While Steve Ballmer announced to the public that the HTC HD2 will become available in the US via T-Mobile in upcoming spring, I was far more excited by an announcement made by Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division @ Microsoft: “Project Natal for Xbox 360“.

What is Project Natal for Xbox 360 ?

While the video above of the announcement describes Project Natal for Xbox 360 pretty well, but you might want to look at a Project Natal definition from the Wikipedia page:

“Project Natal is the code name for a “controller-free gaming- and entertainment experience” by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands,or presented objects and images. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360’s audience beyond its typically hardcore base.”

Both the video and the definition shown that Project Natal for Xbox 360 is a complex but very challenging innovation from a technical- and scientific perspective. In the Project Natal video above you can see some behind the scenes with the some Project Natal team members, each having a different professional- and educational  background !! I think this story tells it all …

Some concluding thoughts about Project Natal

I used to play with the Atari 2600 “gaming console” as a child, but I have never really played a lot on gaming consoles. However yesterday the little child in me woke up yesterday after I saw the announcement and demo of this technical masterpiece.

Some critics might say that the first steps into a different way of interacting with the gaming console were set by the Nintendo Wii Console. This might be true, but the types of games and “game-richness” on a Nintendo Wii Console totally differ from the types of games on the Xbox 360 or the Sony PlayStation 3. Furthermore the Nintendo Wii Console still requires a kind of controller, despite the form may differ from the traditional controllers.

The Project Natal video above provides some realistic scenario’s which outline the new way of interaction between man and machine. I really like the part where the skateboard is scanned and loaded into the game so the boy can ride his own skateboard in the game, or the steering, clutching and tire changing in the racing game.

I think it is fair to say that Microsoft has developed a great new technology for the Microsoft Xbox 360 with Project Natal. In order to further boost the return on investment (ROI) on this excellent outcome of Microsoft Research, I started to think if there are different applications in other markets within the Microsoft Ecosystem.

I can think of future scenarios where you can control the machines in your kitchen, or interacting with your home electronics or I can even think of scenarios in the car industry. This might sound like future mapping, but I honestly do believe that Microsoft has a powerful technology in their hands with great potential. I hope we can see some results in the future.

“Microsoft tonight announced it would start shipping its Natal gesture and voice controller for the Xbox 360 game console in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season.”

Like you can read in the LA Times article above,  Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division @ Microsoft tonight announced that Project Natal is available for consumers early 2010. In other words this is soon, and I’m definitely gonna see if I can replace the good old Atari 2600 memories with a brand new Microsoft Xbox 360 (Elite) gaming console, of course combined with the Project Natal add-on !!

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Despite that the original publication is from 1984, there are little or no book reviews available of this book. In this article however I will try to provide you with a short overview, without giving away all the great information packed into just 110 pages (so you will need to read it yourself).  

However when you start reading The One Minute $ales Person you directly recognize similar concepts and a similar framework that I experienced while reading The One Minute Manager. Especially the great one-liners through out the book are remarkable. Some characteristic examples are: 

• “People hate to be sold, but they love to buy”
• “You don’t make the sale, they do”

As you might experience these one-liners are powerful and make you think about yourself and your behavior. Combined with a relatively simple and easy to understand framework, The One Minute $ales Person provides a lot of value and information, but foremost it is interesting and fun to read. 

The core essecence of The One Minute $ales Person can be summarized in the so called “One Minute $ales Person’s Game Plan” which is represented below. A larger version in PDF-format can be downloaded, on the condition that you “Share it with others” like the writers of both the books preach ! 

As you can see in The One Minute $ales Person’s Game Plan consists of two columns:  (1) Selling to others, and (2) Selling to myself. Here you can see the perfect intergration and synergy with  The One Minute Manager book, since the right Selling to myself column covers The One Minute Manager’s Game Plan, however a slightly adapted to the “sales setting”. Compare for yourself !!  

Also in the left Selling to others column you can see that it consists of a simple structure with relative small or simple things that take only a minute or less. However the distinguishing facts are often small details that foster into personal excellence or a competitive edge. The One Minute $ales Person is full of those details that can help you in real life no matter what you are selling !! 

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

One of my conclusions with The One Minute Manager Book was: “Excellent books don’t have to be long !” and this conclusion is more than valid for The One Minute $ales Person as well !!

I really like the concept of the book, the journey of a salesperson who is eager and looking for new ways to futher develop himself towards excellence. Don’t underestimate the impact of the very powerfull one-liners that really make you think about yourself, the people who you are trying to sell and the involved behavior. So The One Minute $ales Person book has quite some psychological impact as well.

Remarkable and available troughout the book are the reallife examples, that help you even more memorize theory and establish links with business practice. Furthermore I really like the integration of The One Minute Manager- and The One Minute $ales Person frameworks/game plans. In fact two books are packed into one book.

Finally this book made me realize, despite it might be obvious, why some sales people fail or even worse generate a bad reputation for sales people.

“No matter what your job is -CEO, teacher, parent or manager- we are all salespeople, working to convince others that we have to offer tgem us something they want. Since this book’s original publication in 1984, many things have changed, but the invaluable information in The One Minute $alesperson remains solid gold”  Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager 

If you are working in sales or not, “The One Minute $ales Person” is a very valuable book, that may help you raising the bar in your personal development. If it does don’t forget the condition that you “Share it with others”      

Any tips for another good book that can help create a personal competitive edge ? 

About Spencer Johnson

“Spencer Johnson is known for his 1998 motivational book, titled: “Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life.” It has stayed on the New York Times Bestseller list, and has remained on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover nonfiction list. Johnson received a B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Southern California in 1963, and his M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Johnson also wrote the book “Yes” or “No”: The Guide to Better Decisions (1992), which has been translated into a number of languages including Spanish, Korean and German . He co-authored the One Minute Manager series of books with management writer Ken Blanchard. His latest book, which can make you happy and successful is The Present.   

About Larry Wilson

“Larry Wilson is well known as the first and best “trainer of sales trainers”. He will always e the pioneer of helping sales people learn to perform at their full potential.” (Johnsons S. & Wilson L., 1984, The One Minute $ales Person -more sales in less time with less stress- , p. 110) 

“Management consultant Ken Blanchard has described Larry Wilson’s presence as “powerful, dynamic, and wise.” Larry lives up to these words every time he meets with a client—whether leadership teams, middle managers, or the entire workforce.” ( http://www.larrywilson.com/ ) 

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However HTC now teams-up with Wallpaper* and sponsors the Wallpaper* design awards 2010, as you can read on the Wallpaper* website. An intersting move since Wallpaper* isn’t about mobile technology, but about design interiors fashion art and lifestyle as you can read in the subtitle of the Wallpaper* logo.

Perhaps this collaboration isn’t as strange as it seem to be at first sight, since the common denominator is design and functionality. You all probably know examples like the eye catching design of the “chin” on the HTC Dream and HTC Hero devices, or HTC is the first to use capacitive screen technology on Windows Phones with the HTC HD2.

“We all enjoy a bit of flash and flamboyance now and then but we reserve our highest praise for design that does something truly useful and does it beautifully. We go ga-ga for elegant solutions and functional punch. HTC, world leaders in communications technology, are of a similar mind and operate under the banner ‘quietly brilliant’. Who better then to partner up with to present this year’s Readers’ Choice award, a celebration of the beautifully useful.”

The nominations for the HTC Reader’s Choice (Design) Awards 2010 are:

1. Bullfrog LED front bike lights by Knog;
2. Air Multiplier fan by Dyson;
3. W+W toilet and sink by Roca;
4. Up street furniture by Ewo and Norway Says;
5. The 3rd person archive book by artist John Stezaker;

This list clearly shows a great variety of products, which really makes it an interesting “competititon”. Furthermore it is very intersting to check out additional pictures and art in a gallery of the five nominations.

Concluding thoughts

In ordre to wrap this is a very interesting collaboration, and it might sound strange when you first read about it. However according to the press release the partnership expresses HTC’s focus on design and innovation.

Strategically it might even be an interesting opportunity for HTC to tap into a “new” network of fresh designers guided by great out-of-the box thinking and who are able to come-up with new designs.

If you are interested in design, which I am as a mechnical engineer, you should certainly check out the five nominations with the additional pictures and bring out your vote. I’m very curious which design will be the winner of the HTC Reader’s Choice Awards 2010 !!

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In this article I will provide a short section with background information about Möbius, and than focus on this year’s Möbius conference and the discussed contents (which I’m allowed to share).  

What is Möbius ?

 For those of you who don’t have a clue what Möbius is about, there is a pretty nice definition on the Möbius website:   

“Möbius is an invitation-only community of the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers. The collective insights, opinions and influence of Möbius drives market trends, industry buzz and the buying behavior of people worldwide. Möbians interact behind the scenes with companies big and small to shape the direction of devices, services, pricing, design and the culture of consumer technology.”  

You can furthermore read that Mobius is about a never ending conversation, which is to some extent a reflection of the word Möbius (strip) and its mathematical properties. However open dicussions and ongoing conversations about mobile technology and closely related topics are the essence of the Möbius group.

Möbius Conference 2009

Arne Hess, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of the::unwired describes a Möbius conference in an article on his website as:

“Möbius isn’t just another blogger, press or analysts briefing but the main part of the whole conference it is the vital interaction and discussion between the attendees, Microsoft and its partners. It’s 48 hours of discussions, sharing information and thoughts about the mobile and wireless future.”  

In order to give you an idea about who is taking part in these discussions I would like to start with providing an overview of the attendees of the 2009 Möbius conference in Seattle:

• Alex Gay, Akihabara News
• Arne Hess, the::unwired
• Chris Ziegler, Engadget Mobile
• Dieter Bohn, Smartphone Experts
• Gianni Carfagno, SoloPalmari.com
• Jenneth Orantia, freelance writer
• Jerome Tranie, MobiFrance
• Derrick Ngan, Pocket PC Channel
• Joel Evans, Geek.com
• Judie Lipsett, Gear Diary
• Leigh Geary, Cool Smartphone
• Lisa Gade, MobileTechReview
• Matt Miller, ZDNet Smartphones & Cell Phones
• Michael Gartenberg, Gartenblog
• Paul O’Brien, MoDaCo.com
• Philip Berne, InfoSync World
• Rafe Blandford, All About Symbian
• Remo Knops, MobilityMinded
• Rich Brome, PhoneScoop
• Ryan Block, GDGT
• Sacha Fuentes, Xataka.com
• Sascha Segan, Gear Log
• Shane Chiang, Mobinauts
• Vincent Nguyen, Slash Gear

As you can see this is a great group of people, and I’m very fortunate to have met the probably smartest people in the mobile sector. Not only in terms of geographical location, but also in terms of formal education, type of website and even mobile platform it is a very diverse group. You can imagine that this adds some great value to the discussions. For example it is great to hear Rafe Blandford share his thoughts about the Symbian platform and the latest Symbian devices.

As you can read in the reports of the Mobius conference 2007 in Amsterdam (report day 1, report day 2, report day 3) there is always a great mix of sessions, about which we can write and sessions that are under the Mobius NDA handshake. Unfortunately this year the almost complete conference were NDA sessions, so I won’t be able to share reports like back in 2007.

However Jason Dunn, Windows Mobile- & Zune MVP and Editor in Chief of ThoughtsMedia, has written an excellent article (page 1, page 2) on the Windows Phone Thoughts website, which I would highly recommend you to read. Also Jenneth Orantia, freelance writer, has managed to write a trip report on the Gadget Monkeys blog. I think both these article should give you an idea about the Mobius 2009 conference.

Conclusive thoughts

I would like to start the concluding section with the fact that I really love Seattle as a city. Despite it was pretty cold and rainy (even for a Dutch guy), it is such a great city where you can really feel the creative city approach, which in concept has been described by visionary Charles Landry. It was for example great fun to visit the first Starbucks ever, and Pike Place Market together with Shane Chiang and Sacha Fuentes. I will definitely visite Seattle again in the future, it really felt like home there !

Furthermore the Mobius Conference 2009 was -in my perception- very successful. It is such a privelege to meet such smart and creative people from all over the world and engage in discussions with them about the future of (windows) mobile. Honestly the Mobius Conference has really given me a creative boost, and kept me going back home !!

I would really like to explicitly thank Microsoft for the inviting me to the event, I have been in a very fortunate position ! An addtional great many thanks to Microsoft for hooking all of us up with a Zune HD 32GB, which is an amazing device and much more than a mediaplayer. The Zune HD isn’t for sale in the Netherlands, so that makes it really special. Furthermore a great many thanks to HTC for giving us an HTC HD2, the most powerful Windows Phone on the market. Amazing, and blazing fast !

To wrap up I really had an amazing time in Seattle, it was great to catch-up with old friends, meet new friends and I finally would like to thank everyone again who contributed to the great conference !!

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According to the symposium leaflet the goal is “to give you as a student an impression fo what the market will look like in five years. [...] most students will be looking for a job by that time [...]” In the concluding section Iwill evaluate if this goal has been met for me personally. Let’s kick-off quickly with the first part of the opening speech.

Opening speech by Professor Ir. Roel Pieper

In this first section I will discuss a few interesting topics from the opening speech of professor Ir. Roel Pieper. Professor Pieper starts his presentation with the following statement on the title slide: “Value creation, nothing else matters.”

This task of value creation is perfectly suited for the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, since entrepreneurship is an engine of the economy especially in the current hard economic times.  

Every new idea has a hype cycle

The first topic Iwould like to hightly is the so called hype cycle. But what is a hype cycle ? This is a concept developed by Gartner Research in 1995, and a formal definition of the concept and an explenation of the different phases can be found on a special hype cycle section of the Gartner Research website.

“A Hype Cycle is a graphic representation of the maturity, adoption and business application of specific technologies. Gartner has used Hype Cycles to characterize the over-enthusiasm or “hype” and subsequent disappointment that typically happens with the introduction of new technologies. [...]“

A hype cycle consists of five different phases:

1. Technology Trigger;
2. Peak of Inflated Expectations;
3. Trough of Disillusionment;
4. Slope of Enlightenment;
5. Plateau of Productivity;

Both in the “Gartner’s Hype Cycle Special Report for 2005” and the more recent press release “Gartner’s 2009 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates Maturity of 1,650 Technologies” give you some practical examples of using the hype cycle.

The triangle of value creation

The second topic I would like to discuss is the by Professor Pieper presented “triangle of value creation”. The triangle of value creation is a simple easy to use model, which can help you to understand some of the basic dynamics of a business (model) and the underlying relations.

Each variable in the triangle is relevent, and really understanding these variables and the relations is a huge advantage for the entrepreneur (in my personal opinion). Engineers are often trained to develop the best available technology on the market, but according to the triangle of value creation, technology only will not bring you success. Also if you just have the money and financials only, it won’t do it. If you have great market knowledge and market access only, it sometimes can work and result in success.

However the main overall idea of the triangle of value creation is that you clearly think about all the three key variables, the underlying relations, and a way to balance them (since each variable is relevant). With the triangle of value creation model you don’t think about just one aspect, and in my personal peception I can see clear links with the design of a business model, for example the design tools presented by Alexander Osterwalder.

Value stack analysis

Another important aspect in the process of value creation is a value stack analysis. The picture above gives a graphical representation of the general industry value chain, and let’s assume an entrepreneur has started the yellow company in the middle of the top row.

It is not hard to imagine that there is a distribution of the total value across the complete industry value chain (from left to right), and therefore for the entrepreneur it is important to understand which part of the total value stack is for his yellow company. Another example is for example a manufacturing company which delivers parts of a certain end-product that is directly sold to a customer. In this case it is important to understand what value the parts represent of the total value of the end-product.

In the value stack analysis you should also think about aspects like core ip and patents, brand value, distribution network or the power of purchasing.

Creating value top 10 !

The last topic I wanted to share  from the opening speech of professor Roel Pieper is an overview of one of his slides, the so called creating value top 10 !!

1. Accept that you win and lose;
2. Leadership- responsibility – commitment;
3. People quality;
4. Milestones;
5. Who wins and who loses;
6. The composition of the market;
7. Multi-sourcing and -partners;
8. Communication website;
9. Communication – verbal pitch;
10. Scalability – value triangle – value stack;

While this top 10 consists of some great items to think about, you might have noticed that in the sections above the last point is almost completely outlined. With the creating value top 10, I would like to end the opening speech section, and provide you with an idea of two workshops (out of four), which I attended in the afternoon program of the vision on the future symposium.

Workshop 1 – A close look at the IT (Structures) @ Centre for Information and Communication Technology, part of the Dutch Tax Administration

This workshop is organized by Saco Bekius of the Centre for Information and Communication Technology and Professor Dr. Jos van Hillegersberg from University of Twente. I don’t have a formal education in computer science and information technology, so with events like this symposium I always try to broaden my horizon and move out of your own professional field.

On the website of the Dutch Tax Administration you can read the following description of the Centre for Information and Communication Technology:

“The approximately 3,000 staff members of the Centre for Information and Communication Technology (B/CICT) in Apeldoorn develop, manage and monitor the entire computer system used by the more than 30,000 staff members of the Tax and Customs Administration. This makes B/CICT one of the largest internal ICT organisations in the Netherlands.”

It isn’t a big surprise that this part of the Dutch Tax Administration is of vital importance of the whole Tax Administration organization. In other words you could call it the backbone of the organization, which therefore makes it very interesting to discuss.

The impact of e-service trends @ the Dutch Tax Administration

• Key e-services trends;
• Current services and organization of the Dutch Tax Administration;

In this first part of the workshop the attendees should brainstorm and engage in an open discussion on how e-services trends will have an impact on the Dutch Tax Administration. What should the Dutch Tax Administration of the future look like ?

The importance of organizational and IT architecture @ the Dutch Tax Administraion

• Architecture modelling and legacy architecture transformation;
• Current organizational- and IT architecture of the Dutch Tax Administraion;

The second part also consited of an open discussion on what should happen in organization, processes and IT to achieve the Dutch Tax Administration of the future. Due to the wide variety of professional- and educational backgrounds of the attendees these discussions were great, interesting and highly valuable.

Personally I learned some more aspectes about e-services trends and IT architecture as well as legacy architecture transformations and their organizational impact.

Workshop 2 – International Risk Management @ Storck  Aerospace

This workshop is organized by Joanne Geurts, Floor Richters & Robert Imhof of Storck Aerospace and Professor Dr. Rez Kabir from University of Twente.

On the Storck Aerospace website, you can find a formal description from this interesting business unit of Storck B.V., which will be producing parts for the Joint Strike Fighter:

“Stork Aerospace designs, develops and produces advanced structures and electrical systems for the aerospace and defence industry and supplies integrated maintenance services and products to aircraft owners and operators. The Aerospace group carries out these activities with 3,532 employees.”

It won’t be hard to imagine that production of parts of a multimillion euro fighter plane, involves accurate management of high-end product specifications, safety regulations, challenges for manufacturing and tracebility. In the light of these aspects this workshop consists of a business case where you need to assess the risks of setting up a factory in Chili, Soutch America.

The used method for analyzing the risks is the “Gross Hazard Analysis“, which I will discuss step by step below:

Step 1  – Determine scope

Step 2A  – Identify risk

Is the risk caused by human, technical failure, or nature ?

Step 2B  – Asses risk

It is very important to understand the difference between danger and risk, since these are two very different concepts. Danger = potential treat for people or business and is not quanitified !

Risk = severence * probability (quantifiable !!)  with severence:  I – catastrophic, II – critical, III, IV and with probability: A, B, C, D, E, F

Step 3 -  Determine the Risk Profile

With help of the graph above you can create a risk profile, which consists of the several indiviual risks you thought about in the previous steps. This Risk profile gives you an overview of the portfolio of different individual risks. A simple rule or constraint is that all risks above the blue line need to be mitigated. In other words the risk profile is higher if many of the individual risks are above the blue line.

Step 4 -  Making a decision about the risk

In this final step you need to make a decision to (1) eliminate, (2) reduce, (3) transfer or (4) accept the risk(s).

In addition to the application of the Gross Hazard Analysis in a Storck Business Case, Professor Dr. Rez. Kabir held an excellent presentation about International Financial Risk Management. This was a great complementary, but very insightful presentation (certainly in the current economic times). Professor Dr. Rez Kabir discussed a well tought-out financial risk analysis of Storck Aerospace based on the publically available information (like press releases and annual year reports).

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up 

At first I would like to compliment the student association Stress with the excellent organization of the Vision on the future symposium. At first a highly interesting and valuable opening speech, which addressed both scientific theoretical- and business practical aspects.

Second the organizers of the Vision on the future symposium were able to collaborate with highly interesting companies to participate in the workshops. You could only choose two out of four workshops to attend, so I missed the workshop about Logistics @ Schiphol Group (however have done a Balance Score Card case about the Schiphol Group in the past) and Human Resource Management @ Kock.

Furthermore the workshops during events like a symposium are great opportunities to broaden your horizon and the challenge is to show an excellent performance in a different professional- or education field. Despite I don’t have a formal educational background in Computer Science and IT, both the background as a Mechnical Engineer and Business Administration (Business Model Innovation & Technical Innovation) helped to add real value to the discussions. In the second workshop I could see some parallels of underlying concepts of International Risk Management and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis which I knew from my Mechnical Engineering background.

In the traditional plenary session all the different topics of opening speech and workshops are connected, where students needed to share their experiences and knowledge from the particular workshop(s) they attended. After a final round of good discussions, the closing words of the Vision on the future symposium chairman and a drink, I could look back at a highly interesting day !!

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The session that I personally was most excited about is the keynote  “Join the New Efficiency” from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

1.  IT More Critical Than Ever

Steve Ballmer start his presentation with a short description of the  Microsoft (software) Ecosystem that Microsoft has created, how the software ecosystem directly relates to Innovation in IT, and indirectly relates to Economic Growth as well.

A visualization of this model can be seen at the right side of the slide. Steve Ballmer emphasizes that the software ecosystem and new developments in IT are the main motor of Economic Growth.  Steve Ballmer describes the impact of the Microsoft Ecosystem in the Netherlands in terms of hard numbers:  for example jobs, revenues, new business opportunities and even as percentage of the  GDP.

Ballmer’s conclusion is certainly valid, the Microsoft Ecosystem impacts society and the economic system, even though in the times of economic crisis right now.

2.  Our Vision:  seamless experiences accross your life

The second slide in the presentation  covers the Microsoft vision and to some extent the overall Microsoft strategy which directs the different Microsoft business units, product groups and even projects.

Steve Ballmer describes the three screens and a cloud as a “fundamental shift in the computing paradigm” in the exclusive interview with Michael Arrington, Editor from TechCrunch.com.

At first I’m very happy that Windows Phones have become one of the pillars of this vision, but perhaps the most important part on this slide is the natural user interface accross the three screens.

I would like to eleborate a little on this topic with help of Microsoft Live Mesh, which connects (mainly) Windows PC, Windows Phone and the Web. On all these different environments I can access the same information in a similar Windows Live Mesh experience and keep my data synchronized, anytime anywhere.

Some other clear outcomes that really illustrate the momentum of the Microsoft Vision are: Microsoft Office Live Workspace or Microsoft Office (2010) Web Apps in addition to Microsoft Office Mobile.

3.  The New Efficiency

From the first two slides about the economic situation, the Microsoft ecosystem and the Microsoft vision we move forward in “the funnel” of this presentation to the central theme of TechNet_Live: “The New Efficiency”.

Steve Ballmer explains what The New Efficiency is about, and in simple words it is: “with less … do more“.  I really like the simplicity of this concept but in business practice it might not be as simple as it sounds. This new efficiency can be divided in three parts:

1. Cost savings, pull cost out of (daily) operations;
2. Productivity, get more out of your people and organization;
3. Innovation, capture and create new revenue;

While business in general start with cost savings, especially in the current economic situation, most companies go partly after the productivity topic as well. However with the full focus and direction of resources on cost savings and productivity companies often seem to forget investing in innovation, in order to create new revenue streams.

Remark the cognitive distribution of managerial- and entrepreneurial thinking from Saras Sarasvathy, Associate Professor at the Darden Graduate Business School at the University of Virginia.

4.  Software for the new efficiency

Steve Ballmer explained in the previous slide what this “new efficiency” encloses, and it probably is not a big surprise that there is Microsoft software to support the “new efficiency”. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010 are launched for business market during the Microsoft TechNet_Live Event, and form the central themes around which the technical tracks are organized.

4.1  Windows 7

The first software title that can significantly deliver new efficiency to a company and its workforce is the new upcoming Microsoft operating system Windows 7, which is more robust, delivers more performance and is widely and better compatible with accessoiries and periphical devices.

Early september I have published a review of Windows 7 RC (build 7100) on www.mobilityminded.com, and I concluded that Microsoft delivered a well thought out operating system. A lot of attention is spend on productivity- and efficiency improvements (for example jumplists and the improved taskbar). The result however is a completely redesigned and optimized Windows 7, and I’m not just talking about the GUI.

However for a company there are more important aspects to the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. At first it needs to be robust and secure, while the security management needs to be simple and efficient as well. A great example of this reasoning is the Bitlocker Drive Encryption software, which is part of the Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate operating system (and helpful for every end-user).

Another important aspect is the workstation management, or the available deployment tools to migrate the whole workstation infrastructure from Windows XP to Windows 7.

4.2  Windows Server 2008 R2

On the Windows Server 2008 R2 website you can read the following product description (while I have highlighted the productivity and efficiency related features):

“Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new features to enable organizations to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. New virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center. Powerful tools such as Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7.5, updated Server Manager and Hyper-V platforms and Windows PowerShell version 2.0 combine to give customers greater control, increased efficiency, and the ability to react to front-line business needs faster than ever before.”

I must admit that I don’t have the expertise to technically make a judgement on the Windows Server 2008 R2 product, however from the description I can conclude that quite an amount of innovation is included in this server product.

A reliable backbone of your company’s IT infrastructure starts here with Windows Server 2008 R2, the cornerstone in your organization.

4.3  Exchange Server 2010

The third product which is launched at the TechNet_Live event is Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, and we can read the following description on the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 product information website:

“Microsoft Exchange 2010 is the latest version of Microsoft’s premier enterprise messaging and collaboration solution, and the cornerstone of Microsoft’s vision for unified communications. Exchange 2010 helps you achieve new levels of reliability and performance with the widest range of deployment options, the richest user experience, and integrated information leakage protection and compliance capabilities.”

In July this year I analyzed a video on www.mobilityminded.com of Adam Glick, Senior Technical Product Manager in the Unified Communications Team, in which he explains the Exchange 2010 updates for Windows Mobile.

Not only the productivity and efficiency improvements in Exchange Server 2010 for Windows Mobile are discussed, but also the management and control aspects for IT Professionals.

5.  Windows 7 Early Adopters Seeing Value

While all these technical features really sound nice, in the end efficiency related discussions come down to the hard financial numbers. As essential part of the presentation is a “Total Cost of Ownership (TOC)” study at Getronics -a KPN Company- in the Netherlands. But there are also various Windows 7 roll out projects currently going on with Microsoft partners and TechNet (first wave) sponsors like for example Wortell.

The results of this TOC study show that an amount of € 77,– per workstation per year on direct IT cost savings can be achieved. Remarkable in these results is the contribution of power savings with € 13,– per workstation per year. The bottomline is that you don’t need to hold a PhD in Mathematics or Economics to do the calculations on direct IT cost savings.

In addition I would like to remark a slogan we have seen before: “the new efficiency: with less … do more“. In this particular example Windows 7 saves customers’ money and drives productivity and atisfaction.

6.  Bright Future for IT

Steve Ballmer concludes the presentation with a birght future for IT. At first we have seen that IT is a vital growth engine, not only does it drive economic growth but as we have seen at the start the Microsoft Ecosystem drives innovation as well.

Furthermore Steve Ballmer emphasizes that there are opportunities for a bigger more strategic impact f IT (especially in the current economic- and financial situation), while at the same time IT and Microsoft is being challenged on high flexibility to meet end users needs.

7.  Question and Answer session

In addition to the more than excellent presentation of Steve Ballmer, as outlined and discussed in the sections above, time has been scheduled for an impressive roughly 20 minute lasting Q&A session. Both the press who attended the keynote as well as IT Professionals from “everyday” pratice engaged in a very interactive, lively and open session / discussion.

Some examples of the topics discussed are:

• Ongoing support for Windows XP;
• Top reasons to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7;
• How does Windows 7 help Steve Ballmer (and the Ballmer family ) ?

Concluding thoughts

At first I can only conclude that my excitement prior to the keynote was easonably valid!! I was fortunate to have a front row seat, literally I was 1 m. (!!!) away from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and honestly you can feel the energy and “power” during the presentation.

Second I really liked the framework of the presentation, with the start at a general economic- and ecosystem-level and move forward in the funnel narrowing down to a  more product-level and an outlook for the future. Furthermore the total cost of owernership study of Getronics combines theory and pratice in a clever way, and really shows direct measurable benefits.

Finally the Q&A session was impressive both in terms of scheduled time and quality of discussion & quality of questions. Steve Ballmer really amazed me even more during this session, because he listenes really well to the proposed question or case and is able to transform -a sometimes technical question- into a perfect understandable (and reasonable) answer.

I want to wrap-up with thanking Microsoft and the TechNet_Live organizers for the perfect organization of both the keynote and the overall event. And Steve Ballmer thank you for the amazing keynote, I was honored to see “the employee since 1980” perform live on stage and be at such a close distance !!

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I was fortunate to be invited by the Windows Mobile Team in the Netherlands to attend the local launch event at the Lute Suites in Amstelveen (near Amsterdam).

In his article I would like to share some thoughts on- and impressions of this successful event on a very cool location to launch new mobile technology.

1. Welcome and short introduction

The local Windows Phones launch event in the Netherlands starts with a short welcome followed by an introduction to Windows Phones and its new (marketing) campaign. I would like to quickly share some main points of this introductary part of the day.

Sometime ago people typically talked about the business market and consumer market as two totally different- and separated entities. However the ongoing trend is that the customer needs are changing and the consumer- and business needs converge. In other words you simply want one smartphone on which you use for business and personal things as well.

On the powerpoint-slide above you further see that three key concepts listed that drive Windows Mobile 6.5:  (1) connect to people, (2) get stuff done and (3) meet my needs. In these concepts, which are a  little more explained in the powerpoint slide below you can cleary see an excellent balance between productivity and efficiency vs. personalization and fun.

“

IMPORTANT REMARK:

During research on the three screen strategy the is currently driving Microsoft I did a Google search with the keywords: “three screen strategy windows phones” and found a valuable powerpoint presentation originally designed by Vesa-Matti Paananen, Mobile Business Group Lead & Marketplace WE Marketing @ Microsoft, and is titeled ”Mobility in Microsoft’s Three Screen Strategy & Windows Mobile 6.5“. It’s certainly interesting to read, and shows similarities with the presentations / workshop content that I was fortunate to see in real life.

Back on topic. After the general introduction you were able to attend three different workshops each covering a specific perspective of Windows Phones. I attended workshop 1 and workshop 2, since these were the workshops closest to the technical aspects of Windows Mobile.

2. Workshop:  A technical look on Windows Mobile 6.5

The first workshop is hosted by Maarten Sonneveld, Business Group Lead Mobile of Microsoft Netherlands. The workshop starts with explaining the details on the Windows Phones branding inline with the outlined concepts in the previous section.

2.1  Connect to People (orange pillar)

The main message is that a Windows Phones has the best programs onboard to connect with colleagues, friends and family. For example think of excellent support of e-mailaccounts within Pocket Outlook (where all core PIM information is stored in one single application). But also Windows Live for Mobile or Microsoft Facebook for Mobile are great examples of excellent software to stay connect via Instant Messaging (IM) -and remark the voiceclips functionality- or Social Networks.

Furthermore Maarten Sonneveld, Business Group Lead Mobile of Microsoft Netherlands, discusses new Windows Mobile 6.5 features: (1) lockscreen, (2) new todayscreen, (3) new start menu. These features heavily contribue to a more optimized GUI for touch “control and on-device-navigation”. It might be interesting to compare the ”HTC Touch2 review – Windows Mobile 6.5 and TouchFLO 3D combined !” and “Windows Mobile 6.5 on the HTC Snap – Impressions and thoughts” on these features.

2.2  Get Stuff Done  (blue pillar)

After a demo the workshop is continued with capturing the value of Windows (Mobile). At first Windows Mobile has the best Microsoft Exchange synchronization avaialble, ad I must admit this is the key feature why I love my Windows Phone. Furthermor on my Windows Phone I can create and edit documents with the Ofice Mobile Suite on my Windows Phone.

Windows Mobile 6.5 takes advantage of the new Internet Explorer 6 (for Mobile) resulting in a more robust browsing experience and getting more transactions done on the internet. Very cool was also the MSN Money widget, based on the Intenet Explorer Mobile framework, that  fist saw appear on the HTC Touch2. You an also create your own widgets, if you like.

Microsoft did also announce the Microsoft MyPhone, a free backup and restore service, for Windows Phones. Joris Jan Goos, Product Manager Mobile Services of Microsoft Netherlands, provides us with a demo of the Microsoft MyPhone, and shows of the new premium services. Good friend and colleague Paul Willen has covered these premium services really well in an article on www.mobiltyminded.com.

2.3  Meet My Needs (green pillar)

The last pillar covers the possible personalization aspects of Windows Phones. Back at CTIA Wireless 2009 not only Windows Marketplace for Mobile was announced, but also a number of partnerships with leading designers -like Mizrahi- that create cool (background) themes for Windows Phones.

Furthermore you can enhance your Windows Phone to your personal needs and demands with your favourite third party applications that make your Windows Phone even more powerfull. Windows Marketplace for Mobile makes the search for-and installation off these applications easier than ever before. In the next workshop the Windows Marketplace for Mobile will be covered a little more extensively.

Windows Phones are available from different brands, in different formfactors, and in different types of devices. This diversity in Windows Phones provides the end-users an optimal choice to choose a Windows Phone that best fits their personal needs and -demands.

3. Workshop:  The world of applications for Windows Mobile and Windows Marketplace (for Mobile)

The second workshop is hosted by Peter Broekroelofs, CTO and co-founder of application developer Service2Media.

Peter starts with a short introduction about Service2Media and its customers, and remarkable is the fact that Microsoft is one of their top technology partners. On the company website you can read that Service2Media was the first with Windows Mobile applicatons in the “Dutch” Windows Marketplace for Mobile:

“De Telegraaf – a dutch newspaper-  news application is the first Windows 6.5 app in the Dutch Windows Marketplace app store. Other applications that will be developed for Windows Phones are  Buienradar, NS Reisplanner Xtra and Rabobank CashMS.”

The concepts of these applications are discussed during the workhop, but more interesting is the discussion about the main drivers for the development of mobie applications. At first it is the technology that enables new opportunities.

For example alsmost every Windows Phone today in the Netherlands is sold with a flafree data subscription, that makes it possible to stay connected as long as yo have cellular coverage. Furhermore smartphones are becoming more and more powerful with different connectivity options (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth), a GPS-receiver and even accelorometers.

Another driver is the availability of application stores like Windows Marketplace (for Mobile) to provide visibility to reach the masses, easy on-device installation and easy secure payment. I was able to cover these aspects for Windows Marketplace for Mobile in a few articles: “Windows Marketplace for Mobile coming to Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.0” and “Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Payments and Operators“

Finally Service2Media and Windows Phones triggered the people who attended the workshop to be creative and think about an application concept. The best concept would be awarded with development of the application and a place in the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which is quite an opportunity especially if you are creative or have a background in software development.

4. Workshop:  Organize your life with a Windows Phone – Tips from a professional lifestyle coach

The third workshop was hosted by Lorraine Simoons, professional organizer and life-style coach from SO Organized.

The title of the workshop is “private and work in balance with 12 simple tips“, and Lorraine shows that despite you are working hard on your personal carreer you can still have sufficient time for to spend with the people or things that are valuable to you.

The method is based on 12 tips framework, and one of the key approaches in the workshop is that technology -like Windows Phones- is a must-have partner for organizing and balancing your life !

If you are interested you should spent some time reading on the SO Organized website or Loraaine Simoons’ blog !

5. Launching partners show off new Windows Phones

It was very cool to have these workshops with theoretical approaches, interesting and flashy demo’s, but also good questions and open discussions.

In addition there are four launching oem partners present at the Windows Phones launch event, to show their latest Windows Mobile 6.5 powered devices to the mobile tech-community in the Netherlands.

5.1  HTC (Benelux)

The first Windows Phone on the Dutch market with Windows Mobile 6.5 pre-loaded on the device is the HTC Touch2. Despite that the HTC Touch2 is positioned in the middle segment it is very powerfull and packed with technology and features.

At a very competitive pricepoint this is certainly an interesting device to ”push” the Windows Mobile 6.5 market. If you are interested, you should check out the review of the HTC Touch2 on www.mobilityminded.com.

In addition there was a nice surprise, which is shown in the picture above:  the local announcement of the latest powerhouse HTC HD2 by Mark Moons country manager HTC Benelux. This is certainly a device that makes the heartbeat of every geek rise immediately, and I was fortunate to have a short hands-on.

5.2  Samsung Mobile

The second OEM is Samsung Mobile, who announced a free Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for the Samsung Omnia II and the Samsung Omnia QWERTY.

Samsung Mobile had also a special new device in their suite, which is shown in the picture below. It is the Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 which will be a Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard device, and honestly I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

5.3  Sony Ericsson

Early september Sony Ericsson announced the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, and at the Windows Phones launch event I was able to have a short demo of this Windows Phone.

5.4  LG Electronics

The final OEM partner present at the Windows Phones launch event is LG Electronics, with their latest Windows Mobile 6.5 device the LG GM750 with the S-Class interface. This device will be exclusively available via Vodafone only.

5.5  Other launching parters

While the previous launching partners are the device manufacturers there are also other partners involved in the local Windows Phones launch. I mut compliment Microsoft Netherlands for this approach since it provides the whole porfolio of partners involved (which reflects the underlying business model to some extent).

Mobile operator KPN provided a short workshop on their latest developments, while also the largest retailer of Windows Phones – Belcompany- was present at the Windows Phones launch.

In addition various application developers were there as well, and for example I talked with one of the founders of the Buienradar application.

6.  Concluding thoughts on this event

At first I’m very grateful that the Windows Mobile team of Microsoft Netherlands invited me to attend the Windows Phones launch event in Amstelveen. Furthermore I would like to thank Weber Shandwick for the exceptional organization, communication and willingness to help.

It was also great to see such a diverse portfolio of launching partners, and I would like to thank each one of them for the excellent device demo’s and takng the time and patience to answer my questions. The presented or announced devices show the potential of Windows Mobile, and the richness of the platform is for example reflected in the different GUI’s developed by the OEM.

Finally I would like to recommend a video (in DUTCH) of Mobilyz.com website, who attended the event with a professional video crew. I think the video is a nice summary and wrap-up of this article that reflects a succesful Windows Phones launch on October 6th.

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Last week I was very excited, since the team of the Business Model Generation (hand)book announced that the final version of the book was shipped. So I couldn’t wait for the mailman to deliver the book, and I almost ripped it from his hands to quickly open the box and have a first look at the final result.

The picture above shows an amazing front cover, while the content is even more high quality and very interesting (despite that I have seen the evolvement of the different book chunks). For the people who are not familiar with Business Models and Business Model Innovation I will provide the definition provided in the book preview:

“A business model describes the rational of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value“  [ref01,  ref03]

One of the problems that Alexander Osterwalder describes in an article of the Dutch periodical Management Team (Issue 16, October  2nd 2009, p.p. 28-31) is that in the same company people can have a different perception of the business model often dependant on their background or education. 

Therefore the Business Model Canvas, shown in the picture above,  is an important tool. It is an instrument, structured around 9 building blocks, to open a cross functional dicussion and come to an agreement to one or more of the company’s business models. And more improtant it creates a common language for mutual understanding and discussion. The Business Model Canvans consists of: (1) Customer Segments, (2) Value Propositions, (3) Channels, (4) Customer Relationships, (5) Revenue Streams, (6) Key Resoures, (7) Key Activities, (8) Key Partnerships, (9) Cost Structure. Now that you have an idea about the core of the book, lets extend it in different ways with a preview below. 

Preview of Business Model Generation (hand)Book

In order to give you both a preview- and a complete idea of the contents of the Business Mobile Generation (hand)book, the picture below provides a visual overview of the table of contents. You not only see the different chapters, but also the underlying relationships.

The above described Business Model Canvas is the central core element of the book, which is fully covered in the preview of the Business Model Generation book below. While from the other book chapters you will find a sneak preview.

Pricing and availability

With permission and the open character of the Business Model Innovation Hub, I was allowed to share the following information about pricing and availability of the Business Model Generation (hand)book:

About the Business Mobel Generation Team

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This article will show a YouTube video titled: “TNT Post goes mobile with Layar” and it certainly is cool to see a combination of two worlds ! We can’t deny that TNT Mail has suffered from modern technologies like e-mail, which had a large impact on the number of sent “physical” letters. Therefore it’s especially cool to see both -seemingly contradicting- worlds combined into this YouTube video.

What is Layar ?

On the Layar product website a product description is available, which clearly outlines the purpose and concept of Layar:

“Layar is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone. Layar is a global application, available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in all Android Markets. It also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands.”

Layar is a combination of the words layer and augmented reality, so it probably isn’t a big surprise that several layers are “projected” on top of the real world.

“View all 87 layers that are now live (or almost) all over the world in the Layar 2.0 Content Catalog.”

Thoughts and Wrap-up

While currently this application is only developed for the free Google Android platform, it certainly is cool to see such new applications as a result of cleverly combining different existing technologies currently available in a mobile phone.

Also comparing the old TNT Mail business model with the business model of a company like Layar, would be an interesting and insighful case study to conduct. It might result in a clash of both the Augmented Reality and “real” worlds, but it also shows advancement in technology- and application development.

I’m sure that a company like TNT Mail certainly has intered the online- and mobile domain is well, searching for new opportunities and challenges. Question however will be if both models can co-exist next to each other !!?

Recently version 2.1 of Layar Reality Browser was launched, so if you are open to explore new technology applications and get a whole different perception on Augmented Reality and interacting with your environment you should certainly grab your Google Android powered phone and install Layar Reality browser on it ! Would be cool if you can share some personal experiences in the comment-section !

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Although I’m not a developer,  nor having a formal Information Technology & Computer Science education, I would like to have a detailed look at this cool case study from a business administration- and entrepreneurial perspective. It might be a good starting point for discussion, so comments are welcome.

Apple Appstore, Android Marketplace and Windows Marketplace for Mobile 

Let’s start builing this case with some details and background information about the Apple Appstore from Wikipedia:

“The App Store is a service for the iPhone and iPod Touch created by Apple Inc. which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iPhone SDK and published through Apple.

And furthermore some details about the time frame:

“The App Store opened early in the morning on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. The billionth application was downloaded on April 23, 2009.”

These numbers clearly show that since the launch of the first generation iPhone in June 2007 the mobile marketspace is disrupted with the result of high growth both for iPhone sales and as a result iPhone Application sales. Developers have massively addapted the platform, and simply move where the sales volumes are, right ?

In October 2008 Google hit the market with a similar concept called the Android Marketplace, and because of the Java-kind programming language the developers embraced this platform as well, and currently there are quite some freeware applications in the Android Marketplace. The Android platform however is in the early stage of it’s developments, but thanks to developments of HTC the platform has made some large steps in becoming mature.

Microsoft is currently working hard on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile and probably gains momentum from the Windows Mobile 6.5 release. In a sequence of articles on www.mobilityminded.com I have covered quite some details of the concept and the implementation of the payment mechanism: 

1. Windows Marketplace for Mobile coming to Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.0
2. Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Payments and Operators
3. Microsoft Surface table to win in developer contest: The Race to Market Challenge 

In the articles you can read some concluding facts as well:

“This means that developers will have an opportunity to reach more than 30 million Windows Mobile devices. ”

This means that Apple iPhone developers have the opportunity to enter a second and third market, and scale their businesses significantly. As stated in the introduction, a real case study is conduced in collaboration with a developer for the application “Amplitude”.

 Amplitude – A real(istic) case study !

On the gripwire website you can find the following product description of Amplitude (for iPhone):

“Amplitude is a fun application that enables users to amplify audio from their surroundings. By enabling users to adjust the volume/gain on their microphones, Gripwire has turned the iPhone into a high-tech listening device capable of picking up the sound of animal heartbeats, distant conversations, and a host of other sounds that you might never have noticed.”

Very cool that for the case study not a kind of fictive application is chosen, but an existing application from a “real” software-development-firm. Constanze Roman -a Community PM with the Windows Mobile Community Team- explained why Amplitude is an interesting application to use for the case study.

“Amplitude is well suited for a porting project because it combines a rich user interface with features such as alpha blending and transparency with specific audio and sound requirements, which makes it challenging to port the app but, at the same time, provides a number of helpful learning experiences.”

However I have seen quite some interesting applications on the Apple iPhone where the build-in g-sensor is used. This could also be an additional challenge in the porting process, since these hardware parts become also very common in Windows Phones. However the Amplitude application covers already quite some parts of the spectrum.

Minimizing the learning curve by solid documentation ? 

The article ”Ready to Port your iPhone App to Windows Mobile?” already describes to broad overview of the research project, but on the MSDN network the whole case study is well documented in the article:  “Porting the Amplitude Application from the iPhone to a Windows Mobile Device – a Case Study“

I think the article can be of great help since it offers a starting point, and it provides bits of code which could be helpful while porting your own application. However each application has its own structure and probably each developer has an own style and structure of coding, so a unversal approach probably is not applicable. Every application will have it’s own challenges and it’s up to the developer to tackle these. I also expect not all the developers to document their findings and put these online. 

“The large development community, both within Microsoft and outside, and the various whitepapers, blogs, virtual labs, websites, and other online documentation, offered a wealth of information that provided direction and greatly facilitated problem resolution. The only real challenge was assuring total portability between screens, and that was assured by utilizing the concept of aspect ratios.” 

The documentation is a good point, but in the MSDN article you can read there are some challenges due to the differences in platform requirements as well.

Wrap-up and idea’s

Let’s start by having a look at the main conclusions from the research:

“Porting an iPhone application proved both surprising and not nearly as challenging as had been expected. Once the frameworks and library decisions were finalized, the effort to port code essentially consisted of moving Objective C to C#, both of which are Java-like languages.”

Remark my introductary comment that I don’t have a formal Computer Science education, so I need to trust the developer’s word. I think that the available documentation helps, and it can even significantly decrease the learning curve.

Mary-Jo Foley -Editor at ZDNet All About Microsoft- described earlier this year a kind of chassis/reference concept in her article: “A Microsoft smartphone: No. A Microsoft phone chassis: Yes“:

“Think of what Microsoft is doing in phones as similar to what it has done in the PC market. Microsoft often develops reference implementations and encourages PC makers that they build PCs that adhere to a set of reference guidelines/specifications.”

To me it sounds a little like concepts I know from Mechanical Engineering: process- and product-standardization, modular architectures and -designs. These concepts, if there is some part of truth in it, could furthermore decrease the learning curve for developers since the standards are very clear and outlined (comperable with DIN-norms in Mechnical Engineering).

“Thompson’s case study shows, that even though there are some challenges in porting a multimedia-rich application from the iPhone to Windows Mobile, the task can be accomplished, especially with the help of developer-friendly tools like Visual Studio, the richness of community content that is available for Windows Mobile, and last but not least by planning the project ahead and doing all the necessary research in advance.”

I would like to make a final point here. Close friend and colleague Paul Willen concluded in the article: “Windows Mobile 6.5 Development – What about Developers?” 

“[...] I think its sad to see that a very good developer has to do a great investment before his application can actually become a product in the Marketplace .That’s why I hope Microsoft will re-consider the choice and gives something to starting developers. Something that will make it easier and cheaper to start developing.”

While for the Apple Appstore and the Android Marketplace the development tools are free, developers need to invest even before they start developing. And despite the developer will get 70% of the revenue of the application, according to Todd Brix in the channel9 video, it might be a threshhold to start developers porting their Apple iPhone Applications !

I hope this article will provide some input to start a valuable discussion, and since I’m not an expert in the technical coding part, you developers out there might get my up to speed about the implications !

Reference List

While many references are used as links in this article I would like to highlight the two most important references on this case study, which provide a great amount of information for developers:

1. THE WINDOWS MOBILE BLOG:  Ready to Port your iPhone App to Windows Mobile?
2. MSDN:  Porting the Amplitude Application from the iPhone to a Windows Mobile Device – a Case Study

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