Windows Phone 8 to address its "perceived inability to compete" with iPhone, Android later this year

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited January 2014


Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 8, expected in the second half of the year, will seek to address its "perceived inability to compete" with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android according to a report detailing its planned enhancements.



A report by Pocket Now says upcoming features of WP8, code named Apollo, were presented in a video by Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's senior vice president managing Windows Phone development.



Among its goals are to support multiple core processors like those used by Apple in last year's iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and incorporated by a variety of Android licenses a year ago.









Microsoft also plans to support NFC, something Google launched at the end of 2010 in Android 2.3 Gingerbread and subsequently tied to its Google Wallet program last summer. Apple is also believed to be working on a payment program related to NFC contactless "tap to pay" systems, but is unlikely to advertise the feature until it has products to sell.



Microsoft also highlighted opportunities for developers to "reuse -- by far -- most of their code" when working between WP8 and the Windows desktop, a feature Apple pioneered in the iPhone OS 2.0 when it delivered an SDK using the same tools and APIs Mac OS X developers were already familiar with.



WP8 is said to be scrapping the remains of its Zune desktop client software, given that the company has now abandoned its Zune efforts to take on Apple's iPod. In its place, it appears the company will adopt an iCloud-like strategy for "seamless sharing of data between devices" built around the Skydrive cloud product Microsoft began talking about long before Apple delivered iCloud last year.



The company highlighted the growing library of apps for the existing WP7, and new plans to add native apps to the Silverlight-based WP7 platform, something that is expected to make it easier to port Android and iOS apps to WP8. WP7 development is currently based on Microsoft's largely abandoned effort to replicate the functionality of Adobe Flash, a strategy Microsoft began to abandon in late 2010, just as it started rolling out WP7.



Microsoft also outlined plans to eventually integrate Skype's proprietary video conferencing, which it acquired last summer a year after Apple unveiled FaceTime for iPhone 4. Existing Windows Phones lack support for a front facing camera, making Skype integration mostly useful to Windows Phone buyers who wait until next year.



WP8 is also said to enhance its networking and data usage with tools apparently similar to those debuted for Android. The report mentioned that WP8 will "actively attempt to give Wi-Fi connections precedence, going so far as to automatically connect to carrier-owned WLANs when in range," features that iOS introduced several years ago.



Microsoft also intends to deliver a proxy service to scale down data similar in concept to Opera Mini or Amazon's Silk browser, claiming a 30 percent reduction in data usage. Apple injects no filtering of iOS users' web data, but Apple also lacks a search engine business model that could materially benefit from harvesting users' browsing patterns like Microsoft and Amazon.



WP8 is said to deliver "full disk encryption," although it isn't detailed how this differs from the encryption Apple began using in 2010 with iOS 4 on iPhone 3GS, a feature required by default Exchange Serve policy.



"Overall," the report stated, "we're looking at a lot of changes and additions here, all of which seem designed to either bring Windows Phone in line with other platforms, feature-wise, or make it more closely identical to the desktop version of Windows."



A desktop kernel like Darwin



Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott also added that WP8 will switch from a Windows CE based kernel to sharing the same kernel technology of the desktop Windows 8. Apple's original iPhone similarly debuted in 2007 with a mobile optimized version of Apple's Darwin Mac OS X kernel.



In addition to its kernel, Thurrott said WP8's "multi-core processor support, sensor fusion, security model, network, and video and graphics technologies" were also coming to the mobile platform from Microsoft's desktop efforts, another parallel with Apple's original iPhone design from 5 years ago. At the time Steve Jobs indicated Apple believed iPhone would put the company 5 years ahead of its competitors.



By strengthening WP8's enterprise feature set, Microsoft's platform is likely to gain in popularity among Windows-based shops at the expense of Android, which is notably lacking in support for IPSec VPNs, proxy servers and device policy management features. Android currently leads WP7 adoption by a huge margin, but is still far behind Apple's iOS and RIM's BlackBerry in the enterprise.











Still a ways away



WP8 is not the next release of Microsoft's mobile platform. Instead, the company will begin rolling out Tango, a minor update numbered WP 7.6 sometime in the second quarter. WP8 is expected later in the year, and its co-development with the desktop Windows 8 suggests a release towards the end of the year.











Microsoft's current market share for Windows Phone as a platform has not grown over the past year. According to Gartner, the company's share of worldwide smartphone sales actually collapsed from 2.7 percent in Q3 2010 to 1.5 percent in the Q3 2011.



Google released Android 4.0 in December, although it will take several months for the software to make it to the devices people actually use. Apple is expected to release iOS 5.1 next month alongside iPad 3, and will likely present or possibly release iOS 6 this summer at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference.





[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 61
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Looks to me like Microsoft STILL doesn't get it.



    Simply listing 1,000 features is not going to convince customers to switch to your device (especially when the competition already has 99.8% of them.



    Give the customer a good reason why they're going to be wowed by the Windows Phone 8. What is it that is going to knock their socks off? If you can find something, THAT Is what you should be promoting. If you can't find something, then you need to go back to the drawing board.



    Specs are so '90s.
  • Reply 2 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Looks to me like Microsoft STILL doesn't get it.



    Simply listing 1,000 features is not going to convince customers to switch to your device (especially when the competition already has 99.8% of them.








    Too little too late. anybody that would even consider WP must be a total loser.
  • Reply 3 of 61
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    1) WP7.5 was a huge update over WP7 yet I haven't seen any betas hinted at for WP8 so I'm a little skeptical of their numbering scheme at this point.



    2) If you are measuring OSes there is no reason to separate out iOS iPhone from the rest of the iOS-based devices that use the same SDK, especially the iPod Touch.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    Too little too late. anybody that would even consider WP must be a total loser.



    I guess that means me.
  • Reply 4 of 61
    Dan_DilgerDan_Dilger Posts: 1,583member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    1) WP7.5 was a huge update over WP7 yet I haven't seen any betas hinted at for WP8 so I'm a little skeptical of their numbering scheme at this point.



    2) If you are measuring OSes there is no reason to separate out iOS iPhone from the rest of the iOS-based devices that use the same SDK, especially the iPod Touch.



    Well Apple called it the "iPhone SDK" in 2008, and didn't begin calling the platform "iOS" until the middle of 2010. Also, the article is about phones, so bringing up the iPod touch would seem unnecessary.
  • Reply 5 of 61
    Cue the Microsoft cheerleading team:



    We're here to cheer our future products,



    Come on, everybody scream!



    Feel the spirit movin' in



    Cause sometime in the future, we're gonna win!



    Say it proud, say it loud, V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E!



    One more, V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E!"

  • Reply 6 of 61
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Corrections View Post


    Well Apple called it the "iPhone SDK" in 2008, and didn't begin calling the platform "iOS" until the middle of 2010. Also, the article is about phones, so bringing up the iPod touch would seem unnecessary.



    The article is about mobile OS platforms, not phones which specifically refers to the HW, too, hence my comment about the image showing the marketshare of mobile platforms is irrelevant when you pointlessly exclude other devices that aren't phones using essentially the same OS and SDK.
  • Reply 7 of 61
    Multi core processor support is still just "among the goals"? That to me reads like it is something they'd like to include but aren't sure they'll manage it...



    Surely stuff like that should be a nailed on certainty if they want to have any chance of competing? iPhone has been dual core for several months now (almost a year if we include the iPad 2) and quad core is rumoured for the iPad 3 and iPhone 5/6/?. Quad core Android phones are now getting reasonably common so to be still only aiming for multi core in an OS that won't be released for another few months is madness.



    One of Microsofts biggest problems is that the current hardware requirements placed on manufacturers just don't allow for enough variation in handsets for any clear distinction between them, so consumers give up trying to pick one and walk out with an iphone or an android phone instead.



    They also really need to do something about power usage too - while Mango helped a lot windows phone 7 is still far more power hungry than iOS and Android, which considering it's only allowed to run on single core cpus is a pretty poor showing.



    On a slightly unrelated note I'm also still at a loss as to the lack of windows phone skype client seeing as Skype is now owned by Microsoft... how hard can it be?
  • Reply 8 of 61
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Looks to me like Microsoft STILL doesn't get it.



    Simply listing 1,000 features is not going to convince customers to switch to your device (especially when the competition already has 99.8% of them.



    Give the customer a good reason why they're going to be wowed by the Windows Phone 8. What is it that is going to knock their socks off? If you can find something, THAT Is what you should be promoting. If you can't find something, then you need to go back to the drawing board.



    Specs are so '90s.



    Ballmer thinks Microsoft is still tops in the public mindset. He's betting on the "nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft" mantra. He doesn't even realize that Microsoft is totally irrelevant in the mobile universe. Microsoft has been on the sidelines for a decade. Now Ballmer assumes people will suddenly flock to WP8 simply because it's Microsoft?
  • Reply 9 of 61
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post


    Ballmer thinks Microsoft is still tops in the public mindset. He's betting on the "nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft" mantra. He doesn't even realize that Microsoft is totally irrelevant in the mobile universe. Microsoft has been on the sidelines for a decade. Now Ballmer assumes people will suddenly flock to WP8 simply because it's Microsoft?



    Sorry, run that past me again ... Microsoft you said... . Who or what is Microsoft?
  • Reply 10 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    Too little too late. anybody that would even consider WP must be a total loser.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post




    I guess that means me.



    At least you're not a stupid, incompetent, homeless idiot that can't afford anything but Android.



    Signed,

    Apple ][
  • Reply 11 of 61
    Forget about the "perceived inability to compete", what about the ACTUAL inability to compete?
  • Reply 12 of 61
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 8, expected in the second half of the year, will seek to address its "perceived inability to compete" with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android.



    Very suspicious...I simply can't accept that they actually "perceived" something...
  • Reply 13 of 61
    Seriously, is this really a story?

    MS doesn't even need to sell phones or the OS that runs it for that matter. IMHO they juts want to have their name associated with a celly for the notoriety. So let W8 be on 4 different phone makers and they collectively sell 30 million in a quarter. Well MS would be able to advertise that "MS" not the their OEMs sold all them phone. Screw MS!
  • Reply 14 of 61
    Competition brings innovation faster, so this is good. But there is a reason why, at least today, apple market cap is 424.34B and Microsoft is 251.30B. The reason is better products that people want to buy.
  • Reply 15 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Looks to me like Microsoft STILL doesn't get it.

    Simply listing 1,000 features is not going to convince customers to switch to your device (especially when the competition already has 99.8% of them.

    Give the customer a good reason why they're going to be wowed by the Windows Phone 8. What is it that is going to knock their socks off? If you can find something, THAT Is what you should be promoting. If you can't find something, then you need to go back to the drawing board.

    Specs are so '90s.



    So true! Monkey boy has been dishing on specs so long he doesn't realize that user experience is the new century's hot button.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    Too little too late. anybody that would even consider WP must be a total loser.



    Ballmer's skating to where the puck was. The "new and improved" WM8 will almost do what the 2011 phones do, and it won't be available until almost 2013.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kharvel View Post


    Cue the Microsoft cheerleading team:



    We're here to cheer our future products,

    Come on, everybody scream!

    Feel the spirit movin' in

    Cause sometime in the future, we're gonna win!

    Say it proud, say it loud, V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E!

    One more, V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E!"





    Reminds me so much of Microsoft circa 1980s. I expect Microsoft will fulfill 80% of their promises by the end of 2012, Promise that an additional 10% will be "coming soon," and the remainding 10% really isn't needed by enterprise users.

    Of the 80%, much of that will be accomplished in clunky non-intuitive ways involving several steps more then the iPhone.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaveMcM76 View Post


    Multi core processor support is still just "among the goals"? That to me reads like it is something they'd like to include but aren't sure they'll manage it...



    Surely stuff like that should be a nailed on certainty if they want to have any chance of competing? iPhone has been dual core for several months now (almost a year if we include the iPad 2) and quad core is rumoured for the iPad 3 and iPhone 5/6/?. Quad core Android phones are now getting reasonably common so to be still only aiming for multi core in an OS that won't be released for another few months is madness.



    Their whole development process is a mess of false starts, reversing courses, abandoning promised directions, and planning on competing with current specs for future products. Madness everywhere!



    Quote:

    One of Microsofts biggest problems is that the current hardware requirements placed on manufacturers just don't allow for enough variation in handsets for any clear distinction between them, so consumers give up trying to pick one and walk out with an iphone or an android phone instead.



    Their current hardware requirements really only need to fit one manufacturer, Nokia. However the current hardware requirements also price their phones almost out of the market they intend to compete in.



    Quote:

    They also really need to do something about power usage too - while Mango helped a lot windows phone 7 is still far more power hungry than iOS and Android, which considering it's only allowed to run on single core cpus is a pretty poor showing.
    Quote:



    Microsoft may be planning on employing massive misdirection on their phone's poor power management by demonstrating how easy it is to change battery packs while still carrying on a phone conversation. Try that on your iPhone!




    On a slightly unrelated note I'm also still at a loss as to the lack of windows phone skype client seeing as Skype is now owned by Microsoft... how hard can it be?



    This will come when they get a front-facing camera built into the WM8 hardware... or maybe not. Stay tuned to Monky Boy coming to a Windows phone near you.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post


    Ballmer thinks Microsoft is still tops in the public mindset. He's betting on the "nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft" mantra. He doesn't even realize that Microsoft is totally irrelevant in the mobile universe. Microsoft has been on the sidelines for a decade. Now Ballmer assumes people will suddenly flock to WP8 simply because it's Microsoft?



    It's even worse then you paint it. Microsoft has almost no user brand recognition outside of "Microsoft Office." Currently, the best they can do is when someone wants to buy a computer it's "do I buy a Windows computer or an Apple computer?" If they opt for Windows, then they decide if it's gonna be a Dell or H.P.



    When it comes to phones, it's between Android or Apple. The android is thought of more as a commodity decision... which one strikes my fancy today, or which is the least expensive? They decide to buy an Apple iPhone based on wanting a superior user experience and lots of apps. Why buy this other one, you know, the one with the weird name WM8?
  • Reply 16 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kharvel View Post


    Cue the Microsoft cheerleading team:



    We're here to cheer our future products,



    Come on, everybody scream!



    Feel the spirit movin' in



    Cause sometime in the future, we're gonna win!



    Say it proud, say it loud, V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E!



    One more, V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E!"





    Considering this video was a leaked partner video, I think we can cut them some slack.



    Anyway, this move is a good one by Microsoft. With the underlying kernel the same as the desktop OS, they can probably support a vastly wider array of hardware more easily. If Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 arrive at the same time, that's a big opportunity for cross advertising as well.
  • Reply 17 of 61
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    Too little too late. anybody that would even consider WP must be a total loser.





    I saw a WinPhone in the wild the other day for the first time. I was in the grocery store. The guy was ahead of me in line. It looked like he was able to navigate through his messages pretty well. I was trying to size him up. He was about late 30s, clean cut, purchasing some uncommon craft beers. I watched him as he got into his older Hyundai in the parking lot.
  • Reply 18 of 61
    just_mejust_me Posts: 590member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    The article is about mobile OS platforms, not phones which specifically refers to the HW, too, hence my comment about the image showing the marketshare of mobile platforms is irrelevant when you pointlessly exclude other devices that aren't phones using essentially the same OS and SDK.



    The reason for the separation is their graphs.



    First one is a break up of different types of phones.



    Second one is about smartphone sales world wide.



    It was not about iOS vs Android.



    iOS has: iPhone, iTouch, iPad etc.

    Android has: phones, tablet and the kitchen sink (and fridges)
  • Reply 19 of 61
    Dan_DilgerDan_Dilger Posts: 1,583member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I saw a WinPhone in the wild the other day for the first time. I was in the grocery store. The guy was ahead of me in line. It looked like he was able to navigate through his messages pretty well. I was trying to size him up. He was about late 30s, clean cut, purchasing some uncommon craft beers. I watched him as he got into his older Hyundai in the parking lot.



    I saw a guy using a Zune on a airplane once. Didn't stop Microsoft from canceling it eventually.
  • Reply 20 of 61
    So now Windows Phone 8 is going to be the big thing which finally saves the crappy OS? Let's see, Windows Phone 7 was going to dominate. When that failed, it was Mango which was going to kill Apple and Android. Now that has failed, so Windows Phone 8 is going to do it now?



    LOL. Microsoft needs to stop pissing away shareholders money on a dead platform. It should just focus on maintaining their illegally obtained desktop/office monopoly and making software for the real mobile platforms.
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