Microsoft smartphone breaks Windows norm

Windows Phone 7 marks a revolutionary leap to a new 'glance and go' interface, writes CIARA O'BRIEN

MICROSOFT IS starting a new assault on the smartphone market, with an operating system designed for mobile devices.

Late to the party, Microsoft has ground to make up. Apple already has a firm grip on the smartphone market, with Android and BlackBerry also accounting for a significant proportion.

Nokia has stated its intention to hold on to its place in the market, but Microsoft is pinning its hopes on Windows Phone 7 software to win over phone users.

Windows Phone is a completely new platform, as Microsoft is at pains to point out. Designed from scratch, the software takes everything you knew about Microsoft’s previous operating systems and discards it.

“It’s a brand new platform for us. It’s Windows Phone platform as opposed to Windows Mobile. There are a couple of mobile platforms out there that are creating a market, Apple and Android, and we think there’s a long way to go in this market,” Microsoft Ireland’s managing director Paul Relis said.

“We’re in for the long haul. Bringing out a new platform has a lot of advantages in that it recreates the platform for developers.

“This is something completely new, aimed at a different audience. We’re trying to target the ‘prosumer’.”

The system will integrate Xbox Live for gaming, Bing for search, Internet Explorer Mobile for web browsing, and Office for productivity into handsets.

Announced in February at Mobile World Congress, Windows Phone 7 has received a positive reaction. The technology company even drew praise from Apple fan Stephen Fry.

Instead of displaying apps on a screen, the system uses dynamic tiles, updated in real time, which will show information such as unread e-mails, news and friends’ status updates.

Speaking at the launch on Monday, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer described it as a “glance and go” format.

“Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience – one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format,” he said.

The phones will be able to multitask, allowing users to use different screens for different tasks.

Instead of modelling itself on the desktop software, Windows Phone 7 is designed to make things easier for users to find, using hubs. The “People” hub will include social services such as Facebook, Linked and Windows Live in one place.

Through the Zune video function, consumers can rent movies for viewing on their Windows-based PC or sync the rental to their Windows Phone.

Microsoft is offering users 25GB of space on “Skydrive” to save photos and other files to the online storage. The Office hub, meanwhile, will give users access to Word, Excel and Powerpoint on the go.

Because Microsoft is not making the hardware itself, it has more than one handset maker to choose from, with HTC, Samsung and LG all making Windows Phone 7 handsets, unlike main rival Apple. And, unlike Android, which allows manufacturers to use “skins” on the software such as HTC Sense, the operating system will look the same across each handset, and handsets will meet a minimum hardware standard.

All Windows Phone 7 handsets must have a dedicated search button, for example. They also must have a five megapixel camera with an LED flash, and a minimum memory level.

The company plans to have applications available for download and purchase through its Windows Marketplace, with Twitter, the Associated Press, OpenTable, Flixster and Travelocity available from launch.

The move is being welcomed by the networks.

“What I want to see is wider choice for customers, and also with wider choice more open platforms. Then a couple of things happen: you get developers developing for more than one eco system; and also it drives the number of devices that people can have a choice of, which then drives the price down and means you can go mass market,” said O2 Ireland’s chief executive, Danuta Grey. “With more people using them, you get more developers in, and you get even greater choice of apps. For me, this is about helping create an alternative so that there’s more choice for consumers, which is good for us. It helps show people the power of internet on the move.”

Vodafone Ireland’s consumer director Stefano Gastaut said the software platform would bring something new to customers, regardless of whether they were interested in social networking or were professionals on the move.

Windows Phone 7 handsets will be available from October 21st on Ireland’s four main networks.