Is Boston Ready for Windows Phone 7 Series?

This article was written by Jonathan Kardos and originally appeared at BostInnovation on February 25, 2010; republished by permission.

Last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft surprised the tech world by unveiling the Windows Phone 7 Series mobile operating system (WP7S). Despite the funny name, the operating system itself is poised to be a seriously fresh and exciting new contender in the mobile space.

We’ve previously written about Boston’s bustling mobile scene. Given the area’s unique demographics and massive student population, Beantown might just be Microsoft’s perfect testing ground for WP7S; a mobile tech microcosm of sorts.

Microsoft’s WP7S will definitely love Boston.

With Microsoft N.E.R.D. in town — it’s one of the biggest offices Microsoft has outside of their Redmond, Wash., corporate headquarters — Boston could see a little love.

One approach might be to distribute devices to a select group of testers (I’d be happy to help compile that list, haha). We’ve got tons of busy, bright, and tech-savy students and young professionals here that can serve as an early adopter base. Since Windows Phones won’t be available for many months still, this group could use these devices in the wild and begin to reveal what works and what doesn’t. Microsoft could think of it as a head-start in usability.

Okay, so perhaps a pilot program is too much to ask for, but that doesn’t mean Boston’s not going to be a massive testing ground for the WP7S.

We’ve got over 250,000 students in Boston and Cambridge universities alone. A recent survey from Ball State University found that 27 percent of college students own a smartphone as compared to the national average of 19 percent among working adults. And it’s these college students that are most likely to love all the unique features of a Windows Phone: Xbox Live, MS Office, and Zune, just to name a few.

Also, Boston is ranked as having one of the top 3 fastest 3G networks in the country, so if local users are unhappy about WP7S’ Internet connectivity here, that will be an indicator of global reaction..

Plus, Boston has one of the biggest communities of mobile developers around, so you know a lot of what’s available on WP7S will be dreamed up and created here. It was recently estimated that by late 2009, there were about 250 companies in the mobile space here in Boston.

But will all you techies show the love back?

It’s difficult to compare WP7S directly to iPhone, Android, or even Microsoft’s current Windows Mobile devices since the user interface and philosophy behind this newest mobile operating system is very different.

What’ll be interesting to observe is whether people will value enough of these differences and actually fork over their cash to Microsoft as opposed to Apple, Google, and others. I had the opportunity to chat with Gian Wilson, Product Manager in Microsoft’s Mobile Communication Business, about WP7S and asked him how it might be better than other smartphone options out there.

He’s clearly been getting asked this a lot and clarified that WP7S is “simply different” and “solves a different kind of problem – it’s designed for life in motion so you don’t miss a moment.” Based on the principles of smart design and integrated experiences, Wilson explained that Microsoft’s new operating system is more than just about apps; it’s about content, and it’s created for the individual that “sees technology as enabler.”

Microsoft absolutely has a lot of catching up to do. In the last 12 months alone their market share of smartphone sales fell from 11.8 to 8.7 per cent. With WP7S, though, it seems as though they’ve now put their best foot forward. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for the holiday season for Windows Phones to hit the shelves, but as soon as that happens, we at Bostinnovation will be keeping an especially close eye on how Bostonians react… and so should Microsoft…

The Windows Phone is a bold, fresh start for Microsoft’s mobile efforts – a complete reboot if you will. Nearly everything from device hardware quality to what you get when you actually turn it on will be different and improved. There are tons of great articles already out there that cover everything from WP7S’ unique, new user interface approach to analyses of Microsoft’s revamped mobile strategy. Much is still unknown, so I’ll spare repeating much of what people are still only speculating on, but here’s a collection of great of posts from Gizmodo and “everything you ever wanted to know” about the operating system from Engadget.

Perhaps what’s most exciting about Microsoft’s move is the new user experience approach Microsoft is taking. I never thought I’d say this, but watching this 22-minute WP7S demo video makes my iPhone feel sorta dated.

Instead of navigating endless screens of glossy icons, Windows Phones will instead feature “hubs,” each of which are specifically designed to house all your information, apps, and services around one of six topics: People, Pictures, games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office. Facebook, for example, isn’t just an app on the device. Instead, all your ‘book info and services (friends, photos, events, etc.) are integrated appropriately into multiple areas of the phone. We’ll learn more about the WP7S app environment at Microsoft’s MIX event in March, but I’m hoping to see more of that same level of integration with music apps, games, and more.

What do you think? Will you be willing to make the switch? How will the local development community react to this new platform?