INSIDE MOBILE: Microsoft Windows Phone 7: If At First You Don't Succeed

You have to hand it to Microsoft. They have certainly fulfilled the old saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Microsoft has had a number of previous attempts to build a successful operating system for the mobile market with WinPad, Windows Mobile and Win CE. These efforts—simply because they were from Microsoft—generated some market presence, but nowhere near the market share achieved by major players such as RIM (BlackBerry), Apple (iPhone) and Google (Android).

I thought it was poignant when Rob Tiffany, Mobility Architect for Windows Phone 7 (WP7), told me at CTIA that Microsoft went back to the drawing board to develop a new mobile operating system from the ground up. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, introduced WP7 on Monday, October 11, 2010 at a press conference in New York.

The reviews on WP7 have generally been positive. I appeared on Brian Sullivan's show on Fox Business to explain why I thought Microsoft would succeed with WP7, especially in the enterprise space.

One of the most important changes that WP7 provides over past Windows Mobile efforts is a re-architecture of the user interface. Microsoft abandoned the desktop metaphor of the Start menu driving a list of applications. While that was acceptable on the desktop, it wasn't well received in the mobile environment.

Next: UI and Other Technical Innovations of WP7 >>