Category: Android

I bought an iPhone…how could I!?!

Published on by hansh51Leave a comment

It is one of those things that there was a time when the idea of getting any non-Microsoft product was just not part of the equation.  I was there for 18 years during the good and the bad, we had a pretty deep relationship.  But on the very day that Microsoft launched its evolutionary Windows Phone 7, I walked into my local AT&T store and purchased my first Apple product ever.   Even though the store had a nice display and the AT&T rep even gave me a quick walk through of the Windows Phone 7 (and some slick Android devices), my mind was set.  I was breaking ranks.  I was on a mission.

How does such a loyal soldier become a deserter?  I mean have I really lost all my faculties?  Living a life on the run cannot be all that much fun.  Well to those who question my motives I shall take you to task with but one statement…mid-life crisis.  I am over 40, rapidly heading towards the middle part of that decade. I mean it has to be,  doesn’t it?  Luckily there are more factors to consider.  Some obvious.  Lingering bitterness over how my time at Microsoft ended? Sure, I would be a liar if I did  not allow my stubborn pride to show through just a little bit.  A desire to step  out of my skin and do things differently?  You bet, but that is also my nature to want to experience new things so it’s not much of a stretch.  If I have a flaw it is a desire to want to see, learn and experience too much in life.  It’s a flaw I am willing to live with.  Getting back to my midlife crisis, just because I am getting older it does not mean I have lost my desire to be hip or cool.  But getting back to my iPhone decision let us move forward.

Kevin Turner, Microsoft COO, would often get asked by internal employees, “Why can’t Microsoft be cool like Apple?”. He would always reply, “I would rather have 90% market share than be cool”.  All I can say is its dangerous to use the past to justify the future.  It has been an interesting twist of events to get to this point and by all accounts great product execution by the folks at Apple.  It shows a certain innocent stupidity on Microsoft’s part to not realize the necessity of making technology make people  feel good about themselves.  When people feel cool they tend to feel good about themselves.  The second mistake made by Microsoft was not realizing the power of the younger generation.  They completely ignored them, and they made the worst criminal offense, they did not listen.

A few comments regarding my iPhone.  I have the 3g with the new 4.01 OS.  Since I was really going to the store to add  minutes to my plan and since I could get  the “honor” of extending my contract I could get the phone for $99 (A 4g would have cost $199).  As far as the phone goes I shall make this not so much a review as most people either have or used the iPhone.  The brilliance of the iPhone is an idiot could use it.  The user interface is colorful and intuitive.  Finally and probably most importantly is, it is fun.  Since fun is a form of addiction in the sales and marketing world, that is a good thing…for Apple.

Moving forward with my technology purchases I can’t say what my next thing I need will be (ok..it will be a 42″ Flat Screen…don’t tell my wife).  Do I feel bad about moving away from my Windows Mobile Phone after having had every iteration there was through v6.5?  Not really, they were not all that good.  Have I left the Microsoft mother ship, no, but it’s not my mother either. I am just trying to get by and enjoy life and in the end isn’t that what matters?  Even if Apple does profit off of it.

Good Night and Good Luck

Hans Henrik Hoffmann Nov 9, 2010

Windows Phone 7 – A brighter Future…maybe

Published on by hansh51Leave a comment

I have been pretty hard on Microsoft Mobile and rightfully so as they have been a rather stagnant organization and as I posted in my earlier blog (A Microsoft Mobile Disaster) one that  has failed to listen to the market place.  It now seems with the launch of Windows Phone 7 that Microsoft has decided to compete.  Some at Microsoft would say they have always competed and others say they have never competed.   I side with the marketplace on this one.

When I look at Windows Phone 7 everything I read is this is a consumer phone.  It seems stupid when you hear it.  Why wouldn’t you have  been making a consumer mobile phone?  A little history may shed some light. I was on vacation for a couple of weeks and when I got back I received an email that SteveB had sent to the Windows Mobile  Team.  While I was away he had come to Bldg 117 and spoke to the Windows Mobile Team.  At the time Pieter Knook was Sr VP of Mobility.  During that time within te team they were focused on the business professional.  One of the least sexiest segments, if not the least sexiest, in the mobile industry.  It focused on the suits of the world, and frankly since they no longer do martini lunches they lack personality.  Steve told the audience in a moment of wisdom, “You can focus all you want on the business Pro, but unless you have a consumer play the numbers will never add up to greater market share”.  Unfortunately the email I received was not about that.  Apparently the troops were a little down trodden after his talk, so he apologized.  Steve…why!?!?!  For whatever reason Steve did not trust his instincts on this one. This set off another 5 years of sub par performance.

When the iPhone launched and Billg saw it he said, “We have set the bar too low..”.  The iPhone really ripped the Microsoft Mobile team to the core and with the latest quarterly results from Apple it may be a juggernaut too great to catch, but to my old companies credit a technical challenge is something that will never be shunned.  My old team had VP of Development Scott Guthrie present once.  Scott said it was painful to get the Windows Mobile team to scrap the old code base, but it was realistically the only way that Microsoft was even going to have a remote chance of catching up with Apple.  But it was interesting to hear how many opposed this idea.

Now that the phone is in the market (in Europe) a bigger challenge will be to get application developers to write cool apps for the phone.  The goal was to have 10,000 applications at launch.  To put this in perspective Android and the iPhone have over 100,000.  When you are asking internal people at Microsoft to write apps so you can make your number a certain amount of sadness comes over me to hear  that company needs to issue that directive.  If you cannot excite the developer then it is time to pack up and go home.

At the end of the day the market will decide and it is already a pretty crowded field so what does Microsoft Mobile 7 offer that separates it from the rest of the mobile crowd?  Having seen it and test driven a little, not a whole lot.  Don’t get me wrong the touch screen  UI is nice and responsive.  But as far as I can tell there is no “wow” moment.  Those type of moments are hard to come by.  Even Android does not have a “wow” moment but it was out way earlier than Windows Mobile 7 was, so it had a head start.  Plus i think the open source driven development model had a “sexy” appeal to developers.  The interesting change in mobile is  the need for application’s and both Google and Apple have high marks in getting developers to write these “cools” apps.   Getting back to the Ray Ozzie final memo it demonstrates the idea of technology as part of an appliance.  No longer is one chained to the desk, sitting and watching their waste line expand.  In todays new world everything is mobile. 

We have come along way in mobility and though Microsoft jumped on at the midway point it is just now starting to understand the battlefield.  Is it too late?  When you have $40 billion in the bank you have weapons that others don’t you have a chance.  The reviews so far has been mixed and Microsoft has been working hard to get developers to write Windows Phone apps.  The market was tough when Microsoft entered but now the landscape has completely changed.  It is no longer RIM they are after, but Apple and Android.  I will be honest I am really skeptical on this one, but maybe a catastrophic defeat is just what Microsoft needs, for a brighter future…maybe.

Good Night and Good Luck.

Hans Henrik Hoffmann Oct 27th, 2010