First things first a Windows Phone is any phone that runs a Windows Mobile operating system (OS) and is the new name for any phone running the said OS, just to clear up any confusion that could ensue.
News has been coming out over the past few weeks about Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, we know quite a lot about 6.5 but very little about 7, however today people are saying that Microsoft plan is to have both OSes in the market at the same time, 6.5 being aimed at lower end of the market (Android), by lowering the price, and 7 at the high end (iPhone OS).
I find this very interesting as I don’t see Android being the lower end and many people say it is able to hold its own against the iPhone, maybe it doesn’t have all the apps and the ecosystem that Apple have made for the iPhone but that is more an issue of developers for it not the OS itself. I am sure that in light of recent practices by Apple the Android is a more open platform for applications and so a better platform.
I don’t support Microsoft having two OSes in the mobile market as it will lead to confusion and a huge split between the environments, however I can see why Microsoft might be planning this. It would make sense for Microsoft to compete with Android by having Window Mobile very cheap as the OS is likely to be on many phones and devices to get people to use it. I can also see the need for Microsoft to compete with the iPhone and so have a more powerful, sleeker OS which would obviously cost more, this would mean there were less devices with the OS but these would have better hardware and so would compete very well against any high end competition. This provides a huge number of devices for both consumer and business markets but surely a better way to do this would be to have one OS that, like the desktop OS, could have different versions for the high end and the low end.
There is perhaps even more confusion coming to Microsoft’s mobile strategies through it much rumoured Pink device/project which sounds like it will be a Microsoft branded device, likely to be a combination of Zune and Phone. I would guess this is going to be another attack at the iPhone but it could easily also be a way to compete against Sony’s PSP by bringing the XBox to the portable market.
The future certainly sounds interesting for the Windows Phone but I am not sure how successful it will be, Microsoft might just be spreading them selves too thin…or they will employ more engineers.
