figure 1: iPhone vs. HTC Touch vs. Nokia N95
According to an article in ComputerWorld, the iPhone handily beat other smartphones (printable version) in almost all of the usability categories. The iphone competed against the HTC Touch (Windows Mobile) and the Nokia N95 (S60 Symbian) in usability tests performed by Texas-based Perceptive Sciences. Their test group was with ten people that had never used any of the three phones, so it’s unfortunately a fairly small sample size. The article title gives the net result away, but read on for the highlights from their test.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRKIDdIaFyE[/youtube]
Oh snap! This video has all the best qualities of human expression – mockery, sarcasm, ridicule, taunting…reminds me of middle school, minus the bully who stole my lunch money.
Take that, Microsoft…and Greg Johnson! I’ll take back all that lunch money you stole from me in $50s and $100s.
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InfoWorld’s Oliver Rist (no relation to Charles Dicken’s character) thinks that Microsoft needs to scramble its developers to fix and improve Windows Mobile before Apple eats their lunch.
Windows Mobile may have all the paper advantages — openness, Microsoft app compatibility, a great price, and loads of third-party support — but if users can’t rely on it out there in the wild, woolly, and unsupported field, none of that means very much.
The article has more of a pro-Microsoft slant, designed to illustrate what Micorosft needs to fix with its mobile platform in order to slam the door in Apple’s face. Still worth a morning read.
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Sven Rafferty has posted information from one of his “sources” who claims that an update to iPhone’s mail app will integrate Microsoft Exchange DirectPush support. Not only that, but this feature upgrade will also enable OTA (Over-The-Air) syncing of contacts and calendar events as well.
In effect the iPhone will interoperate with corporate Exchange accounts just like a Windows Mobile device. Sounds great, but this is still rumor (Read: unconfirmed).
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I haven’t heard a peep out of Microsoft for quite some time; not really since Mossberg’s D5. Nonetheless, Microsoft is in the news today.
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God and Satan join forces to bring Microsoft Exchange Hell spawn DirectPush support to iPhone, offering all the benefits of Windows Mobile (and then some) to Jesus phone users. This according to Mary Jo Foley at Zdnet.
Here’s what I’m hearing: Apple will announce this week — possibly as soon as June 27 — that it has licensed the Exchange ActiveSync licensing protocol. Via the licensing arrangement, Apple iPhone users will be able to connect to Exchange Server and make use of its wireless messaging and synchronization capabilities.
This will no doubt elicit a loud HUZZAH! from those of you that use a hosted Exchange service, like myself. Though personally I’m thinking of dumping the Microsoft ecosystem and using a mashup of various solutions like Google apps + .Mac.
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Joel Wilcox over at Microsoft Watch has written an interesting blog post urging Microsoft to learn from Apple’s example of product development, choosing a “less is more” approach to software design. His points are sound, if predictable. What Joel doesn’t realize is that Microsoft has a different strategy with Windows Mobile that largely mirrors the company’s desktop strategy for more than a decade; good enough is good enough. By that I mean that Microsoft has long believed that if a product possesses the right features at the right price, consumers won’t care if the product is imperfect. After all, you don’t care if the bun is seated crookedly on your McDonalds Quarter Pounder with Cheese, do you? Of course not. You simply shove it in your mouth and add ten pounds to your waist line.
By that same rationality, Microsoft believes that consumers have inherently low expectations in computing, creating an ecosystem where mediocrity rules. Despite the deafening buzz iPhone is generating, I don’t see it forcing Microsoft to reformat its hard drive. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.
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There’s a great article at UPenn that delves into the study of marketing and hype, geared directly towards gadget release. The you-know-what is the main thing under their microscope, as it goes into detail as to why it was pre-announced by 6 months. They cover how some companies really have their way with marketing and pre-releases and hype, and some others, well, how does one actually come out and say it, not have way.
David Berlind asks the poignant question “Where the hell is Microsoft?”. A question I’ve often asked myself.
Where the heck is Microsoft? Earlier this year, Microsoft launched the newest version of Windows Mobile (version 6) and there’s a slew of devices built on the new mobile OS (we have video of them here) with more coming (like the new HTC touchscreen handset). But even with the new software and gear, the “if we build it, they will come” strategy is not a good one in the face of a foe like Apple. I was equally stymied by Microsoft’s inability to grasp the importance of image marketing with its Zune (see: To Win, Zune will need a Bono).
It’s true I am an Apple fanboy and I’m totally stoked over the iPhone, but I also happen to be passionate about technology…especially MOBILE technology. And truth be told I have a certain fondness for the Windows Mobile ecosystem. Needless to say I find Microsoft’s utter lack of response to iPhone both alarming and tragic.
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