Microsoft Windows Phone - 13 years Wasted... and counting

Pocket PC 2000, originally code named "Rapier",was released on April 19, 2000 .. Thirteen years ago..

I first started using Windows phone (then Pocket PC) back in 2003. It was well ahead of the market. Blackberry is started picking up in Enterprise world, but not a common user phone. Palm was hopeless.

Today I just visited a Microsoft store here in the city and want to try out a Windows phone, and asked for an unlocked phone. Without any surprise they said they don't carry any unlocked phones, but I can buy without a contract, then unlock the device.

Now I am assured that Windows Phone 8 will be another failed story. Schools in India teach the story of Mohd Ghory and Ghazni, to motivate people on the Morale of Try, Try and Try again.. eventually you should succeed. Not sure if this works in business though. But I am convinced that Windows 8 is going to be another failure, if the current trend continues.

Google sells their phones, most powerful as of today, at $300, fully unlocked and ready for developers to play around. They know that for the success of an OS, it needs apps to run on them. To build apps one needs a good set of developer tools and hardware to test. And to make those apps available you need a solid distribution platform, like Google Play Store. Google provides all these aspects to developers almost free and subsidizes the hardware.

For Windows 8 Phone OS, though, I think a reasonably good Developer Toolset is available. In fact Visual Studio is "The Best" toolkit anyone can get. Second, they have unproven App Store. One can build an App and even he can deploy.. the problem is we don't have hardware to test in real life. If Microsoft is really serious about the platform, instead of spending so much money paying celebrities and advertising, they should also focus on improving standards, like Google, and also promote app development by providing what developers need, first and foremost hardware (phone) to developers so that they can test the products they built.

Word for Microsoft Management: Look back into your own history on how you are successful with DOS and Windows 95. 

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