Microsoft, with the release of Windows Phone 7.5, offer a mobile operating system that is a unique with the Metro user interaface and tiles, well-integrated with social service such as facebook, twitter, and more impressively fast and fluid, even under minimum hardware specifications. Andy Lees, president of the Windows Phone, promises to bring the device hardware to another level with the support of technology such as LTE and NFC.
Talking at the AllThingD’s AsiaD, Mr. Lees said that “We’ve been working hard on building an architecture that allows us to leapfrog our competitors by using the best components available” Lees also explains the slow of adoption of technology like LTE is due to the fact it is not really optimized for battery efficiency. In fact, most of the LTE-supported phones that are currently in the market have low battery efficiency. Although Mr. Lees has not provided a specific detail on when the technology will be supported, we can expect to see the support of LTE within a year or at least the release of Tango, which is rumored to be released within 6 months.
Mr. Lees also talks about the support of NFC (Near field communication), a technology allowing two devices to transfer data securely and wirelessly within reach. This type of technology is used to process payments using wireless devices such as your phone (learn more about NFC). Some of phones with Google’s Andriod operation system already support this technlogy. Mr. Lees promises that Microsoft will be supporting NFC within a year but is also worth noting that this techology is not widely adopted in the mobile market.
Lees says Microsoft as a platform company is “not trying to compete with other people who are trying to provides services,” since Google, one of the software giant competitors, offers the NFC payment service, then he continues saying that Microsoft “will provide the platform.”
And concerning customization, Mr Lee believes that OEM partners are able to differentiate and offer a unique value to consumers with their hardwares and software services. He says that “What we do is allow OEMs to add, not replace. So They’re extending the platform and that’s a far better stratetegy than allowing them to rip features out of the platform.” he then continues saying “That’s not a limitation. And it’s a good way to limit fragmentation.” Considering how fragmentation is negatively affecting the andriod platform hindering users to get access to the latest OS update when available, it seems that Microst is going with the right approch considering Mango, the latest update of Window Phone, realeased more than a week ago is now available to nearly everyone.
When asked about the slow adoption of the Windows Phone, Lees explains that are some “leading indicators” that things will get better for the mobile platform saying that they have had a really low rate of return, the review has been mostly positive, the fast growing number of applications available in the market, the new partnership with some manufacters to promote the latest iteration of Windows Phone 7.5, and more importantly the partnership with Nokia.
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows Phone 7
