Does Microsoft thinking copying the 2007 iPhone is a good idea?
We are hearing more details about Windows Phone 7 Series from the MIX10 event in Vegas, but some of what we are hearing leaves us wondering why Microsoft is taking smartphone back a couple of years this late in the game.
We were expecting to hear a lot about Windows Phone 7 Series at MIX10 in Vegas this week and while there has been some interesting news for developers, end users and enthusiasts are seeing their excitement for the late 2010 devices fad a bit as well. First, we heard that multitasking would not be supported at first and now we hear that copy and paste will also be missing. Did Microsoft lock their people in a room with an original 2007-era iPhone and tell them to copy it? Didn't they see that even Apple added copy and paste to the iPhone after ever other smartphone OS has had this capability? I have to admit there are some very cool aspects of WP7 and I will probably buy one later this year, but I am pretty blown away by how far away from their core existing functionality they seem to be getting. I guess they can't riff on Apple anymore as these things are harder than they thought huh? As my buddy Rene asked on Twitter, is a Windows Phone 7 Series device even a smartphone anymore?
Another item that Dieter picked up from sessions today was that Silverlight won't be in the web browser, Internet Explorer, so you won't be able to enjoy Silverlight content from within the web browser even though Silverlight is integrated all over this new operating system. I did like the demo of playing games on your Xbox 360, PC, and WP7 series device seamlessly, but it is going to take more than gaming to impress me. Microsoft also seems to be abandoning the enterprise market with these first WP7 devices and it will be interesting if there are enough consumers willing to leave the iPhone, Android, or webOS operating systems.
