.
…
As an example of new inventions, Elop mentioned the brand-new N9 handset launched in Singapore on Tuesday, which will come on sale in the autumn, a year behind the original schedule.
“The N9 features many new breakthroughs related to its usability, design, and materials, which we will be utilising and developing further in our upcoming models. I cannot speak of them more specifically just yet, but they will soon become apparent”, Elop said.
According to Elop, the N9 is a handset that relies more on the Qt application framework than its MeeGo operating system. Thanks for the Qt environment, the used applications can be programmed to work with three of the platforms used by Nokia, though not with the Windows Phone system.
In Elop’s words, there is no returning to MeeGo, even if the N9 turns out to be a hit.…
The switch to the software giant Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system has frustrated many of the Nokia staffers.
Some are afraid that the company will turn into a mere equipment manufacturer and a Microsoft subcontractor.
Elop roundly rejects this interpretation.
“Nokia will continue its research and development on the software side, as well as in services and equipment design. We will build inventions for our Windows phones that will make us stand apart from our competitors and bring significant additional advantage to our application developers”, he declared firmly.
According to Elop, in recent months Nokia has launched several different software development projects.
“Those working within the software R&D sector are more and more motivated thanks to our achievements. I am continuously in touch with them. I constantly receive emails that tell me how the pace of problem-solving has quickened.”…
Nokia N9 details
Nokia N9 Design Story [June 20, 2011]
Nokia N9: the designer’s story [June 22, 2011] (in paragraph emphasis is mine)
I love sitting down with Nokia’s designers. There’s not one square millimetre of each phone that doesn’t get refined and revised a hundred times. They always have a mind-blowing story to tell about each aspect of the design. It’s never, “We chose blue cause that would be cool”; it’s always like, “We chose cyan, not blue, because the design is pure, so colours need to be pure, and…” at which point, my head explodes. I sat down with the Nokia N9′s lead designer, Anton Fahlgren, for a chat about his epic two-year project…
How did the Nokia N9 begin?
I headed up a team in Copenhagen during the summer of 2009, and that’s where it began. The brief was to evolve the story from the previous Nokia Nseries/Eseries devices, and define it moving forward. We chose to work with an Nseries product as it was interesting times at Nokia – things were bumpy in the high-end market. Extreme numbers on a spec sheet was not the way to win. We knew we needed innovation at every level.
I’ve had the option to do this before, but those occasions didn’t feel so very exciting: here we had a blank canvas. I wanted to define what high-end means today and take a more software-driven approach, and show people it’s not just the hardware that makes a great phone: it’s the UI and platform and how it all works together.
Did you know you’d be creating for something other than Symbian?
The MeeGo stuff had started bubbling, but we hadn’t seen it. We tried to simplify and distil the existing story, because there was a lot of good in the work that was done. That was the starting point – no compromises. We tried different styles; we did a range of devices like slide-and-tilt; we did a couple different sizes, but they were all based on the same design family. But the one that made it to the market was the Nokia N9.
What makes the Nokia N9 unique?
Above all, it’s the continuity that you feel from the shape of the glass continuing to the side profile. It just feels right. The basic concept is that seamless continuity of the form, and I think it was something we refined with the UI. It’s just something nice about interacting with a device that has a gentle curvature. Once you have something that’s more continuous in your hand, it’s just more pleasant to interact with it, all the way to the edges. Try to swipe stuff on other phones, and you’ll soon see that the edges will bother you.
When you see it in three dimensions, there’s not a single straight surface on the product. It’s actually really difficult to model in CAD. It’s almost like a pillow. In concept, a pillow is a simple form. It’s not hard to understand. But if you have to build those surfaces on a computer, you’ll realize how complicated they are. So the concept is simple, but as a piece of geometry, it’s quite elaborate.
No buttons! Just swipe!
Once you’ve got a flavour of life without buttons, it’s hard to go back. I find myself with other devices trying to swipe, but I can’t. Phones with keys feel old now, in some respects.
…
Last question, how would you like consumers to feel when they first pick up a Nokia N9?
That’s a good question. What’s important for us is that if this becomes a hardware story, we’ve failed. It needs to be in context with the UI. I hope the first point of delight will be about the interface, the button-less navigation. I hope it’s not only about the hardware design. The idea was to create a canvas for the UI and the user to shine. When you watch TV, you don’t want a frame, you just want the content.
The Nokia N9 Announcement by Marko Ahtisaari at Nokia Connection 2011 [June 21, 2011]
The related press release: The Nokia N9: a unique all-screen smartphone [June 21, 2011] (emphasis is mine)
Singapore – Nokia today announced the Nokia N9, built for people who appreciate a stunning blend of design and the latest smartphone technology. To learn more about the design of the Nokia N9 visit: http://swipe.nokia.com
One swipe and you’re home
The Nokia N9 introduces an innovative new design where the home key is replaced by a simple gesture: a swipe. Whenever you’re in an application, swiping from the edge of the display takes you home.The three home views of the user interface are designed to give fast access to the most important things people do with a phone: using apps, staying up to date with notifications and social networks, and switching between activities.
The industrial design of the Nokia N9 is an example of extreme product making and craft. The body is precision-machined from a single piece of polycarbonate and flows seamlessly into beautiful curved glass. The laminated deep black display means that the user interface just floats on the surface of the product.
The Nokia N9 also packs the latest in camera, navigation and audio technology for a great all-round experience.
“With the Nokia N9, we wanted to design a better way to use a phone. To do this we innovated in the design of the hardware and software together. We reinvented the home key with a simple gesture: a swipe from the edge of the screen. The experience sets a new bar for how natural technology can feel,” said Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia’s head of Design. “And this is just the beginning. The details that make the Nokia N9 unique – the industrial design, the all-screen user experience, and the expressive Qt framework for developers – will evolve in future Nokia products.”
Innovative all-screen design
With no need for a home key, the all-screen Nokia N9 makes more room for apps to shine. The 3.9-inch AMOLED screen is made from scratch-resistant curved glass. The polycarbonate body enables superior antenna performance. This means better reception, better voice quality and fewer dropped calls.Camera, maps and multimedia
The 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus sensor, wide-angle lens, HD-quality video capture and large lens aperture enable great camera performance even in lowlighting conditions. This makes the Nokia N9 one of the best camera-phones ever produced.The Nokia N9 features free turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation with voice guidance in Maps. With the new dedicated Drive app, you can get in your car and start navigating to your destination right away.
You can watch videos in true 16:9 widescreen format. And because the Nokia N9 is also the world’s first smartphone with Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and Dolby Headphone post-processing technology, you get a surround sound experience with any set of headphones.
Touch just got better
Fitted with the latest in wireless technology, Near Field Communication (NFC), the Nokia N9 allows you to easily share images and videos between devices by touching them together. Pair it with Bluetooth accessories like the new NFC-enabled Nokia Play 360° wireless music speaker only once, and you get a great surround sound music experience with just a tap.Colors and Memory
The Nokia N9 will be available in three colors – black, cyan, and magenta with storage options to accommodate plenty of content: 16GB and 64GB. The Nokia N9 is scheduled to be in stores later this year, with availability and local pricing to be announced closer to the sales start.More information about the Nokia N9 can be found at: http://swipe.nokia.com.
Video: Diving into the Nokia N9 UI and specs [June 21, 2011]
The Nokia N9 is fresh out of the oven and we think it’s pretty hot. We’ve received quite a few questions from our readers about this newcomer’s technical profile and user interface. To give you a better idea of how the product works, we grabbed Marketing Manager Jussi Mäkinen and asked him to give us a guided tour of the Nokia N9 UI on video.
Nokia Marketing Manager Jussi Mäkinen walks us thru Nokia N9. Nokia N9 is designed around the things people typically use the most.Here is some geeky data on the technical specifications:
– Networks: Pentaband WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 1700, 2100, Quad band GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
– Speed: HSDPA Cat10: 14.4Mbps, HSUPA: Cat6 5.76Mbps
– Display: 3.9” WVGA (854×480) AMOLED display with curved Gorilla glass, no air gap, anti-glare polarizer
– OS: MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
– Memory: 1024MB RAM, 16GB/64GB storage
– Camera: 8Mpix auto-focus Carl Zeiss, wide-angle lens, 2x LED flash, Video capturing MPEG-4 SP 720p @ 30fps, 2nd camera for video calls
– Size / Weight: 116.45 mm x 61.2 mm x 7.6–12.1 mm (L x W x T) / 76 cm3/ 135 g
– Connectivity: BT 2.1, GPS, A-GPS, WLAN 802.11abgn, NFC, 3.5mm AV connector, micro USB connector, USB charging
– Processor: ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 1 Ghz, PowerVR SGX530
– Audio: MP3 player, Audio jack: 3.5mm, Supported codecs: mp3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, FLAC.
– Battery: 1450 mAhOperating Times
– Talk time: (GSM/WCDMA) up to 11 h / up to 7 hours
– Standby time: Up to 450 hours (WCDMA), up to 380 hours (GSM)
– Video playback (720P): up to 4.5 hours
– Music playback: up to 50 hours
Other information from the official Nokia blog:
– Introducing the Nokia N9: all it takes is a swipe! [June 21, 2011]
– Nokia N9 – photo taking and sharing [June 22, 2011]
– Nokia N9: what would you like to see? [June 22, 2011]
– Getting up close, with NFC on the Nokia N9 [June 23, 2011]
– Nokia N9: Drive & Maps [June 23, 2011]
– Blogbite: let’s talk Nokia N9 [June 24, 2011]
Nokia’s N9: Cool, Cruel and Unusual [by Randy Arnolds, June 23, 2011]
source: http://swipe.nokia.com
Unlike many friends and former Nokia colleagues, I have not had the pleasure of fondling a sexy new N9 so this won’t be a product review as much as a process and philosophy review. That means something a little less structured than usual and loaded with unabashed opinion, pontificating and ranting.
So buckle up, this should be a ride that would do Tomi Ahonen proud.
We have ignition…
Maemo and MeeGo community advocates didn’t begin with high expectations for the Nokia Connection 2011 event in Singapore on June 21. Lacking the presentation pizzazz of Apple or even Microsoft, Nokia has a mixed history with this sort of thing and has too often bombed when it needed to blow something up. So when we were bored with a Symbian Anna demo followed by an even more tiresome spiel on S40, the peanut gallery in a freenode.net IRC webchat augmented Nokia’s endless warm-up with the usual locker room antics. CEO Steven Elop had promised a disruption; we were just distracted.
Then Marko Ahtisaaricalmly and quietly claimed the stage.
Speculation had run rampant over who would more likely stun us with the allegedly disruptive device, but the consensus had correctly pinned Marko as the man. He sealed the deal by very quickly getting down to business.
A presenter’s presenter, the well-spoken Ahtisaari peeled away layers of the slick N9 with the deftness of a professional magician. I can’t speak for anyone else but our little web gathering was enthralled. The catcalls and comic relief abruptly ceded to what amounted to geek sexting. That’s the magic of what Nokia has pulled off here, with impeccable industrial design and a clever UI just begging to be swiped.
That’s also the problem.
The MeeGo Mambo
When Elop announced Nokia’s head-scratching new strategy (and I use that last term extremely loosely) back in February of this year, there was the promise of an undescribed MeeGo device to be produced at some point, to be followed by an anticlimactic year-long ramp-down of the project once hailed as Nokia’s high-end salvation. Never mind that the N9 isn’t running pure MeeGo (but rather a mish-mash of Maemo 6 and MeeGo parts now curiously labeled as MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan). To any end user, it’s MeeGo enough.
But the question becomes: why?
Why release something designed to run what is, for Nokia, a dead-end OS? Elop says this otherwise-seductive N9 is intended as a test-bed for future Windows Phone 7 devices. But how many consumers tolerate being tested? Those few who fell in with Nokia’s steps 1 through 4 with Maemo can be forgiven for feeling too defeated to step up for number 5. That would make the N9 a profit sink at a time when Nokia’s stock (NOK) is severely depressed.
Is this just a stopgap until Windows Phone 7 graces similar Nokia hardware? If so, will enough purchasers succumb in the meantime to this obviously alluring work of art to at least cover its costs?
Conspiracy theorists are having a field day with this, pointing to admittedly mind-boggling statements and steps that, like the pieces from different puzzle sets, do not fit together. One of the more prevailing and extreme speculations is that the N9′s strange release is actually a deliberate move by Microsoft-via-Nokia to torpedo the prospects of MeeGo– not just within Nokia’s domain, but in toto. The old Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt (FUD) machine grinding up another competitor. I’m resisting this line of thought, but… but…
The Maemo Legacy
Nokia struggled with its last Maemo device, the N900 mobile computer, both in terms of consumer adoption and reliability issues. Can the company afford to repeat that with the N9? And will the life of the typical N9 exceed Nokia’s willingness to support it? The track record isn’t good there.
It’s all… bewildering.
Back to the device unveiling. Again, Elop referred to this little beauty as disruptive. He even went so far as to invoke his favorite word, ecosystem, although the N9 doesn’t appear to come with one.
So what could the N9 disrupt? Well, so far it’s done a number on the MeeGo and Maemo communities, particularly the latter. maemo.org members are largely polarized on included or excluded features like hardware keyboards, Adobe Flash support and HDMI. Nothing new there. But this is likely the last time the Maemo community could survive a foundation-fracturing device. It’s already on shaky ground as legacy Maemo devices and long-standing community leaders run out of steam or just plain run out.
Long Limbs, Thin Ice
Many Maemo/MeeGo fans are looking at the glossy N9 with a glint of hope. Maybe, just maybe goes the logic, success for the N9 could change Elop’s mind on MeeGo. Maybe the Linux-based operating system really is a Plan B– one that advances to Plan A under the right circumstances. If Windows Phone 7 falters, and that’s a reasonable conjecture based on current sales, what else is Nokia going to do? Stay with Symbian, which it tossed over to Accenture? Elevate S40? I don’t think even bringing Qt to S40could happen fast enough. If the N9 sells out completely, or close enough, will that trigger a slow-down in Nokia’s ramp-down? If so, does Nokia have the ready staff for it, or have too many abandoned the wayward ship?
Detractors are saying this is all pointless, that there’s no room for MeeGo in a two-horse Android-plus-iOS world. How selective amnesia can be; there wasn’t room for them, either, a few years ago when Symbian owned the playing field.
MeeGo could actually succeed with a similar approach to Apple’s: highly target a select demographic comprised of, say, fifteen to twenty percent of a given population and please them to no end. But instead of the same demographic, cater to those at the complete opposite end of the open-closed spectrum. In other words, the Maemo/MeeGo crowd in addition to those largely invested in Android because it isn’t iOS. Then let Android, WP7, and the rest battle for the middle. Select markets generate higher margins than mass markets, as Nokia has learned the hard way.
Summing Up
I found the Singapore event a crude juxtaposition of a lethargic Singapore (and similar) market address awkwardly combined with a brief, exciting N9 reveal. This was the wrong venue to introduce this device. The better one would have been the MeeGo Conference 2011, which sorely needed it.
Those who read here regularly will expect me to be completely candid, so I won’t disappoint. There are aspects of the N9 I don’t like. Sealed-in battery, lack of memory card slot, last year’s CPU, and a few others. But I’m not the type to lose the forest for the trees. From a big picture perspective, I love the Nokia N9. Yes I drooled over its renderings. Yes I find that uniquely-curved screen to be cool enough to touch. Yes I want one NOW. I will forgive the known shortcomings. Heck, even Engadget likes it.
And as for MeeGo: it still enjoys strong support from Intel and partners. It just needs a high-profile, lust-inducing handset to improve its consumer recognition prospects. The N9 shows it can be done in spades, despite Elop’s disputable claims to the contrary.
My disagreement with Elop on MeeGo [by Felipe Contreras, working in Nokia (Maemo), June 21, 2011]
Some time ago I received a private email directly from Elop (just me, nobody else in CC, I am not going to go into details as to why), in which he explained that the biggest problem was the small amount of MeeGo devices in the years immediately ahead.
This is simply not true.
Before explaining why, I’ll quickly say that I actually work on hardware adaptation, so if somebody knows the amount of effort needed to adapt MeeGo to different hardware platforms, it’s us. Plus, I closely follow Linux related mailing lists (linux-arm, linux-omap, linux-media, etc.), and know a lot of people in different companies that work precisely in this area. I have quite a few years of experience doing this, so I know what I’m talking about.
Update: To avoid confusion, I am a mere software engineer. And when I say “us” I’m talking about the bigger team I am part of.
Nobody I know believes what Elop said, and let’s keep in mind that Elop is not an expert in this area, we are. So my guess is that he got his information from some upper management guy who didn’t know what he was talking about
either.As I explained Elop, if we wanted to ship 10 devices with OMAP 3 (the same platform of the Nokia N9) today, there is absolutely no problem from the software point of view: all the UI software remains the same, and the hardware adaptation would probably require few modifications, if any.
The problem is when porting to an entirely new hardware platform, say Snapdragon. Suppose only 3 devices are planned on the “years immediately ahead”, well, then it makes sense to have 3 different hardware platforms, and each one of those requires work from the hardware adaptation team, not from the upper layers, though. However, that’s not a technical limitation, it could very well be 30 devices instead of 3, it’s basically the same amount of work for us. IOW; what matters is the hardware platform, not the number of different devices.
Note: all these are merely examples, not actual plans
Funnily enough, Windows Phone only supports one hardware platform: Snapdragon (and in fact only certain chips). So MeeGo alreadyhas an advantage over Windows Phone; you could ship more devices on more hardware platforms. All we need is the word.
Not to mention the fact that most of the hardware adaptation is already done by hardware vendors. They do it because it’s the easiest way to demo their hardware (it’s Linux). I tried to explain that on an earlier post where I show many examples of people porting MeeGo to a plethora of devices(it’s easy and fun).
Another advantage of course is that MeeGo is already here (Nokia N9).
Not to mention the fact that MeeGo is open source, and Linux is a synergetic endeavor; there’s man more than one company (Microsoft) working on it, in fact, almost everybody else is.
Elop’s answer? “I am simply going to choose to respectfully disagree on multiple fronts”. He didn’t even bothered to mention exactly what was the disagreement.
So there you have it, if there’s a reason for ditching MeeGo, it’s certainly not a technical one, and most likely not a good one either. I hope the people out there like what we did with the Nokia N9 and ask the though question “Why exactly did you leave MeeGo, again?”, specially when there are no signs of any Windows Phone device.
Note: as usual, this is my own personal opinion, and it’s based on publicly available information
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Texrat the Crypticum Keepersays:
As a former engineer (for Nokia Maemo devices) and product designer (elsewhere) I can vouch for everything Felipe says. Elop’s comments about MeeGo device development are disingenuous and simply designed to reinforce his decision to go with Microsoft. Maemo was run on a shoestring budget yet managed to make incredible progress– put serious resources behind MeeGo and Nokia or any other company would outperform competitors in device innovation. The retreat from MeeGo points to the success of FUD more than anything. Sad that we have allowed that and risk aversion to stifle innovation.
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another adaptation guysays:
I’m not a big fun of Elop or WP7 either, but …
It’s not only about the number of platforms or number of devices made on particular HW platform. There is important factor – time to market. You have to be on time to the market to sell your stuff.
MeeGo Harmattan OMAP3 adaptation work is brilliant. It is also late. And who needs OMAP3 devices anymore? Market is looking forward… Tegra, OMAP4/5, Snapdragon.If Nokia would start working on adaptation of a new HW platform that’d mean another 1-2 years from now (and there isn’t any decent adaptation layer from chip makers available on the market yet). By the time they are done existing UI would go out of fashion, so they would have to change it too to stay competitive. Once again Nokia would end up in situation as in all OSSO/Maemo/MeeGo – changing the HW platform AND the whole SW stack. And being late to the market by years.
WP7 was chosen simply because they believe MS adaptation layer closer to the completeness on their HW platform of the choice than Nokia would be with MeeGo in 1 year. Is that right ? Intel’s chip is far from ready… MeeGo on ARM SoCs is a joke^Wdemo.
Nokia needs LOTS of new devices on the market ASAP. Or it will be too late.Ready application frameworks, SDK, ecosystem and services – all this comes as a bonus. Of course this might be pretty far from reality, but check how cool it all looks on paper. Too good offer to pass.
IMO the real mistake they made by going with WP7 is the choice of business model and ecosystem structure. Closed, royalties based SW. Last century.“Not to mention the fact that most of the hardware adaptation is already done by hardware vendors. ”
Name a single decent one ? Sure they try, but they are not quite there yet.
Ability to boot linux on your SoC doesn’t count as “adaptation”. Besides that’s only for SoC, without peripherals. Just adding a new USB transceiver to your device can generate some man/months of SW work in adaptation. Let’s not even start talking about power management.“Another advantage of course is that MeeGo is already here (Nokia N9).”
MeeGo ? Yeah, right. Common ppl, for the 100th time N9 != MeeGo.“…MeeGo is open source, and Linux is a synergetic endeavor”
From Nokia experience – synergy was seen only in a handful of open source components in OSSO/Maemo/MeeGo Harmattan. Adaptation contributions went mostly one way – upstream.…
FelipeCsays:
@another adaptation guy The hardware adaptation in Nokia has been ready since a looong time. The problem has always been the UI. Maybe not perfectly, but in a competitive level compared to current Android devices.
And no, WP7 is not closer to completeness. What makes you think so? See the list of chips supported by WP7, it’s basically only QSD8250, which is 2008 technology. That should make you think how easy it is to support different chips, forget about platforms, or architectures.
Sure, hw vendors don’t have perfect adaptation for Linux, but they have something which is better than what WP7 has; nothing. There’s no OMAP4, Intel, Tegra, Sh-Mobile, or anything else, not even booting. Not to mention the fact that Android kernels are already shipping, and most of that work can be re-used, as it’s still Linux.
I’m sure it would have been easier and faster for Nokia/Qualcomm to finish up the adaptation of a Snapdragon chip that it is for Microsoft to provide OMAP4 support, or even worst: Intel support.
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FelipeCsays:
I never bought that story, and I am kind of shocked that elop (and the other management) actually believes that this is a legitimate argument. Maybe this is just what they say to you? There are of course other, more relevant reasons for the adaption of wp7.
@oli Yes, that’s also my thinking; whenever the official reasons don’t make sense from any point of view, there’s probably some secret reasons. However for now that’s speculation.
What I am interested to see is how much people like the Nokia N9, and how much pressure does Nokia gets to continue working on MeeGo. I don’t know if anything will change, but we in the Maemo/MeeGo team did all we could to make the Nokia N9 a success, now it’s the turn of the consumers
Although i love maemo/meego and the n9. its the ecosystem that elop is worried about, and one of the key factors why its so limited at this stage.
@Anthony Well, that’s another reason that can also be debunked. For starters, “ecosystem” seems to me more like an invented term from Elop rather than something consumers are actually looking for, so it’s hard to tell exactly how important such a thing is, or even what exactly does that mean. Also, you have to remember that a few years ago Android didn’t have any “ecosystem”, which is exactly how all platforms start.
I believe MeeGo’s “ecosystem” would have been bigger than Windows Phone’s, in fact, if the “ecosystem” is supposed to be that important, why does WP7 has so small marketshare?
It just doesn’t make sense from any point of view.
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FelipeCsays:
Does WP7 support multicore?
@Guest It doesn’t. I heard there’s a new WP release that does support it, but that hasn’t shipped on any phone yet (AFAIK).
It is amazing that 95% or comments do not understand basic market(ing) facts. Today, we are not buying phones because they are great. At least smartphones. We are buying them, because other smart people can write amazing apps for them and there is big existing market of these great applications. It is called ecosystem.
@Dantius Palpatine I call bullshit on that. For the ecosystem to matter, first you need good phones. If your assertion was true, WP7 would be gaining market, not loosing it as it is.
sorry but another adaptation guy is right. First and foremost, Harmattan has nothing to do with MeeGo, and I’m still wondering how this marketing trick went through.
@crowbar MeeGo, Maemo, Harmattan, who cares? The software is good. What I want is to see the consumers buying the device like crazy. Sure, it would have sold much more if it wasn’t the last of its kind, and there was a believable developer story, but it’s still a great device (specially if you compare to others in the market).
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FelipeCsays:
When Elop said that Nokia wouldn’t be able to produce many Meego devices before 2014 I’m sure he was correct.
@jii Great, a statement without any argumentation. What makes you think so? How difficult do you really think it would be to take the software of the Nokia N9 and put it into another device? I’ll tell you how; not at all, it can be done in a few months.
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FelipeCsays:
@Son of a Finn
Seems like so many posters here are children. Does anyone really believe that Elop does not want to see Nokia succeed?
Of course he wants Nokia to succeed, but he wants it to succeed based on his own decisions. Do you really think he would say “you know what, I was wrong, this WP stuff is not going to work”? That’s not going to advance his career.
Most of what people call “conspiracy theory” can be explained in systemic terms. Maybe Elop truly never thought on crashing Nokia so it can be sold cheaply to Microsoft, but humans are social creatures, we rarely make big decisions without talking to other people — I’m sure he talked with some friends in Redmond, and they tried everything they could to sell the idea of WP7. They might have thought about the possibility of Nokia crashing, and they didn’t care, they pushed Elop to make the move that benefits Microsoft the most, even though it’s the most risky for Nokia.
At the end of the day Elop’s intentions don’t really matter, what matters is what he does, which is most likely influenced by a lot of hidden agendas of other people.
The real question you have to answer is: what happens if Windows Phone fails?
Really, what would happen to Nokia? The stock price is already in ruins, and that’s just because of lack of good news, imagine what would happen when really bad news arrive. What would happen to Finland?
It is rarely a good idea to go “all-in” like Nokia is doing with Windows Phone. It only makes some sense when you are completely sure, but look around, everyone is asking the same question — Why WP7 when you have MeeGo? — that alone should raise some questions regarding the “all-in” position, and then the next question arises — Why not try both?
Let’s suppose Elop is right and I’m wrong; it would only be possible to develop a few MeeGo devices in the next coming years. Well, even if that’s the case there’s nothing wrong with that, it would be a good backup plan if WP fails. Somebody might say, but it takes too many resources, but that’s not true, the Maemo team never took that many resources (it’s kind of efficient), and with a reduced scope, resources could be decreased.
Microsoft is all about partnerships. They do not make hardware or very many end products. Microsoft’s success has come from partnering with many many companies and enabling them to be successful. Every PC manufacturer and 93% of VARs are Microsoft partners. Every PC peripheral or PCI card vendor needs to be a Microsoft partner to succeed.
You call that “partnership”? Then I guess mafia bosses “partner” with their debtors, and when somebody becomes somebody else’s bitch on jail, that’s also a “partnership”.
Strictly speaking they are partnerships, but that’s not what everybody would consider a good partnership.
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FelipeCsays:
What’s your opinion about needing more than the 3 devices in 3 years that Elop claimed was the problem? Apple has been doing well with an average of 1 new iPhone model a year. I look at the N9 and can’t figure out what hardware would be outdated before 2014. Maybe a next model with a sliding keyboard, but what beyond that?
@Pat That’s a good point, I think Nokia could have done the same as Apple, and concentrate on a few excellent phones. Regarding hardware I would add a sliding keyboard, but also a camera button, and micro HDMI, probably with a dual-core Snapdragon. Something more interesting would be to have a docking station like the Motrola Atrix, but helped with the fact that MeeGo already runs on laptops and so on.
FTR I didn’t claim Elop said 3 devices in 3 years, that was just an example.
Do you know if the number of N9 devices will be limited or it will depend on sales?I hope Nokia promotes this phone with operators because the biggest amount of sales comes from operators, with that in mind, if N9 is promoted the same as N900 it’s impossible it will be a big hit.
It’s hard to make a great phone, but it’s easy to destruct its sales.
@Fran Excellent question! That is something everyone should ask Elop.
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FelipeCsays:
@Son of a Finn
Read my postings carefully, you will see that I agree with you that Nokia should continue to invest in Meego (as Elops R&D chart shows). I would love Meego to succeed, though I have doubts based on the mobile operators not wanting another platform to support (regardless of the OS being great or not).
Operators want a counterweight against Android. I don’t think they care if it’s WP7, or MeeGo, but something.
Where I differ from most posters here is that I believe if Nokia is not successful with WP7 then they will not survive. Yes, it is an “all in” bet. Success with WP7 will generate the cash to support investment in Meego, failure leaves no hope for Meego at Nokia.
Let’s concentrate on the idea that WP7 fails. If that happens either Nokia starts from scratch, or somebody buys it (for cheap BTW), and given that Nokia already transitioned to WP7, it would be an interesting option for Microsoft. BTW, I do believe that a merge between Nokia and Microsoft would produce decent WP7 phones, because all the traditional barriers for collaboration typical of Microsoft would disappear.
Also, my definition of partnership is when the parties work together and mutually depend on each others success for their own. The examples I gave fit that. PC vendors can and do make PC’s with Linux variations, they can choose to work without Microsoft if they wish. Microsoft would die if no PC vendors used Windows. The truth is that they need each other and are partners.
Nokia and Microsoft’s Windows Phone division (the new name for the Mobile Communications Business division) also need each other and are partners. Nokia has a strong position in this relationship and I expect them to use that to their advantage.
Do you seriously believe that if WP7 fails, Microsoft would be in serious trouble? Nokia is betting the house, but Microsoft is not risking anything; WP7′s humble marketshare is already decreasing. Not that their mobile division is that important, they can survive comfortably without it.
A too early assesment of the emerging ‘Windows 8’ dev & UX functionality
Update on the recent craze in mass media to call the new era “post-PC” by Frank X. Shaw Microsoft Corporation [19 Aug 2011 3:37 PM]:
Where the PC is headed: Plus is the New “Post”
In the past year, and again in the past few weeks, I’ve seen a resurgence of the term “post” applied to the PC in a number of stories including The Wall Street Journal, PC World and the Washington Post. Heck, I even mentioned it in my 30th anniversary of the PC post, noting that “PC plus” was a better term.
…
… eReaders, Tablets, Smartphones, Set top boxes, aren’t PC killers, but instead are complementary devices. They are each highly optimized to do a great job on a subset of things any PC can also do. …
…
I’ll be the first to admit that these new “non-PC” objects do a great job at enabling people to communicate and consume in innovative and interesting ways. That’s not surprising, because they were expressly designed for that purpose. But even their most ardent admirers will not assert that they are as good as PCs at the first two verbs, create and collaborate. And that’s why one should take any reports of the death of the PC with a rather large grain of salt. Because creating and collaborating are two of the most basic human drives, and are central to the idea of the PC. They move our culture, economy and world forward. You see their fingerprints in every laboratory, startup, classroom, and community.
At Microsoft, we envision a future where increasingly powerful devices of all kinds will connect with cloud services to make it all the more easier for us social beings to create, communicate, collaborate and consume information. I encourage you to tune into our BUILD conference in mid-September where our vision for this world of devices will become clearer.
Update on development timeframe by Steven Sinofsky Microsoft Corporation [17 Aug 2011 11:48 PM]:
@TrooperKal — we finished Windows 7 in July of 2009 and had started our long lead work on Windows 8 a little before that. That’s similar to how we worked on Windows 7 relative to the previous release.
[Re: TroperKal’s question: “It is pretty obvious from your team structure and the already discussed features of v.8 that work has been underway for some time. Just for curiosity’s sake, when did work properly begin on this new version?” ]
June 20-24:
Windows 8 for software developers: the Longhorn dream reborn? [by Peter Bright, June 23, 2011]
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Windows 8 will ship with a pair of runtimes; a new .NET runtime (currently version stamped 4.5), and a native code C++ runtime (technically, COM, or a derivative thereof), named WinRT. There will be a new native user interface library, DirectUI, that builds on top of the native Direct2D and DirectWrite APIs that were introduced with Windows 7. A new version of Silverlight, apparently codenamed Jupiter, will run on top of DirectUI. WinRT and DirectUI will both be directly accessible from .NET through built-in wrappers.
WinRT provides a clean and modern API for many of the things that Win32 does presently. It will be, in many ways, a new, modern Win32. The API is designed to be easy to use from “modern” C++ (in contrast to the 25 year old, heavily C-biased design of Win32); it will also map cleanly onto .NET concepts. In Windows 8, it’s unlikely that WinRT will cover everythingWin32 can do—Win32 is just so expansive that modernizing it is an enormous undertaking—but I’m told that this is the ultimate, long-term objective. And WinRT is becoming more and more extensive with each new build that leaks from Redmond.
WinRT isn’t just providing a slightly nicer version of the existing Win32 API, either. Microsoft is taking the opportunity to improve the API’s functionality, too. The clipboard API, for example, has been made easier to use and more flexible. There will also be pervasive support for asynchronous operations, providing a clean and consistent way to do long-running tasks in the background.
DirectUI is built around a core subset of current WPF/Silverlight technology. It includes support for XAML, the XML language for laying out user interfaces, and offers the rich support for layouts that Win32 has never had. This core will give C++ programs their modern user interface toolkit and, at its heart, it will be the same toolkit that .NET developers use too. (DirectUI is a name Microsoft has used before, internally, for a graphics library used by Windows Live Messenger. The new DirectUI appears to be unrelated.)
Jupiter is essentially Silverlight 6; a fully-featured, flexible toolkit for building applications. The exact relationship between DirectUI and Jupiter isn’t entirely clear at the moment. It’s possible that they’re one and the same—and that DirectUI will grow in functionality until it’s able to do everything that Silverlight can do. It’s also possible that DirectUI will retain only core functionality, with a more complete framework built on top of its features. Another option is that Jupiter refers specifically to immersive, full-screen, touch-first applications.
XAML and the WPF-like, Silverlight-like way of developing GUIs are going to be absolutely central to Windows development in the future. Testament to their new importance is a reorganization that occurred at the start of this week. Instead of operating under DevDiv’s roof, the XAML team has been broken into three parts. The group working on XAML and related technology for use in Windows has moved to WinDiv, and the group working on it for Windows Phone, Xbox, and the browser plugin has moved to Windows Phone. Only the group that works on the developer tools—including Visual Studio and Expression Blend—is staying behind in DevDiv. The internal Microsoft e-mail announcing the change notes that the XAML team has been working with the Windows team for the duration of Windows 8’s development; this move simply makes them a formal part of the UI team.
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What of HTML5 and JavaScript? They’ll be an option too. Microsoft has ventured down the HTML application path before, with its HTAtechnology. HTAs—HTML Applications—are packages of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and other resources that run in a special trusted mode. The normal constraints that regular HTML webpages are governed by—for instance, an inability to access local resources—don’t apply to HTAs: HTAs can write to the file system, access arbitrary network resources, and more. In other words, they’re webpages stripped of some of the limitations that make webpages unsuitable replacements for desktop applications.
New-style HTML5 immersive applications won’t be distributed as HTAs, but many of the same principles are likely to apply. Like HTAs before them, they’ll gain greater access to operating system functionality than regular webpages—so they’ll be able to call Windows APIs and have a user interface that feels less like a webpage, more like a native application. Feature-wise, they should be at the same level as .NET and native programs. It’s just that they’ll use an HTML5 programming model and JavaScript. The net result should be something that’s familiar to Web developers, but without the functional deficits that Web applications normally suffer.
Far from being a developer disaster, Windows 8 should be a huge leap forward: a release that threatens to make development a pleasure for native, managed, and Web developers alike. The unification of the .NET and native worlds; the full hardware acceleration; the clean, modern APIs; Avalon as the primary solution for creating Windows UIs—this is what Longhorn’s WinFX promised all those years ago, and this time around it looks like it might actually happen.
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Microsoft splits up its XAML team: What’s the fallout? [June 23, 2011] (emphasis is mine)
… Microsoft on June 20 split up its XAML team, sending part of it to Windows, part to Windows Phone and leaving part in the Developer Division, according to an e-mail from Developer Division chief Soma Somasegar dated June 20. …
From: S. Somasegar
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011
To: Client and Mobile Team
Cc: Developer Division FTE; Steven Sinofsky; Julie
Larson-Green; Terry Myerson; David Treadwell
Subject: Bringing together client platform effortsMICROSOFT CONFIDENTIAL
Over the last couple of years, our Client and Mobile team has done a fantastic job of building a number of XAML related technologies that have been a huge value add to the Microsoft client platforms and an instrumental part of delighting our developer customers. The agility and customer focus that the team has demonstrated over the years has been a pleasure to watch.
Today, we are making some organization changes to bring our platform technologies under a single management structure. These changes are centered around three focus areas:
• The team working on XAML technologies for Windows will move to Windows.
• The team working on XAML technologies for Windows Phone, Xbox and browser plugin will move to Windows Phone. [Microsoft Mobile Communications Business is now the Windows Phone Division [by Mary Jo Foly in ZDNET, June 16, 2011]]
• The Client and Mobile tools teams, including Windows Phone tools and XAML tools, will stay in DevDiv.
These changes are all effective immediately. From a performance review perspective, we will do this year’s performance review underthe DevDiv organization model.
I want to thank Kevin Gallo [publicly so far: General Manager on Silverlight, he was originally writing the graphics engine of WPF but by 2007 was already product unit manager for Silverlight, now he has been moved to the Windows Phone where the Silverlight heritage will continue to live] and the team for all the great work that they have done over the years. Moving forward, I’m very excited to bring the client platform efforts closer to the platform teams. There is a lot of very exciting and critical work underway as part of our next wave of platform releases and I am very eagerly looking forward to seeing the team’s work in the hands of our developers and customers.
The follow-up emails will provide more details on thechanges to those impacted. Please join me in wishing Kevin and the team all the very best as we move forward. If you have any questions about this change, please let your manager or me know.
-somasegar
Please welcome the XAML platform team to Windows! [by Scott Barnes, June 24, 2011] (emphasis is mine)
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From: Julie Larson-Green Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 9:35 AM To: Grant George; Jon DeVaan; Julie Larson-Green; John Cable; Yves Neyrand; Craig Fleischman; Bambo C. Sofola; Scott Herrboldt; Greg Chapman; Julie Bennett; Jeff Johnson; Ales Holecek; Mohammed El-Gammal; Chuck Chan; Michael Fortin; Eric Traut; Jensen Harris; Linda Averett; Alex Simons (WINDOWS); Gabriel Aul; Dennis Flanagan; Iain McDonald; Samuel Moreau; Dean Hachamovitch; Michael Angiulo; Antoine Leblond; Tami Reller; Chris Jones (WINDOWS LIVE); Jonathan Wiedemann; Ulrike Irmler; Adrianna Burrows Cc: XAML Team; Kevin Gallo; S. Somasegar; Terry Myerson; Sharman Mailloux Sosa; Brad Fringer; Steven Sinofsky
Subject: Please welcome the XAML platform team to Windows!
We’re pleased to announce the transition of the XAML platform team from the Developer Division to the Windows team. While the team has been working side-by-side with the Windows team for the entire project, this step brings them into our team formally.
The team will continue their work on Windows 8 as planned and will join our Developer Experience (DEVX) team. This transition allows us to bring together our platform development team in a single-management structure.
The dev, test, and pm leaders who will be leading the team reporting to AlesH, YvesN, and LindaAv are:
- Sujal Parikh, Development Manager
- Eduardo Leal-Tostado, Test Manager
- Joe Stegman, Group Program Manager
The leads and individuals joining our team are receiving this mail and have received communication on next steps.
These changes in leadership and organization are effective today. For the purposes of finishing out the fiscal year and the performance review process the team will operate under the existing management structure.
There will be an informal Q&A session today to welcome everyone and answer any questions that folks might have.
– XAML team welcome – 2:00-3:00 in building 37/1701Please join me in welcoming these folks to our organization! Julie…
Somewhat may be related: Non-iPad tablet vendors likely to launch new Wintel-based models to compete with Apple in 2012 [June 24, 2011]
Intel and Microsoft are jointly touting a new Wintel-based platform for tablet PCs, raising hopes among non-iPad tablet PC vendors that they may be able to compete more effectively with Apple in the segment in 2012 with models other than ARM/Android-based products, according to industry sources.
Most non-iPad table PC vendors have been frustrated recently due to lower-than-expected performance of their tablet PCs built with ARM/Android. While attributing the slow sales to the instability of Android and the strong brand image that Apple enjoys, some vendors have also begun mulling new strategies to strengthen their competitiveness.
Knowing the demand from tablet PC vendors, Intel and Microsoft have recently revealed a roadmap for their Wintel platform to production partners, said the sources, noting that the new platform will come with a less than 5W low-power CPU from Intel paired with Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS.
While Intel is also expected to lower prices for its new CPUs, tablet PC vendors also hope that the new Wintel platform will help them tackle the compatibility issues found between Android 3.0 and 3.1.
June 14-21:
Premature cries of Silverlight / WPF skill loss. Windows 8 supports all programming models [by David Burela, June 14, 2011]
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A few people have been digging into the Windows 8 Milestone 3 leak and peeking into the UI framework and .dlls that exist. The most vocal of these have been @JoseFajardo and people in this forum thread http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/26404-Windows-8-(7955)-Findings-in-M3-Leak
What people have found so far is that while yes it is possible to create applications using HTML + Javascript, there is a whole new framework laying underneath that can be programmed against by almost any language / framework.
The first piece of the puzzle comes from the new application model for creating applications. There are a number of codenames here that need to be sorted out
- DirectUI: The underlying framework that creates, draws the visual elements on the screen.
- Jupiter: The new packaging format of applications on Windows 8. Allows apps to be written in language of choice.
- Immersive applications: Current theory is that these are apps that execute within the ‘new shell’ in windows 8. And are aware of being split paned and resized. Like was shown with the RSS feed reader.
Direct UI
Direct UI has been around since Windows Vista days. Previous is seemed to be focused around UI basics for the OS such as theming app windows in the ‘new vista style’ vs. classic theming in WinXP. http://blog.vistastylebuilder.com/?tag=directui
Now it seems that Direct UI is being overhauled to have additional functionality to load XAML applications, new animations, etc.
…
Jupiter
interesting rumor fact : WP8 rumored to be codenamed Apollo, and Apollo is the son of Jupiter
Jupiter being the new UI framework of Win8
http://twitter.com/#!/josefajardo/status/78826337250451457…Jupiter is shaping up to be a very very lean SL/WPF implementation
http://twitter.com/#!/josefajardo/status/79423110755008512…your SL/WPF skills will be invaluable for DirectUI apps, and you get a new framework that is seriously lean!!!
http://twitter.com/#!/josefajardo/status/79425349938712577DirectUI.dll is basically Silverlight (agcore.dll) ported to Windows/WinRT
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/26404-Windows-8-(7955)-Findings-in-M3-Leak?p=441627#post441627Jose Fajardo has been a great source of information on Windows 8 leaks. From information he has dug up, as well as information on the forums, it seems that the new Jupiter programming API is a mashup between WPF & Silverlight.
…
While the new Jupiter programming model may not be a direct continuation of WPF or Silverlight it does seem to have a lot of code from both technologies. Jupiter instead seems to be a ‘Next generation’ XAML based framework. A framework that can be targeted against by all main current languages used by the typical .Net developer (C#, HTML, etc)
*speculation* This could be because of the calls from the development community to make WPF & Silverlight more aligned. Perhaps we’ll see an updated ‘Silverlight’ framework when Windows Phone 8 is released that is compatible with Jupiter.
Creating applications with Jupiter
As further evidence that Jupiter applications can be created with your language of choice, and that it has roots in Silverlight, here are some examples of how to create applications.
C# & XAML
Here is an example of using C# to invoke a new Jupiter based application. The really interesting thing to notice here is that the loading screen has the iconic Silverlight loading animation!
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C++
Example of an application being created in C++ with a single call to CreateImmersiveWindowFunc
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HTML + Javascript
There are some initial attempts at getting HTML working with the new frameworks. The apps and manifests have been created, but a few more hooks may be required to get a fully working version
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/26404-Windows-8-(7955)-Findings-in-M3-Leak?p=446552&viewfull=1#post446552There are mentions that you can hooks into Direct UI through the COM hooks from Javascript. And also that you may be able to use Direct UI XAML + Javascript. Similar to how Silverlight was done in the original Silverlight version 1.
Immersive applications
There is some confusion over the distinction between a “Jupiter app” and an “Immersive app”. Immersive apps require a call to CreateImmersiveWindow and can make calls to the new immersive namespace
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Immersive applications are ones that were shown to live inside of the new Windows 8 shell. Examples of functions that an immersive app can do can be seen with the RSS reader app. When it was docked and resized, it knew to display its data in a different format.
- Classic / Jupiter applicationswill run in the ‘classic windows’ desktop view that was seen when they fired up excel
- Immersive applications will be embedded within the new shell
Will this work for existing applications?
There is evidence that existing applications can be wrapped up in the new packaging format.
WindowsStore is basically written in C++ and leverages Windows Runtime. HTML5/JavaScript is just a (very very) thin layer for the interface
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/26404-Windows-8-(7955)-Findings-in-M3-Leak?p=442463&viewfull=1#post442463So while existing applications may not run with the new Direct UI framework, it seems they will still be able to be packaged and distributed through the Windows 8 App store. This was discovered by Long Zheng a few months ago.
The AppX format is universal enough so it appears to work for everything from native Win32 applications to framework-based applications (WPF, Silverlight) and even *gasp* web applications. Games are also supported.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20110405/first-look-at-the-future-of-application-deployment-on-windows-8-appx/Conclusion
While Microsoft only showed off the HTML hooks into Jupiter, I am a LOT more excited about the upcoming XAML based framework.
If you are an existing WPF, Silverlight or Windows Phone 7 developer, it seems that your XAML based skills will carry across fine to the new development framework on Windows 8.
My thoughts are that Microsoft announced that applications can be created in HTML in the same way that they announced it in WindowsXP with active desktop, and then again in Vista with “HTML based sidebar gadgets”. It was a way of saying “hey you can use your existing web skills to create applications on Windows 8.
And that Microsoft plans on unveiling the new Jupiter SL/WPF hybrid framework for all of the “Real developers” at BUILD in 3 months.…
riagenic [Scott Barnes, the harsh critic being a previous insider, see much below] Says:
June 14, 2011 at 7:13 pmHmmm… my memory is flooding mah brain with “remember…” moments… Before I left the team etc I remember hearing the windev teams wanted to put a 3rd Animation framework on the market. At first we laughed and ignored it with “oh great, what well need…a third option to confuse the already converted..”
Now thinking on it more, me thinks its this mystery framework coming to haunt us all. Now, i’m thinking this concept has existed but was already ported across to the XAML way of life around Windows 7 timelines (memory is sketchy on this one). If that’s correct then i think this is an official code-reset on WPF/Silverlight but with reduced capabilities (ie less the bloat).
Question is how mature is it compared to the two? it’s all well and good to throw a FILE->NEW->UX Platform onto the table, but if it lacks parity with the existing? what have we gained?….performance?…i’ll wait until i see how the fundametals found in most photoshop effects filters gets applied here and performs under what i call “developer-art load”….lots of glows, dropshadows and crazy ass animations..
…
Win8 M3 (7955) findings relevant to Managed .net & WPF/SL developers [[Jose Fajardo] June 14-17, 2011]
[Forum discussion on comparing WPF UIElement, Silverlight UIElement, WP7 Silverlight UIElement and WinMD(DirectUI)]
@vbandi András Velvárt
Don’t worry abt Silverlight! Jupiter has dep props, similar API & layout logic, RenderTransform, UIElement, etc http://bit.ly/mdL06i [Win8 M3 (7955) findings relevant to Managed .net & WPF/SL developers]
16 Jun via MetroTwit@vbandi András Velvárt
After analysing http://bit.ly/mdL06i , Jupiter SEEMS to me like a customized Silverlight for Win8. Much like SL 4 WP7, but more custom.
16 Jun via MetroTwit…
jmorrill Jeremiah Morrill
@josefajardo @markmacumber The other hard part is these guys are reverse engineering, so they might be looking at some private impls.
16 Junjosefajardo Jose Fajardo
@jmorrill @markmacumber exactly, they could be doing things with the beta bits that it was never intended to do. Wrong assumptions 😉16 Jun
@vbandi András Velvárt
@josefajardo @jmorrill @markmacumber Still better than burying an entire technology based on half a sentence. 🙂
16 Jun via MetroTwit
Continuation of that: Win8 M3 (7989) findings relevant to Managed .net & WPF/SL developers [[Jose Fajardo] June 19-24, 2011]
…
SilverlightWPF [Jose Fajardo] 21 Jun 2011 11:27 AM
Originally Posted by NaiveUser
- God, this article got so many things wrong, or I should say I beg to differ
so here is my take
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/…-trenches/9738 [Under the Windows 8 hood: Questions and answers from the trenches [by Mary Jo Foly in ZDNET, June 20, 2011]]- I guess there are two possible meanings for ‘Jupiter’, it could be the DirectUI.dll, or, it could be the whole api framework that exposed by WinRT/WinMD, includes DirectUI.dll and Windows.*.dll and some more. so basically Jupiter == DirectUI eitherway.
- essentially Windows Runtime is just ‘Modern COM’, which is just an interface for exposing code. its not an actual ‘runtime library’ like CLR. I think you can expose code written with any ‘runtime library’ as WinRT components, just like you can write COM components in C/VC++/VB6/Delphi/.NET/etc.
- DirectUI applications live in a HWND with a class called ‘JupiterWindowClass’ and a caption ‘Jupiter Window’, personally I think this IS strong ‘correlation’ betwwen Jupiter and DirectUI. and, as far as I can see there is ‘no direct correlation’ between DirectUI.dll and the old ‘DirectUI’ in dui70.dll which uses the ‘duixml’ markup.
- and I have never seen any connections between SLR/WCL and ‘everything else’. wcl*.dll exposed as WinRT ? where ? Windows Runtime is the marketing name for the SLR ? where does that come from ?
[Jose Fajardo:]
Jupiter could be an entire ecosystem too, could be the tooling + api that goes into creating jupiter apps.
Jupiter could be the next marketing buzz world, like “Silverlight” was!
Who the hell knows! I know I’m not confident enough to say that Jupiter==DirectUI!
Nor am I confident in saying WindowsRuntime is COM version next..
Regardless it’s all interpretation until MS come out and explain themselves.
Power to you if you can conclude all this, personally I only talk about things i know are factually correct that I’ve chased down to registry settings, code in exe’s/dll’s, or reproduced in code myself.
…
June 1 – June 3 and 6:
TINY FACTUAL INFORMATION FROM MICROSOFT
(say just HTML5 for now, not a bit more)
ilyen világos megfogalmazásokban én ezt mondanám:
– amit láttunk és hallottunk a demókban az olyan UX funkcionalitás, ami HTML5 és JavaScript ALAPÚ fejlesztési környezetből érhető el
– azt is láttuk, hogy amikor “az Interneten végzendő teendőkhöz nincsen ehhez az új UX környezethez szabott (“tailored”), új stílusú (“new style”) alkalmazásunk”, akkor az IE9-hez képest “touch first”-re áttervezett IE10-et használjuk
– ebben ugyanúgy vannak “odatűzött” webhelyek (“pinned sites”, vagyis URL-ekkel azonosított webalkalmazások vagy webhelyek), de vagy a Start Screen csemperendszerében vagy egy teljesen új kialakítású, amennyire meg tudom ítélni dinamikusan megjelenő (pl. “Frequent” illetve “Pinned” listák a képernyős billentyű felett) task bar-on helyezkednek el
– az új UX környezethez szabott (új stílusú) alkalmazások a Windows eszközökhöz (facilities) — tehát a natív platform eszközökhöz — is hozzáférhetnek, tehát nincsen két shell, csak egyetlen shell
– ugyanakkor arra a kérdésre, hogy miért nem írja át az Office részleg alkalmazásait erre az új UX környezetre, a konkrét válasz: “Valamit lehetséges, hogy tesznek a jövőben, most azonban az volt a célunk, hogy megmutassuk, nem kell az embereknek a meglévő alkalmazásaikat, melyeket jól ismernek, feladniuk ahhoz, hogy egy mobilabb form factorhoz jussanak. Vagyis az embereknek egy billentyűzetet kell csatlakoztatniuk és használhatják [régi alkalmazásaikat] ugyanúgy, mint eddig.”
The factual details:
Metro styled new entertainment experience on Xbox 360 [June 6, 2011]
Next-generation cloud client experiences based on the Metro design language [Jan 24, 2011]
Metro Design Language of Windows Phone 7 [on-line tutorial from Microsoft, Dec 5, 2010]
Building “Windows 8” – Video #1 [June 1, 2011]
– related press release: Previewing ‘Windows 8’ [June 1, 2011
… a few aspects of the new interface we showed today:
- Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
- Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
- Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
- Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
- Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
- Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.
… also talked a bit about how developers will build apps for the new system. Windows 8 apps use the power of HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML to deliver new kinds of experiences. These new Windows 8 apps are full-screen and touch-optimized, and they easily integrate with the capabilities of the new Windows user interface. There’s much more to the platform, capabilities and tools than we showed today.
… we have much more to reveal at our developer event, BUILD (Sept. 13 – 16 in Anaheim, Calif.)
Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky, live from D9 [June 1, 2011]
… Oh yeah, we built these in house, but we’re giving devs APIs and an SDK based on HTML5 and Javascript that allows them to create apps like this. We have lots of new tools, but still you can connect to our file tools, etc. … Apps can connect to each other. It’s not just apps alone, it’s applications connecting to each other. … You design for touch, and then we translate the touch commands to mouse and keyboard. …
Microsoft’s Windows 8 Demo From D9 (Video) [June 1, 2011]
Microsoft Unveils ‘Windows 8’ to World on 2011 Computex in Taiwan [June 2, 2011]
– the same with Silverlight Smooth Streaming video: Microsoft Unveils “Windows 8” to World
– the related Microsoft press release on 2011 Computex in Taiwan: Microsoft Previews ‘Windows 8’
Windows 8 NUI GUI Preview Video Shoots Past 2 Million Views the First Day [June 3, 2011]
… everything that users see in the demo videos will actually make it in the RTM Build of Windows 8, otherwise, Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division would not have allowed it to be made public, per the translucency communication strategy he implemented even before Windows 7.
In the end, I think it’s a safe bet to expect Sinofsky to underpromise and overachieve with Windows 8, just as he did with Windows 7.
Office and other apps:
Why not the Office team will rewrite the Office into that kind of aproach?
[Walt Mossberg, [6:45-6:51]]
They may do something in the future but we don’t think people should give up everything they know online just to get to a more mobile form factor. So people can plug-in a keyboard and use just like they would use otherwise.
[Julie Larson-Green [6:51-7:06]]
Windows 8: It’s the Applications, Stupid! [June 3, 2011]
It’s a huge question. While Larson-Green said that the current version of Office would behave in touch-friendly fashion in Windows 8, it’s obvious that it’s not going to feel like it was written for the new interface. (You could tell that when she fumbled with Excel as she tried to drag it off-screen with her fingertip.)
I imagine that the real answer to Walt and Kara’s queries is that yes, of course, Microsoft is going to reimagine Office for Windows 8. But even then, it’s not obvious whether the company is going to give Office a truly touch-centric interface as the default. (Sounds hugely risky and probably impossible to do well–all the Office apps are rife with features that will never work well without a mouse and keyboard.) Or mirror what it’s doing with Windows 8 and give Office two different interfaces. (That also sounds extremely tricky.) Or do something akin to what Apple did with its iWork suite, and build a separate version of Office with fewer features and a wholly new interface. (That sounds like it could make sense.)
Every other significant software developer is going to have to deal with similar questions. It’s not yet clear what the right answers are–it’s possible that Windows’ new look will be a bust and it’ll be silly to invest energy in supporting it. And the right answers will be different for different companies. But ignoring Windows 8 won’t be an option.
Could You Turn A Windows 8 Smartphone Into A Windows 8 Computer? [June 2, 2011]
I caught Sinofsky after his D9 talk and asked — would Windows 8, the full-blown operating system, be running on future phones?
Sinofsky smiled, and smiled big, but he only said that’s not something Microsoft has announced yet. So, we wait to see.
What if it happens? Getting to that unification “first” doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft somehow “wins” in doing so. For one, would it really run that well on phone-sized devices? That remains to be seen.
For another, it also means that Windows 7 Phone users would be upgrade-orphaned. The apps they have for that platform probably wouldn’t run on Windows 8 devices.
BUILD:
Does this [BUILD] event replace PDC this year and in the future?
Dr. Know said on June 2, 2010
BUILD isn’t a replacement of the PDC but a new event that takes a broader view of a developer community that now extends far beyond the realm of just “pro developers”. From hardware, to the web, to software and the PC … BUILD is the key developer event you should attend in 2011 (there won’t be a PDC this year).
Jennifer Ritzinger [Microsoft] said on June 3, 2010
BUILDing a bright future [June 1, 2011] (emphasis is mine)
… At BUILD, Microsoft will show off the new app model that enables the creation of web-connected and services-powered apps that have access to the full power of the PC.
The conference name, BUILD, reflects a call to action for the more than one hundred million developers driving the pace of technology: build experiences with the next version of Windows that will transform the computing experience for billions of people across the globe. …
Today, everyone can be a developer; the most tech-savvy generation we’ve ever seen is fueling demand for new tools and technologies. Many of the developers building web sites and apps that make an impact have no formal education in computer science or engineering. BUILD will be a gateway to new opportunity for all developers.
The professional developer community continues to be a vital part of the Microsoft ecosystem. We value the longstanding and deep relationship with this group and will continue to engage with this important audience in a way that best meets its needs. For these developers, BUILD connects Microsoft’s past to Microsoft’s future.
June 1 – June 6:
UPHEAVAL OF ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS (or more questions than answers)
- Food for harsh criticism because of absolutely no communication for the previous dev stories [ENORMOUS LENGTH]
- From a quite opinionated but quite unsatisfied previous insider: http://twitter.com/#!/MossyBlog[ENORMOUS LENGTH]
Food for harsh criticism because of absolutely no communication for the previous dev stories:
Windows 8: A missed opportunity. [June 3, 2011]
So the rumors were true. Microsoft was planning to radically reimagine Windows as we knew it. It would feature a modern, fluid touch interface, it was to be heavily inspired by Metro on Windows Phone, and it was to have an app store.
Good. Right? Not exactly. Its a bitter sweet outcome, because another rumor ended up being true. This one started by Scott Barnes, the sometimes controversial, seemingly always right former Silverlight PM. This rumor said that there was an internal struggle inside Microsoft, and the factions at war were the .NET/Wpf/Silverlight heads versus the Windows division heads.
The war is over. We lost. In an ironic, but telling turn of events, hot of the heels of the Mono guys forming a start up based around .NET, the inventors of the technologies themselves have seemingly given up on the platform.
Sounds dramatic, even outlandish right? Well so did the rumors about Silverlight, WPF, et all’s death. Yet here we are, and its sad because it represents a monumental missed opportunity.
Consider the following:
Microsoft had rare opportunity to throw backwards compatibility to the wind and make a clean cut. A fresh start. A new Windows.
Microsoft had the chance then to simplify and unify their developer story. Slim down .NET, remove the legacy cruft (Winform, older depreciated APIs) and simply call it “Silverlight”. Make it the de facto development platform on Windows, like it is on Windows Phone.
Say to developers: Here’s our Windows App store. The ONLY way to get published on the app store is to write a cross platform Silverlight application. This application will work on x86, x64, and ARM based environments. Its resolution independent, completely hardware accelerated, and secure.
You do many things at once: You simplify, unify, and move forward your developer story. You ensure a verifiable, secure execution environment on Windows 8. You solve the cross platform problem. You KEEP YOUR DEVELOPERS HAPPY. People who have invested years into your technologies do not appreciate being essentially shown the door.
Its fine to embrace HTML5/JS, if web developers want to cause themselves pain, then hey, thats them. Do NOT subject your loyal, devoted, armies of developers to the horrors of the web platform.
Microsoft: WTF?
We dont just need to #fixwpf, we need to #fixwindows8.
Microsoft refuses to comment as .NET developers fret about Windows 8 [Tim Anderson, June 3, 2011]
There is a long discussion over on the official Silverlight forum about Microsoft’s Windows 8 demo at D9 and what was said, and not said; and another over on Channel 9, Microsoft’s video-centric community site for developers.
At D9 Microsoft showed that Windows 8 has a dual personality. In one mode it has a touch-centric user interface which is an evolved version of what is on Windows Phone 7. In another mode, just a swipe away, it is the old Windows 7, plus whatever incremental improvements Microsoft may add. Let’s call it the Tiled mode and the Classic mode.
Pretty much everything that runs on Windows today will likely still run on Windows 8, in its Classic mode. However, the Tiled mode has a new development platform based on HTML and JavaScript, exploiting the rich features of HTML 5, and the fast JavaScript engine and hardware acceleration in the latest Internet Explorer.
Although D9 is not a developer event, Microsoft did talk specifically about this aspect. Here is the press release:
- Today, we also talked a bit about how developers will build apps for the new system. Windows 8 apps use the power of HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML to deliver new kinds of experiences. These new Windows 8 apps are full-screen and touch-optimized, and they easily integrate with the capabilities of the new Windows user interface. There’s much more to the platform, capabilities and tools than we showed today.
Program Manager Jensen Harris says in the preview video:
- We introduced a new platform based on standard web technologies
Microsoft made no mention of either Silverlight or .NET, even though Silverlight is used as the development platform in Windows Phone 7, from which Windows 8 Tiled mode draws its inspiration.
The fear of .NET developers is that Microsoft’s Windows team now regards not only Silverlight but also .NET on the client as a legacy technology. Everything will still run, but to take full advantage of Tiled mode you will need to use the new HTML and JavaScript model. Here are a couple of sample comments. This:
- My biggest fears coming into Windows 8 was that, as a mostly WPF+.NET developer, was that they would shift everything to Silverlight and leave the FULL platform (can you write a Visual Studio in Silverlight? of course not, not designed for that) in the dust. To my utter shock, they did something much, much, much worse.
and this:
- We are not Windows developers because we love Windows. We put up with Windows so we can use C#, F# and VS2010. I’ve considered changing the platform many times. What stops me each time is the goodness that keeps coming from devdiv. LINQ, Rx, TPL, async – these are the reasons I’m still on Windows.
Underlying the discussion is that developers have clients, and clients want applications that run on a platform with a future. Currently, Microsoft is promoting HTML and JavaScript as the future for Windows applications, putting every client-side .NET developer at a disadvantage in those pitches.
What is curious is that the developer tools division at Microsoft, part of Server and Tools, has continued to support and promote .NET; and in fact Microsoft is soon to deliver Visual Studio LightSwitch, a new edition of Visual Studio that generates only Silverlight applications. Microsoft is also using Silverlight for a number of its own web user interfaces, such as for Azure, System Center and Windows InTune, as noted here.
Now, I still expect that both Silverlight and native code, possibly with some new XAML-based tool, will be supported for Windows 8 Tiled mode. But Microsoft has not said so; and may remain silent until the Build conference in September according to .NET community manager Pete Brown [response #1 to the Silverlight Forum discussion [06-02-2011 6:44 PM]]:
- You all saw a very small technology demo of Windows 8, and a brief press release. We’re all being quiet right now because we can’t comment on this. It’s not because we don’t care, aren’t listening, have given up, or are agreeing or disagreeing with you on something. All I can say for now is to please wait until September. If we say more before then, that will be great, but there are no promises (and I’m not aware of any plans) to say more right now. I’m very sorry that there’s nothing else to share at the moment. I know that answer is terrible, but it’s all that we can say right now. Seriously.
While this is clearly not Brown’s fault, this is poor developer communication and PR from Microsoft. The fact that .NET and Silverlight champion Scott Guthrie is moving to Windows Azure is no comfort.
The developer division, and in fact the whole of Server and Tools, has long been a bright spot at Microsoft and among its most consistent performers. The .NET story overall includes some bumps, but as a platform for business applications it has been a remarkable success. The C# language has evolved rapidly and effectively under the guidance of Technical Fellow Anders Hejlsberg. It would be bewildering if Microsoft were to turn its back on .NET, even if only on the client.
In fact, it is bewildering that Microsoft is being so careless with this critical part of its platform, even if this turns out to be more to do with communication than technical factors.
From the outside, it still looks as if Microsoft’s server and tools division is pulling one way, and the Windows team the other. If that is the case, it is destructive, and something CEO Steve Ballmer should address; though I imagine that Steven Sinofsky, the man who steered Windows 7 to launch so successfully, is a hard person to oppose even for the CEO.
Update: Journalist Mary Jo Foley has posted [June 6] on what she “hears from my contacts” about Jupiter:
- Jupiter is a user interface library for Windows and will allow developers to build immersive applications using a XAML-based approach with coming tools from Microsoft. Jupiter will allow users a choice of programming languages, namely, C#, Visual Basic and C++.
Jupiter, presuming her sources are accurate, is the managed code platform for the new Windows shell – “Tiled mode” or “Tailored Apps” or “Modern Shell – MoSH”; though if that is the case, I am not sure whether C++ in this context will compile to managed or unmanaged code. Since Silverlight is already a way to code using XAML, it is also not clear to me whether Jupiter is in effect a new Windows-only version of Silverlight, or yet another approach.
Microsoft needs to tell Windows 8 developers now about ‘Jupiter’ and Silverlight [Mary Jo Foley, June 6, 2011]
I’ve blogged before about the XAML layer that Microsoft is building for Windows 8 as part of its “Jupiter” initiative. Yes, it still exists, I hear from my contacts. And yes, this will enable support of native Silverlight applications. (Does this mean Windows Phone apps written using Silverlight will be able to run on Windows 8 with no/few tweaks? I don’t know.)
…
Microsoft is still going to support Silverlight with Windows 8, and not only as a browser plug-in, my sources say.
At the 50,000-foot level, Microsoft wants to find a way to reinvigorate the Windows-development ecosystem. (I believe that’s one reason the Internet Explorer team has been talking all that “native HTML” nonsense. They really mean they’re trying to get developers to write HTML/JavaScript apps that use IE’s hardware acceleration for the “best” HTML experience.)
…
At the more granular and immediate level, Jupiter is the way that Microsoft is planning to get developers to write new “immersive” applications for Windows 8 that will use the IE 10 rendering engine while using the .Net and Silverlight technologies they already know. Jupiter is aiming to provide these developers with a managed code XAML library, so that developers can access the sensors, networking and other Windows 8 elements in a way to which they’re accustomed.
Applications built using Jupiter won’t be targeting the “classic” mode/shell that Microsoft showed off last week during its Windows 8 preview, I hear. They’ll be the same class of immersive apps targeting the new Modern Shell (MoSH) that Microsoft will be writing itself and/or trying to convince others to write using HTML5 and JavaScript.
It definitely seems Microsoft’s ultimate goal is to wean developers off Silverlight and to convince them to use HTML5 and JavaScript to write new apps for Windows, going forward. But until there’s better tooling for HTML5 (beyond what Microsoft provides via the F12 HTML tools in Internet Explorer), it seems the Softies are going to support .Net and Silverlight via new versions of Visual Studio, the .Net Framework and Expression.
I believe Jupiter is key to enabling Microsoft to continue to insist that Silverlight’s not dead (as far as a development platform) — at least for now. But anything that’s not a new Windows 8 “immersive,” modern application, going forward, is now going to be considered “legacy,” from what I can tell.
All of what I’ve said here is from sources who have asked not to be identified, not from Microsoft officials associated with Microsoft’s Windows or Developer Division. Like many devs I’ve heard from, I don’t believe Microsoft can’t afford to wait three more months to let its developer base know what its intentions are. So far, however, ill-advised silence seems to be the Softies’ plan….
[Pete Brown had a numerous other responses on that thread [Windows 8 apps going html5, wtf [from 06-01-2011 8:06 PM to 06-03-2011 3:23 PM when locked by Pete Brown] as until 3 days later having enormous visibility of 10,030,100 views] but being just kind of moderation responses, including – not a usual thing – editing responses by other for “non-civil” words, and finally closing the first thread and responding to another one with same topic [Windows 8 apps going html5, wtf – part 2 [from 06-03-2011 3:46 PM still on] as until 3 days later having large visibility of 1,118,657 views].
Besides Pete Brown’s responses the enormous bad publicity caused by that huge developers visibility will cost Microsoft quite a lot as Steve Barns nicknamed MossyBlog [See also his other responses after Pete Brown’s responses] remarked quite well on twitter:
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes: 900k views of just “Microsoft you suck” forum warfare.. thats over 500k eyeballs that Microsoft has to repair in min 2 years.. #fail 8 hours ago via web
replies ↓
josephcooney Joseph Cooney by rickasaurus @ @MossyBlog The stats on this page say it’s 9M going on to 10M http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/17.aspx?PageIndex=3 8 hours agorickasaurus Richard Minerich @ @MossyBlog We had an internal meeting today to discuss if we should discontinue all Silverlight development. It’s that bad.
rickasaurus Richard Minerich @ @MossyBlog Oh yeah, plus all of the Kinect hate they’re getting from E3 8 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @rickasaurus oh? i’ve missed reading the E3..on my afternoon todo list… whats the gist of it? 8 hours ago via web
replies ↓
rickasaurus Richard Minerich @ @MossyBlog Mostly just that hardcore gamers don’t give a toot about Kinect 🙂 8 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @rickasaurus i’d prefer to see more info around Kinect beyond gaming and into windows market(s)..well whats left of it post win8 lol 8 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @rickasaurus well Kinect as a game platform is really a wii style approach to it.. hardcore gamers arent really a good mkt for it 8 hours ago
@rickasaurus Richard Minerich @MossyBlog Sure, but E3 is a hardcore gamer conference, and MS was all Kinect! Kinect! Kinect! Kineeecccttttttt! 8 hours ago via TweetDeck
replies ↓
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @rickasaurus heheh well in Microsoft you ride the new shiny object until it loses its appeal..so they are in the peak of the kinect orgy 8 hours ago
rickasaurus Richard Minerich @ @MossyBlog That’s the MS navel gazing culture for you. They’re so myopic and it drives me insane to watch. 8 hours ago
in reply to ↑
@KristoferA KristoferA @MossyBlog @rickasaurus I presume there will be a JavaScript library for Kinect integration shipping with Win8… HTML + Kinect = Win 🙂 9 hours ago via web
replies ↓
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @KristoferA @rickasaurus i can’t wait to combine jQuery and Kinect..it will be awesome… yay.. #celebratemediocrity 8 hours ago
rickasaurus Richard Minerich @ @KristoferA Why not :). That could make for some cool surfing. 8 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes Sinofsky’s team need to be fired. thats my thoughts. 8 hours ago via web
replies ↓
VicKlien Vic Klien @ @MossyBlog – Any counterweights to team-Sinofsky internally? Assuming ScottGu and Soma would have other ideas, I guess they’re outranked. 7 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @VicKlien well i always thought @scottgu and team-sinfosky were two dueling titans internally anyway..but bobmu left, scotts in azure..so.. 7 hours ago
VicKlien Vic Klien @ @MossyBlog – The current when-to-reveal issue aside, do we really know Soma and ScottGu don’t also support promoting HTML5/JS above .NET? 7 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @VicKlien Of course they support it… just like i support <insert your belief system> when you have a gun to my head 🙂 7 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes 9 million is more than that site gets in a year almost… HOLY FUCK… 9 million people all seeing “Silverlight is kinda dead” undercurrent 8 hours ago via web
replies ↓
traskjd John-Daniel Trask @ @MossyBlog Bet all the advertisers paying per impression on the SL forum are getting great ROI… 8 hours ago
josephcooney Joseph Cooney @ @MossyBlog plus the follow-up post (which is presumably what you saw) is nearly at 1M. That’s a lot of discontent. 8 hours ago
Pete_Brown Pete Brown @ @MossyBlog @josephcooney And there’s an open letter thread with 100k views. Smaller threads too, mostly OT, but I’m letting them stay 8 hours ago
in reply to ↑
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes I feel for guys like @Pete_Brown who later have to clean this shit up. Pete needs to clone himself fast… /cc @josephcooney
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes
I am so glad I’m not a Microsoft Evangelist still.. i mean..fark me.. talk about walking into the lions den. 8 hours ago via web
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes 10 million pageviews so lets assume 50% of that is uniques… 5 million ppl around the world seeing “HTML5 vs JS is the future” undercurrents 8 hours ago via web
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malcolmsheridan Malcolm Sheridan @ @MossyBlog I think you should stop computing and take up gardening! 8 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes There goes 3 years+ of hard work around Silverlight branding… nice one Sinofsky you jackass 8 hours ago via web
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jcdickinson Jonathan C Dickinson @ @MossyBlog the whole Win8 + HTML5 thing is easily fixed: <object data=”data:application/x-silverlight-2,”… 🙂 7 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes windows internal politically objectives was to make Silverlight / .NET fail.. Mission accomplished.. you just undid 3 years of work in ~1wk 8 hours ago via web
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jtango18 Justin Taylor @ @MossyBlog I think you overestimate the liklihood of MS devs walking away from the platform. 8 hours ago
mstrobel Mike Strobel @ @MossyBlog the Windows team really doesn’t have the clout to effect change of this magnitude; devs aren’t going to abandon .NET for HTML. 8 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @mstrobel well that and lets just say we just sized the market of who they have to convince..5 million devs need to believe HTML5 8 hours ago via web
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes 5million+ is now your baseline for html5 convince metrics msft in 2yrs need to say They have more than this in adoption 8 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes What if the Blend team were working on a HTML5 design tool… what would you all say… 😀 8 hours ago via web
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shrage Shrage Smilowitz @ @MossyBlog Html 5 design tool? yea and they’re going to call it Microsoft FrontPage? 7 hours ago
SilverlightMan Noah Addy @ @MossyBlog I would love that idea!!! Spitting out Javascript code for HTML5 development is no fun! 7 hours ago
lazycoder Scott Koon @ @MossyBlog “Please stop” 8 hours ago
KristoferA KristoferA @ @MossyBlog If the new Win8 UI instead was C# + HTML5/MSHTML instead of HTML5+JS then I would be less sceptical about it. 8 hours ago
kitron kitron @ @MossyBlog They better be working on something like that. 8 hours ago
mstrobel Mike Strobel @ @MossyBlog Same thing I said to Blend: no thanks. 8 hours ago
KristoferA KristoferA @ @MossyBlog .net is strong on the language and framework side. UI design tools is only a tiny part of the dev story… 8 hours ago
KristoferA KristoferA @ . @MossyBlog HTML5 and the HTML DOM is *not* the weak part. JavaScript is. A C# compiler that emits JS would be a different story. 8 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @KristoferA its possible 😉 …but to what gain? XAML out..HTML5 in? ..what gain? 8 hours ago via web
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KristoferA KristoferA @ @MossyBlog You know that SL and WPF sucks performance wise. If IE can supply a rendering engine that can be used from .net then it is a Win 8 hours ago
KristoferA KristoferA @ @MossyBlog A good app framework (.net fx), a solid language (C#), and a good rendering engine is all I ask for. JS is not a C# replacement. 8 hours ago
KristoferA KristoferA @ @MossyBlog XAML to HTML5 would be status quo. Maybe better performance. But what I am saying is: the UI rendering is a tiny part of apps. 8 hours ago
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mstrobel Mike Strobel @ @MossyBlog Same thing I said to Blend: no thanks. 8 hours ago
mabster Matt Hamilton @ @mstrobel I was shocked at the number of hands (including mine) that went up at #mvp11 when asked who hand-codes XAML. /cc @MossyBlog 8 hours ago
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@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @mabster @mstrobel i stopped being shocked and it grew into frustration.. “if only there was a tool that did that for you?” hmmm.. 8 hours ago via web
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mstrobel Mike Strobel @ @MossyBlog @mabster I mean, would you use a tool that wrote C# code for you? I loathe Blend. Hand-coding w/ R# is so much better IMO. 8 hours ago
mabster Matt Hamilton @ @MossyBlog I’ll try Blend at some point I guess. Hand coding works really well for me. /cc @mstrobel 8 hours ago
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes Heh sinofsky gets on stage and suddenly 10m voices all vanish at once – starwars / sl forum joke Tehehehe 5 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
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redboltsnz Guy Robinson by MossyBlog @ @MossyBlog bottom line is D9 was about the end UX. Should never have talked about the technology unless they wanted to engage with devs. 3 hours ago
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@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @redboltsnz that’s actually a great insight… i agree! ..they should of just said “this is purty win8”.. 3 hours ago via web
Back to Pete Brown’s real responses: I will consider his first non-moderating response on that as his real response #2 (almost a whole day passed between those, he probably got permission from the above to really respond):]
Pete Brown’s #2 response [06-03-2011 4:30 PM] (Microsoft Community Program Manager – WPF, Silverlight, XNA, Windows Phone, more) (emphasis is mine)
That first link is a gizmodo article [Windows 8 and Its Incredibly Cool New Touch Interface [June 1, 2011]]. Nowhere in there is a microsoft person saying that HTML/Javascript are the exclusive way to write applications. It’s a new way, it’s an exciting way, and, let’s face it, a way that is likely to be hugely popular with web developers.
News outlets make assumptions. I can’t respond to that, neither does MS PR for reasons I don’t entirely fathom.
The press release shows only what we showed that day and is carefully worded to state as much. It doesn’t speak to Windows 8 as a whole.
I’m not a PR person. I don’t know why we word things the way we do, or why we show certain things. I’m just asking folks not to make assumptions here (one way or the other) based on information we haven’t actually shared.
We can’t say anything else until September. Trust me that the previous thread was visible at some of the highest levels inside Microsoft (one reason I edited to remove the trolls and insulting that was a problem and obscuring the message the thread was sending)
To be very clear: I’m not saying anything here other than “wait for //build/” and our press release is the official word until you hear otherwise from PR or top Microsoft leadership. There are no promises being made here. I’m not stating support or lack of support for any specific technology or group of technologies.
Pete Brown’s #3 response [06-03-2011 5:33 PM] (emphasis is mine)
Guys, don’t make it personal. It’s heading down the same road as next time.
Keep it to issues on topic. Keep it civil. Don’t be mean. Be respectful. Remember, we’re all peers here, not enemies.
Pete Brown’s #4 response [06-03-2011 6:32 PM] (emphasis is mine)
g.t.:
We spent 2 years developing a WPF project, and after all what I have seen, I am defiantly going html5 + JavaScript.
This makes zero sense to me and seems reactionary rather than a well-thought-out architectural decision.
You saw that you can write WPF apps for Windows 8. “Existing apps will run”. TBD if they can use the new shell, but they do run in classic mode at a minimum.
While I’ll be happy to be proven wrong, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the majority of internal business applications are not going to make use of the new tile interface in a big way. Why? From my own informal surveys and 15 years in consulting (I’ve been at Microsoft just over 1.5 years), most business users, developers, and managers, are still stuck in “500 fields and a 100 column datagrid” mode when designing apps. It’s rare to find a team with a real UX pro involved up-front and who have the capability, skill, desire (and time/funding) to move beyond that. In addition, many businesses still run XP, or they run Windows 7 and will continue to do so for a long time. Windows 8 won’t be released for some time, and 7 is a very good OS with long legs. I’ve even seen businesses that require their users to stick with the classic Win2k style shell no matter what OS.
That all said, we’re squarely targeting WPF at ISV type applications, and Silverlight at business developers. I’ve been saying that one for a while now. That has no bearing on what we’re doing for Windows 8. Whether or not you can target the tile interface using anything beyond HTML/JS/CSS is a question for the //build/ conference to answer.
Silverlight 5 is still in progress. WPF v.next is still in progress. Both are scheduled for release. Both are real products with real features that real developers find really useful 🙂
Finally, we don’t have the full story. Making future architectural decisions based on assumptions from demos is irresponsible. Saying we should tell you more does not change the fact that you are making a decision based on a very minimal amount of evidence.
Pete
Pete Brown’s #5 response [06-05-2011 1:52 AM] (emphasis is mine)
GOD_G:
In september I expect to see in Pete’s blog articles like “The Present of Silverlight and WPF!” and “A lap around HTML5!”
I’m not a good Javascript developer. I dabble from time to time just with my site, but I have other people on my team who are currently doing an awesome job covering that side (Jon and Joe). Plus, if you knew me or my history in the WPF and Silverlight community (I doubt you do given your newness here), I’m not really one for party-line messaging.
History will be the only thing that shows what I do in September. Anything else is just additional speculation.
Until then, fire away. Going after me is easy at the moment (as a community guy, I expect this), but unfortunately that’s doing nothing to further your purposes. I’m not offended, but I feel like if you’d apply that energy to a different approach, you might accomplish something.
FWIW, With the exception of the few posts that came in after the thread lock in the old thread (*I* think there was a race condition there, but the site dev team doesn’t quite agree<g>), I haven’t deleted posts criticizing me or Microsoft, just those attacking other members, and none in this new thread so far.
Pete Brown’s #6 response [06-05-2011 2:02 AM] (emphasis is mine)
HephaistosX:
“The interface is so new that applications will have to be re-written for it from the ground up, just like DOS applications had to be re-written for Windows. These new applications will have interesting qualities. For example, they’ll be written in either HTML5 or JavaScript”
Unless it came directly from the mouth of Microsoft – specifically through our press releases, it’s not “fact”. It’s “speculation”.
Unfortunately, that’s what news outlets do – it helps to pull in readers when they appear to be offering additional detail. They don’t have access to any more detail than the rest of the public.
Pete Brown’s #7 response [06-05-2011 2:48 PM] (emphasis is mine)
Light Crystal:
I invested 3 years of my life to study C#, XAML and Silverlight framework, MVVM pattern to build games. 2 Years ago, it was a party, was all super happy times, just before the damn iphone take foot along the market. And now “ipèd” too. Apple and Google have no dev tools, so they leverage the standard one just to not be pitiful, and they have had success, unfortunately.
Now, i’m ready to start a new company with a huge project, and i’m BLOCKED until September.Why are you blocked? Why does an operating system your customers won’t have for years block you from using tools that are out *now*? Silverlight 5 will be released before end of year, as promised. Nothing has changed there.
While I know direction is very important for long-term planning, as developers we need to stop chasing the shiny ball and instead use what best serves us and our customers today. Keep an eye to what is in the future, but don’t block your current projects because of that.
It’s like buying PC components. I’ve built every PC I’ve owned since my last and only boxed purchase: an IBM PS/1 286 (which itself followed the Commodore 128 I got for Christmas). Each time I do that, I have to make a decision as to what CPU/memory/motherboard etc. to purchase as there is *always* something better coming down the pike. Those better chips often mean different memory architectures and lots of other things. However, if I waited each time instead of using the best of what I had right then, I’d still be running that 286 I had before I built my first computer, a 486dx33.
This is by no means a comment on how the message is being handled, nor am I downplaying the impact here. I totally understand what’s going on; I haven’t had enough Kool-aid to lose that 🙂
As a former consultant for 13 years (where I did VB4,5,6, SQL Server, .NET, WPF, Silverlight and more) and internal IT guy for 4 years before that (doing lots of projects in a mix of VB3, Powerbuilder, Delphi, dBase, FoxPro, QBasic, and Borland C++ – when was the last time our portfolios were that diverse?), I’m just hoping to offer a little perspective. We should work with what we have today, and with what we know for sure is coming short-term, especially when all we have to go on otherwise is speculation.
At its core, last week’s questions, votes, threads and more come down to:
- What can we use to write Modern / Immersive applications in Windows 8
- What’s going to run on tablets
I’m not sure that either of those impact that vast majority of business developers in a real day-to-day way other than peace of mind (which is important, but not business critical). For sure there will be lots of app developers targeting the new stuff, but for most, it won’t come for quite a while. There’s the Windows release schedule, then the adoption schedule, then the internal IT adoption schedule (which is always way behind), then the ramp up on taking advantage of the new features of the OS.
For a bit now, we’ve been saying “Silverlight for high-end media and business applications, HTML for broad reach and consumer-oriented stuff, Silverlight/XNA on phone, and WPF for ISV (big shrinkwrapped apps)”. I haven’t heard/seen anything that would make me change that recommendation.
For the people who are quick to jump on “Silverlight is dead” at companies, I can’t help you there. Those folks were looking for any excuse. Every nugget of news that comes out gets reinterpreted as that, despite Microsoft having come out and explicitely stated several times that these technologies aren’t dead. We had a Silverlight firestarter 7 months ago, and despite the HTML-heavy messaging at MIX, we also had a bunch of Silverlight 5 sessions *and* the release of Silverlight 5 beta.
And when things do change sometime in the future (eventually, everything has to change – nothing is forever, this is not a comment about anything short-term) you and your management should take a measured approach to transition to the new technology. This is no different than many other migrations. Heck, I’ve been trying for a while to get people to move from Windows Forms (a technology which is being maintained, but not enhanced) but folks want to stay there. When I give Silverlight talks at events like Tech Ed, the vast majority of the room is still doing Windows Forms projects, many on Windows XP or Vista. That’s the reality of what’s actually out there in businesses. You will have plenty of time to adapt as necessary (or not, as appropriate) and make reasonable and educated decisions about where you want to take your skills personally, and your company as to where it what it wants to leverage.
I have to question any time I hear rumors about projects being canceled or put on hold based on a rumor of where we may take a technology several years down the road. While some of those are certainly sound, the rest seem like either knee-jerk reactions, or the management wasn’t sold on the technology to begin with.
I don’t think anyone here has been wasting time learning these skills.
And while I don’t agree with the extremes on either side of this debate (the “nothing is wrong, why are you complaining” and the “I’ve wasted my career” sides) I do think that, as developers, diversifying your technology portfolio is always a good idea. Specialization can be good, but just like with stocks, if you invest too much in just one thing, your results are going to have lots of peaks and valleys instead of being more even. Of course, the person saying that has spent the last 4+ years deeply specialized, so take that as you will 🙂
Pete Brown’s #8 response [06-05-2011 2:53 PM] (emphasis is mine)
.netdan:
Why doesn’t the Silverlight.net home page get updated as often as it used to?
The blogs keep coming, but what about the News, Community Samples? There used to be loads of samples now theres about 5 a month if were lucky.
The showcase hasn’t been updated for ages, there used to be 10+ new showcases every 2 weeks or so, what’s happened to that?
Silverlight has a future I’m sure, I just wonder what exactly it is.
I curate a fair bit of this stuff. Here’s an explanation
Community Samples: They need to be written by the community. They’re just not coming as quickly as they used to. This is both because what’s there already covers almost all the easy scenarios, and because many Silverlight devs are doing WP7
Showcase: I took it upon myself to start weeding out old stuff, and to raise the bar for new submissions. Showcase needs to be showcase-level material, not a dumping ground. While I’m not yet where I want to be there, we have certainly rejected a lot more things than we had before. If the submission doesn’t meet the bar and they’re willing to include source code, I ask them to submit to the community samples.
Even blogging has slowed down. That’s partially because it’s the summer, partially because folks are waiting for the next release, and partially because many Silverlight devs are doing WP7 work.
FWIW, we’re also working on the next version of this site. Check it out at http://beta.silverlight.net
Just some insight 🙂
Pete Brown’s #9 response [06-05-2011 3:29 PM] (emphasis is mine)
SilentObserver:
ray reymond:Lure disheartened SL/WPF/.Net folks to Android world, “Look Java and C# are almost the same so there’s not much transition pain, and we are serious about supporting Android. We will not back-stab you guys like Microsoft just did.
And it’s working for them. My team needs to kick off building a relatively simple app for tablets during this and next month. Since Microsoft is giving us the silent treatment until September, I’ve started watching the android dev videos here: http://developer.android.com/videos/index.html#v=Oq05KqjXTvs . We will be evaluating the platform while waiting for clarifications from Microsoft. It’s a familiar concept for every SL developer. Their tools aren’t as good and C# has surpassed Java, so it would be a step down for us. But not as big of a step down as moving to javascript. The back-stabbing argument is probably the most important of all. We need to be able to trust our OS vendor and Microsoft has lost a tremendous amount of developer loyalty.
I’m with you all in that we could have/should have handled this better. However, I don’t think we’ve back-stabbed anyone. No one at Microsoft said HTML is the only way to go here, it’s just an approach we’re highlighting at the moment.
Unfortunately, we have a long-standing policy of not responding to press rumors and whatnot, so we can’t say anything about the interpretations the press has put out based on this small demo. I’m not even supposed to be posting about this here, but as the community guy for SL/WPF etc., I can’t help myself.
Yeah, “Wait until September” sucks for people who want to know *now*, but it’s not backstabbing. Remember, most other companies simply tell you nothing until the product is launched. We tried to give some info about something that we know will excite a segment of the community. I’m very concerned that the backlash is going to lead to silence being SOP in the future. 😦 I’m not blaming anyone, just pointing out a possible outcome.
Pete Brown’s #10 response [06-05-2011 3:43 PM]
Just a quick reminder for folks to keep it civil. I’ve seen a few posts that are starting to lean a little too far over the edge. Let’s keep language wars out (you won’t resolve anything), and no personal attacks.
Thanks.
Pete Brown’s #11 response [06-05-2011 3:57 PM] (emphasis is mine)
SilentObserver:
If the above is true, there is nothing to be gained by keeping it secret. So we must conclude that it isn’t true, at least as of now.
We know we can get the “legacy desktop” experience. However, our customers are doctors who own the lastest Apple gadgets. They expect us to deliver the same experience on their medical devices. If we are confined to the legacy desktop, we won’t be able to do that.
If you’re planning to develop for Windows 8 tablets, you have plenty of time. The wait until September is pretty short in comparison.
You’re also making an assumption based on the absence of information. “I didn’t hear from Joe, so he must be dead.” seems far less logical than just keeping it unknown – well, until some reasonable period passes anyway. There’s something about a box and a cat that applies here, but I’m not going there 🙂
I know it’s going to be a long summer now, and I know this is very frustrating and has everyone on edge, but I encourage you to reserve judgment until //build/. Then, once we’ve come forth with a good and full picture of Windows 8 plans, rather than just a quick consumer-focused preview, make your informed decisions.
Pete Brown’s #12 response [06-05-2011 4:59 PM] (emphasis is mine)
SilentObserver:
I appreciate you trying to calm everybody down . You’ve been given an impossible task by your PR people.
Thanks. Not anything that was given me. In fact, we’re supposed to just be quiet. That’s not in my genes, though.
I’m not so much interested in calming folks down as I am interested in getting to the core issues here and getting folks to keep any criticism on target (not attacking HTML devs or Silverlight devs, for example). And, of course, to remind folks that we’ll be talking much more about Windows 8 at //build/
Pete Brown’s #13 response [06-05-2011 5:00 PM]
SilentObserver:
A more accurate analogy would be : “I know Joe and Jim were fighting in the parking lot, and Jim just showed up very happy, so Joe must be badly bruised.” 🙂
lol. You win that one 🙂
Pete Brown’s #14 response [06-05-2011 5:06 PM] (emphasis is mine)
brosner88:
A pretty, elegant or easy to use shell UI is can be a nice selling feature to end users. It does nothing for developers.
And here we get to the crux. That demonstration video was not for developers. //build/ is for developers. HTML was mentioned as pretty much everyone gets it, even non-developers. And, quite frankly, that’s pretty cool that we’re doing that; a company that has gotten (in some cases, deserved) flak for not adopting standards is now incorporating one into the heart of their flagship product.
Yes, we mentioned HTML, but no one showed code. If it was meant for developers, you *know* we’d have had someone up there with an IDE open.
So: that demo, the walk-through video, and the related press release were all for non-devs, //build/ is for devs.
Pete Brown’s #15 response [06-05-2011 5:16 PM] (emphasis is mine)
jackbond:
Psychlist1972:know it’s going to be a long summer now, and I know this is very frustrating and has everyone on edge, but I encourage you to reserve judgment until //build/.
What if we say no, and that that’s simply unacceptable? I for one am willing to withdraw my app from the marketplace. Anybody else?
That’s entirely your right. I just don’t think it’s a particularly savvy move given that it is based on speculation and rumor which themselves are based on a consumer-focused demo of an unreleased operating system and the related consumer-focused press release.
Pete Brown’s #15 response [06-06-2011 1:11 AM] (emphasis is mine)
kimsk112:
Anyone knows if the Prism group (patterns & practices) is now working mainly on this Silk project (HTML5/JQuery) instead of Silverlight/WPF Prism?
If they stop committing to Silverlight/WPF Prism, I think we know what Microsoft is thinking now.
P&P is a peer team to mine (although much larger), in the same side of devdiv, called EPX. I believe they’re still working on Silverlight/WPF prism; I haven’t heard anything to the contrary. They’ve been beat up a bit in the past, however, for not having enough web guidance. Silk is part of the effort to make up the difference there.
That said, I’m not sure what else there is to add to prism. I haven’t looked at the backlogs, but it has to be getting pretty mature by this point.
The prism book was one of the hottest things at the Developer Guidance/P&P booth at Tech Ed 🙂
Pete Brown’s #16 response [06-06-2011 3:44 PM] (emphasis is mine)
FWIW, we don’t use third-party media outlets to announce things or do damage control unless it’s a quoted interview or video of MS folks. Even then, it’s rare not to have the real annoncement on our PR site.
Pete Brown’s #17 response [06-06-2011 9:29 PM] (emphasis is mine)
In case you haven’t seen this, Hanselman’s “Don’t give bile a permalink” is a good read.
[Why? For things like that: “If you’re a nudist and you give your technical talks on C# naked, I likely won’t be there to watch your talk. You may feel REALLY strongly about nudism, and I wish you well. You may believe in the legalization of drugs and prefer to give your technical presentations high, and I say, kudos, but I and others may not show. There are some social norms, and you should know what they are and know how strongly you feel about them when you take your message to a larger audience. ”]
From a quite opinionated but quite unsatisfied previous insider: http://twitter.com/#!/MossyBlog
Scott Barnes
@MossyBlog Brisbane
Former Product Manager (Silverlight/WPF) Microsoft Corp, UX Specialist, The guy leading the mob on FIXWPF.org and blogging dude behind RIAGENIC.com
http://www.riagenic.com
his response to the on going debate on Silverlight Forum
MossyBlog response #1 [06-06-2011 10:03 PM] (emphasis is mine)
A few points if I may:
- Not saying anything is one thing admitting it… dear god why. This isn’t directed at Pete to all staff members, if you can’t get involved in the discussion then avoid the discussion completely. Jumping into the fray and asking all to calm down while at the same time not offering answers is not wise. It only fuels further conspiracy theories for one and secondly it creates a focused point of frustration for all to increment geek-rage at. Either join the discussion or don’t but not half-way.
- Perception vs Reality. The amount of times when we use to deal with constant battles around Silverlight mainly from a perception base vs the reality was a daily occurenceso Microsoft Staff, while I admire your bravery here by jumping into the fray with “probably” correct is a diasterous way of handling the corporate communication(s). You’re actually doing more harm that way and if i was still in the Silverlight team i’d be making moves to put a gag order on you for it – its not your motivates aren’t righteous but you are actually now validating some of the speculation by keeping it half-yes half-no.
- New Joins vs Trolling. On one hand its great to see new members whilst on the other hand its sad under these circumstances. The point of order here is this, Corporate Comms 101 is a tire fire right now, people are frustrated and having an outlet like this to voice such concerns is a beast that well – staff – you created. If people are joining to either remain anonymous and voice their rage or so on, so be it all you can all do is reallly just sit and listen …that..or join the conversaton and start squashing some of the rumous / speculation mentioned earlier. Time to get involved.
- Moderation. If you have a situation whereby the villagers are going to storm your gates, its better to marshall them into an area you can control more to the point you can isolate. Having such a firm strict hand on a forum such as this isn’t smart as what you’re really saying to the hordes of both positive & negative emotion is “take your fight elsewhere”. You don’t want that, you want this isolated and pocketed to one area of the web as much as possible as when you do finally do your reveal in September you can then provide a much more sturdier platform to voice your smackdowns. Right now this is just plain stupid.
Pete. Personally I am fan of your work and will often support you even when I think you’re wrong because at the end of the day you work very hard to make a difference to communities like this. My personal advice to you is step aside, don’t take this bullet as the Windows team have some damage to fixand as some managers in the Silverlight team used to say “If you going to break up a fight, be prepared to be punched in the face”.
Let the horde vent their rage, its fast creating a marshalling point for you to provide some much needed corporate communication(s) to down the track.
To the masses here on this thread: You can argue amongst yourselves all you want, to what end? all you’re really doing is seeing who can bark the loudest.. the reality is this won’t have impact as the decisions around this entire messaging framework if you want to call it that goes much higher than those who moderate / read these forums. At best all staff like Pete can do etc is provide a thread or snippet of quotes to execs in a “quoted” format with “Please help me help you” call to action. It’s more than likely that email will be ignored.
My advice – wait this HTML5 bubble gum pop idea out as it’s one thing to say “all devs will create HTML5 apps” and its entirely another to have it happen. This is about the 4th time Windows team have tried to kickstart the HTML pipedream and what they fail to realise is that folks who do adopt Microsoft tech enjoy .NET [while] folks who don’t, just don’t like Microsoft as a brand and it mainly has nothing to do with technology discussion. Can’t imagine why they loose faith in the brand though? can you 😉
–
Scott Barnes
Former Product Manager (well 1yr ago lol) for Silverlight/WPF 🙂
–
Scott Barnes
Anti-Evangelist
To which came the following:
npolyak1 reminder [06-06-2011 11:29 PM]
And here is an article by Scott Barnes written last September warning everyone about what is coming (would we all listen to him)
npolyak1 addendum #1 [06-06-2011 11:40 PM] (emphasis is mine)
Excerpt from Scott’s article:
I’m simply about highlighting the disconnect here and if the Windows 8 / IE teams of today think that Silverlight / WPF is something they can deprecate because they dislike people in DevDiv or its current model then think again, as this is one of those rare moments in time where you have a hung jury in terms of which of the two is really the best bet.
npolyak1 addendum #2 [06-06-2011 11:41 PM]
Apparently Windows 8 / IE teams decided that they indeed can deprecate WPF and SL. Moreover, MS seems to allow them to get away with it.
npolyak1 addendum #3 [06-06-2011 11:48 PM]
Windows team seem to have gotten what they wanted – they destroyed the developer tools division, but they are also destroying a large part of Microsoft – in my estimate this crazy idea will cost at least $50 billion in market capitalization.
Drzog response to npolyak1 [06-06-2011 11:51 PM] (emphasis is mine)
Interesting article – it explains much, and is very disconcerting. Call it conspiracy theory, but I’ve noticed a number of HIGHLY VISIBLE Silverlight marketing links are not functional on the following prominent Microsoft websites:
(1) http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ This is the entry point URL for anyone inquiring about Silverlight, and ranks first or second when searching on “Silverlight”. Guess what? Click the first thing you see — the “Play” button — and then “Launch Demos” and sadly, none of the first three video streaming examples work. SHAMEFUL.
(2) http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/future/ This is Microsoft’s “The Future of Microsoft Silverlight” page. Click the first call to action button “Watch the Silverlight Five Announcement” — guess what? NO VIDEO. Then try the “High Quality WMV” link. Guess what — staggered and strobed pixelation. SHAMEFUL.
These are Microsoft’s leading URLs for Silverlight information. Go figure.
Scott Barnes response to the erietta [user experience designer. news hound. art lover. in Sydney] 10 hours ago [vs 06-07-2011 11:00 CET]
UI experts upbeat on Windows 8 preview itnews.com.au/News/259674,ui… via @itnews_au what say you @MossyBlog ?
So copied here: UI experts upbeat on Windows 8 preview [June 6, 2011] (emphasis in bold is mine)
But are icons more effective?
User interface experts have expressed surprise at the re-design of the Windows OS interface, giving Microsoft the thumbs up for touch-based gestures and use of web app development standards.
The new interface, previewed late last week, replaces menu bars and icons with tiles akin to Windows Mobile 7.
A panel of Australian user interface gurus told iTnews the preview was significant.
Whereas web applications were once developed to mimic richer desktop applications, users now prefer the simplicity and ease of navigation of web applications.
Today, the desktop OS attempts to mimic the web.
“Hallelujah, at last, someone got it!” said Anthony Colfelt, Creative Director at web user experience firm, Different.
Microsoft’s tiles “take the best from informational web-design and applies it to the main computer UI,” he said.
He was particularly impressed that Microsoft has chosen to run applications developed with HTML 5 and Javascript, to prepare for an “inevitable shift toward light-weight terminal computers that rely on web-served applications.”
Colfelt said Microsoft was “finally attempting to lead in the area of UI and experience, rather than following Apple.”
“It has always been to Microsoft’s advantage to open up their system (for a reasonable fee) to the masses of developers and hardware manufacturers,” he said.
”Lots of programmers and machines equals lots of cheap programs and computers, and that means lots of accessibility for the consumer.”
Richard Edwards, Principal Analyst at Ovum said the preview proved Microsoft is still a “viable market-maker.”
Made for tablets
Shane Morris, director at UI specialists Automatic Studio said the interface “shows that Microsoft is serious about embracing touch and slate-based modes of use within Windows itself – as it should be.
“Clearly Microsoft has thought hard about how to integrate the casual consumption model of tablet devices with ‘real’ operating system features like multi-tasking, file system access and rich applications that require extensive user input, like Office.” he said.
“Why abandon the power and familiarity of Windows if they can possibly help it?
“The use of scrolling panels of tiles is a natural extension of the use of tiles and panning ‘panoramas’ in Windows Phone 7, which are proving popular with users,” he said.
“Swiping left and right to scroll through choices is a very natural action, and leverages both spatial memory and muscle memory to help users find and re-find what they need.”
But Morris pointed out that the preview did not reveal any on-screen cues to users to show them how swiping in from the edge of the screen could activate operating system features like task switching. This could prove a sticking point until users grew used to the concept, he said.
Colfelt also noted that many of these same interactions would “feel clumsy using a mouse.
“That could cause RSI if the user gets too excited about using them,” he noted.
The only point on which the experts disagreed was the use of tiles on the home page. Whilst Colfelt felt it was a solution to what he calls “information spelunking” (areas of a site easy to fall into and hard to find your way back out of), Morris felt Microsoft was abandoning icons that have historically proven far more effective.
Tiles, Morris said, are difficult to differentiate and can crowd the screen.
“The use of larger, consistently sized tiles containing dynamic content has the potential to create a vista that ‘yells’ at the user – and the demonstrated use of bright, saturated colours might actually make it difficult for users to discriminate between tiles and to focus on individual tile content,” he said.
“We know that people use various cues to search the visual field. Outline shape is one of the primary prompts to help people discriminate and identify objects visually. The dominant and consistent rectangular shape of the tiles themselves means Windows 8 users cannot use this outline shape as the primary cue. They must instead rely on colour and the actual tile contents. Compare that to the carefully designed icons in Microsoft Office products. Those icons present unique outlines – for good reason.”
Morris raised concerns as to whether Microsoft would continue to support stylus and other pen-based input as well as touch.
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @erietta @itnews_au UI Experts? hah.. thats like saying “Lifecoaches enjoy windows 8” 🙂 9 hours ago
in reply to ↑ @MossyBlog Scott Barnes @erietta @itnews_au the only expert in that conversation was @shanemo and he nailed his remarks well.. wouldn’t say it was upbeat tho 9 hours ago
erietta erietta @ @MossyBlog is your microsoft bias shining through? Anthony is a well qualified UX designer (& my boss you ratbag!) @colfelt @itnews_au. 7 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @erietta @colfelt @itnews_au he is? so am i? so is everyone.. UX Expert is an oxymoron imho 🙂 7 hours ago
erietta erietta @ @MossyBlog @colfelt @itnews_au and I was after YOUR thoughts as you are on the record of sledging microsoft UX design. What say you? 7 hours ago
in reply to ↑ @MossyBlog Scott Barnes @erietta @colfelt @itnews_au i personally think the Tiles Windows8 concept is still unproven firstly & secondly it’s lazy design that furthermore, I don’t think as much thought as one is lead to believe has been put into the science behind it.. the design behind current MS Metro is a state of confused schizo ver of Intrinsic & Extraneous cognitive load. 7 hours ago
in reply to ↑ @erietta erietta @MossyBlog @itnews_au @colfelt This is the Scott I was looking for! Will be interesting to see if the process behind design is revealed. 7 hours ago
replies ↓ MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @erietta @itnews_au @colfelt yeah i mean i feel like a crack record though on my metro insighs..basically i like its attitude not execution 7 hours ago
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colfelt Anthony Colfelt @MossyBlog @erietta @itnews_au having worked alongside a few MS UX team members, I know PLENTY of thought went into the design. 9 hours ago
in reply to ↑
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au pink had potential and there were far better ideas on the table early on
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au it’s principles are great it’s execution is lazy 9 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
colfelt Anthony Colfelt @MossyBlog @erietta Isn’t it a tad insulting to them to suggest otherwise? 9 hours ago
in reply to ↑
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta so? Want to play in the big leagues be prepared to backup the science behind it all 9 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta this execution panders to making engineers I to designers without context or personality 9 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta current metro designs are what I call shoplifting for designers
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta it’s in my view the same as buying ui art from a $1 or less store
colfelt Anthony Colfelt @MossyBlog @erietta I doubt most those reading @itnews_au cares abt the science. But next time, maybe they’ll ask a REAL expert to comment. 9 hours ago
in reply to ↑ @MossyBlog Scott Barnes @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au let me know if u meet one. I watched $1m usd research try and find one and it failed :$
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au btw i’m not looking to attack you per say, just the concept of “UX Experts say..”.. its kind of “wtf?” is my pt 8 hours ago
brettatitnews Brett W @ @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au I’m guessing if I’d included @MossyBlog there would be no argument on using the word “expert”. 7 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @brettatitnews @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au wanna take that bet ? 🙂 .. The word expert is an alt word for Life Coach in my vocab 🙂 7 hours ago
brettatitnews Brett W @ @MossyBlog @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au how would you rather be addressed Scott? 7 hours ago
in reply to ↑
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes @brettatitnews @colfelt @erietta @itnews_au Me? why would you address me.. i’m just a developer who designs. 7 hours ago via web
replies ↓
erietta erietta @ @MossyBlog @brettatitnews @colfelt @itnews_au What have I started here?! </flamewars> 7 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @erietta @brettatitnews @colfelt @itnews_au haha 🙂 no.. its just that article came up light..i want more meat on the bone.. 7 hours ago
brettatitnews Brett W @ @MossyBlog @erietta @colfelt @itnews_au I’ll be sure to include you next time Scott. 6 hours ago
MossyBlog Scott Barnes @ @brettatitnews @erietta @colfelt @itnews_au hah.. that’d be funny. 6 hours ago
MORE FROM SCOTT BARNES
@MossyBlog Scott Barnes Blog Post:: Understanding “Why would Microsoft do that?” http://bit.ly/m8lRiL 8 hours ago via RIAGENIC Blog
Microsoft’s huge underperformance on mainland China market
Ballmer Bares China Travails [May 27, 2011]
Rampant piracy means Microsoft Corp.’s revenue in China this year will only be about 5% of what it gets in the U.S., even though personal-computer sales in the two countries are almost equal, Chief Executive Steve Ballmertold employees in a meeting here.
Mr. Ballmer’s candid remarks provided a glimpse at the software giant’s struggle with piracy in what will soon be the world’s largest PC market. In China, copies of Microsoft’s core Office and Windows programs are still available on street corners for $2 or $3 each, a fraction of their retail price, despite efforts by the company to curb theft.
In his address to employees at the company’s new Beijing offices, Mr. Ballmer said Microsoft’s revenue per personal computer sold in China is only about a sixth of the amount it gets in India. He noted that Microsoft’s total revenue in China, population 1.3 billion, is less than what it gets in the Netherlands, a country of fewer than 17 million.
…
“We’re literally talking about an opportunity that is billions of dollars today” if China’s intellectual property rights protection were at the level of India’s, Mr. Ballmer said Wednesday in Beijing. … PC sales in China will be “as big as the U.S. market this year,” he said, yet “our revenue in China will be about a twentieth of our revenue in the United States.”
The statement suggests Microsoft’s revenue in China is close to $2 billion. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, Microsoft reported U.S. revenue of $36.2 billion out of a world-wide total of $62.5 billion.
