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First Windows Phone 7 update will "do what took Apple three years"
If you've got a Windows Phone 7 device, chances are good that it's missing a few key features that you'd really like to be using. Features like multitasking, copy and paste, turn-by-turn navigation, and support for custom ringtones. If we're to believe the excited chatter on Twitter lately, those features -- and more -- are coming in the January Windows Phone 7 update. Developer Tom Hounsell went so far as to say that Microsoft has managed to do in three months what took Apple three years.While that might be true, it's a much different mobile sector than it was three years ago -- and for Windows Phone 7 to launch without those functions came as a bit of a surprise. Microsoft really needed to deliver much more quickly than Apple, since competing devices ship with that functionality right out of the box.
Several devs have promised screenshots of the Windows Phone 7 update later today, so we'll keep you posted. We're hoping the update adds a built-in method for taking screenshots. How about it, Microsoft?
Comments
16
Subscribe to commentsStevenNov 30th 2010 8:57AM
So basically one of the developer is saying "Hey, we shipped a crippled phone that took us back 10 years in time (software-wise), but hey, it took us 3 months to (maybe) catch up to our competition (now that we know how they do it)!"
Give me a break. This is just more hype for a flopped device. They may have developer support, but their sales are extremely lacking.
FezNov 30th 2010 9:52AM
@ThePimento
Give you a break indeed. Stop making up shit like "sales are extremely lacking" just because it's the internet doesn't mean you can pull facts out of your ass and make people believe.
BrianNov 30th 2010 4:21PM
@ThePimento You really know nothing about WP7. WP7 as a software project began in late 2008 early 2009. To push out a completely new product that is as mature as it is in roughly 2 years is pretty amazing. So 2 years from scratch and 3 more months to get to feature near or actual parity with the other major players is pretty solid. Not to mention they are on all the major manu's right out of the gate.
Outside of that the sales has gone quite well. Even in the articles you posted they addressed the major issue. Stores didn't have a quantity. I've only seen one so far they sell as soon as they show up. MS pushed hard to get Manu's to get them out asap so quantities will be slow out of the gate, but most locations will tell you they can't keep them in stock. I'm seeing them in the wild faster than I saw android phones. Early adopters will be given updates quickly and those who are waiting for Verizon like me are excited about the update.
Whether or not it will have a major install base (20-30%+) by 2012 is up for debate. Writing off the phone at this point is just dumb.
Rob DunnNov 30th 2010 9:36AM
It is easy to say that you did something that took someone else 3 years to do. Microsoft did something that Apple did in 2007. I'm no Apple fanboy, but Microsoft is in no position to be bragging about WinMo 7 (yet).
MarvinKDec 5th 2010 5:57PM
My iPad is jet now getting some of those features, too. Seems strange that things like multitasking and a clipboard aren't standard now, let alone when the first iPhone came out.
SilverWaveNov 30th 2010 1:12PM
@Fez
Well... MS haven't released any figures... so that does look bad.
SilverWaveNov 30th 2010 1:16PM
hmmm why the > (Unverified)
Anthony S.Nov 30th 2010 2:15PM
@(Unverified) The comment system is broken. It doesn't work well. Especially when you look at the comments and see that replies are posted under whatever non-reply comments were posted before you. And, though I verified my account through the e-mail, I'm still Unverified. Seriously, DLS, just give us Disqus! This comment system sucks!
FezNov 30th 2010 2:29PM
@ThePimento
Sales figures are just fine. Don't expect your iHyped sales figures from WP7. The interface is completely overhauled customers aren't familiar with the devices nor the OS.
Secondly wait for the numbers from MS instead of bullshit speculative crap from blogs/news sources.
Anthony S.Nov 30th 2010 2:30PM
I seriously don't understand why people are ripping so much on a brand new, ground-up OS rewrite (done in one year). Just because it's Microsoft? Really? Try making a brand new mobile OS, from scratch, and tell me how long it takes you to include all of the features that were missing in v1 of WP7. I guarantee it will take you longer than one year. If you were given a release date exactly one year from now, you would more than likely either have to leave out certain things or release a pretty buggy, unoptimized, unfinished product that's rough around the edges. So maybe the sales numbers aren't huge. It's only been a few weeks since it was released, and most people haven't taken to the brand new platform yet. Just like releases of brand new car models, it will take some time for it to infiltrate the market and for you to start seeing them "on the road". But, seriously, to criticize them for releasing an update that includes what you actually want within three months of the product's release is just asinine. It took them three months from the release of a brand new, completely rewritten OS to catch up to the competition. By comparison, it still took them one year and three months to do what Apple did in three years.
RandallDec 1st 2010 9:38AM
@(Unverified) They did not start from scratch. WP7 is still based on Windows CE, which is 14 years old. Sure, they redid TONS of stuff, but saying they started from scratch isn't true.
Isn't the reason they're on every major manufacturer because they threatened to sue everyone that wasn't making a WP7 Phone?
RgzNov 30th 2010 3:21PM
Ok I am an Apple hater but this argument is so stupid.
Its like saying that if I understood the theory of relativity in a month, something which took Einstein his whole life, then me>Einstein.
ChedstoneNov 30th 2010 4:12PM
@ragz175 completely agree!
KeegdnaBNov 30th 2010 5:23PM
They've been saying all along that these things would come very quickly post-lunch. They could have easily had them in from the start if they wanted to push the launch back a couple months, but it was critical they have devices on the shelf in time for the holidays. They made a conscious decision to do this and people are still using it as a reason to say they autofailed because they hate microsoft and want to bend facts to fit their own agenda.
JesusfreakFeb 25th 2011 8:46AM
I can only laugh about this.... Its easy for Microsoft to say that they are taking 3 months of what apple took 3 years... Now all they have to do is copy and paste what Apple did 2 years ago with the iphone. pinch to zoom, app store, etc.... Apple leads the way on mobile phones because they are the ones creating new ideas. Its good to have more options to choose when ever we go out and decide wich OS is best for our needs, but like it or not, Apple is the genious behind this new trend of modern phone coming out ( including Microsoft ). Microsoft still needs to show that they have a beefy OS that can compete with RIM, Android, Apple and Symbian.
MOsterDec 6th 2010 8:48AM
Laugh all you want, but you're looking at history through a pretty narrow lens. Pinch to zoom and totalitarian control are the only innovations which Apple has brought to the mobile phone market. I had a Windows phone with a touch screen, with contact management, with (yes) cut and paste, two years before first the iPhone didn't. While it's frustrating to have a phone without some of these features, it's what I get for being an early adopter of a new platform; and I'll have to live with it, not least because it's refreshing to see a real ground-up restart from Microsoft.
Apple (read: Apple people) love to talk about "trailblazing," when their actual strength comes in the form of packaging the ideas of others and making a phenomenal commercial about it. The iPod was no better than any other MP3 player when it came out--in fact this is another device where features common to other devices took years to arrive--but they put the ad dollars behind it and played on their bullshit underdog status and the masses came running.
Apple is just another big company trying to make as many people as possible give them as much money as possible. This is another area where they're exactly the same as everybody else.