Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 launch event is Monday at 9:30AM ET, and we'll be there l

[mike123abc]

I'm frankly astonished by the relative quiet.

The Engadget article was far from glowing in a market that that would seem to be settling down to two other players.

Well the main problem is that it is not until next month that it gets released. So, for now how do you really judge it. Even if you have time with it, it is still pre release and things could change in the final release.

It will come down to what does Windows Mobile 7 do better than iOS or Android. I suspect it will do some things better and some things worse. It could also be a play against the blackberry market.

MS definitely delayed too long with this. This should have been out before the second generation iPhone came out. It is now a me too player. They are putting out a product that should have been out 3 years ago.

So, it will come down to why pay MS for the software that you could get from Google for free? The MS software will have to out perform Android enough to justify paying MS. It is not going to be an easy battle.

 

[ryotgz]

Man I can't decide which phone I want to get. Combine several aspects of each phone and you have the phone I want. I like the Samsung Focus for the 4" super AMOLED screen, the 7pro for the nice slide out keyboard, and HD7 for the 576MB RAM. Although I've seen conflicting reports on how much RAM each HTC device will have.

My original choice was the Focus, but only has 256MB RAM. My second was the HTC Surround, but not as nice of a screen and less RAM than the HD7. None of those have the slide out keyboard. The LG has a slide out keyboard, but I want a bigger screen.

I am most likely going to get a WP7 device but no idea which one...

 

[diogen]

The Engadget article was far from glowing in a market that that would seem to be settling down to two other players.

I don't think iPhone and Android will have more than half the market between them and much less outside North America.
Regardless of what Rubin has to say...

But I don't think it is their share WP7 is after, I believe the potential victim here is BlackBerry, i.e. business market.
WP7 can neither compete for the Android-geek (walled garden apps) nor for the Apple-loyalists (Ballmer ain't Jobs in "magic" terms).

In terms of hardware capabilities WP7 is right there with the best Android offers. Touchscreen responsiveness is at least as good as the iPhone (and better than any Android) from what I've seen.

If Microsoft can make the WP7 the best smartphone for Office apps and Exchange, they have a good chance to double their market share in a year or so (get back what they had a year or so ago). Xbox and Zune integration won't add much, I think.

It will boil down to marketing, how much incentives MS will offer the carriers.
The good news for MS here is the low risk of being accused in monopolistic behavior...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

It will boil down to marketing, how much incentives MS will offer the carriers.

And the answer is: quite a bit
LG Quantum, HTC Surround and Samsung Focus: BOGO from AT&T starting Friday -- Engadget
The almost forgotten (since the HD vs. BD war) acronym BOGO - buy one get one free...

50% discount is not something to sneeze at.
You can always count on Microsoft buying market share when they are late (or lame) to the game...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

First breach
Windows Phone 7 gets user-friendly hack for bypassing the Marketplace, loading your own apps -- Engadget

Presumably, this'll come in handy for installing stuff Microsoft would never dream of approving -- and it's a whole lot less hacky than an iPhone jailbreak from the looks of it.

Diogen.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Went to the AT&T Store today, played around with all three Windows Phones they had on display, not impressed the least bit. It's all flash, little substance. I hate the whole title thing, the screens are too small on the current crop of phones and the Marketplace is anorexic. The whole UI is just plain annoying. While the App Marketplace will expand over time, two of my most used apps, NHL GameCenter Live and NFL Mobile more than likely will never be available on the Windows Platform on from another provider except Verizon, and since Android is not as locked down as Microsoft, by nature, I doubt I'll ever be able to obtain those apps on WP7 for Sprint. The only thing I could put in the plus column for Windows is having the real versions of the Mobile Office programs. But I'm not really one to need Word, Excel or PPT on the go.

The girl at the AT&T Store tried to sell me one. After explaining I just left AT&T and the iPhone five months ago for Sprint and the Evo and AT&T service is the pits I asked her what the initial reaction was like. She said there more interest in the Windows Phone then Android, but the iPhone is still #1. Considering AT&T has about three Android devices and none of them worth a damn, or that well advertised, that’s really not saying much. I’m guessing this will be yet another in a long line of failures for Microsoft in the mobile platform.