Personal Blog
In November it was time for the annual invitation-only Mobius conference, and I was one of the very fortunate ones to be invited for this great event. The Möbius conference 2009 was held in Seattle, and I was very excited about my first visit to one of the top 10 tech cities in the world.
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).
Constanze Roman -a Community PM with the Windows Mobile Community Team- has published an interesting article on the Windows Mobile Team blog with the title: “Ready to Port your iPhone App to Windows Mobile?“
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.
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:
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”.
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.
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.
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 !
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:
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Steve Balmer and Andrew Lees announced Windows Mobile 6.5, together with two additional services: (1) MyPhone and (2) Windows Marketplace for Mobile. This article will focus on the main changes in Windows Mobile 6.5 and provide some background information together with screenshots.
“Windows phones bring together the best of the Web, the PC and the phone so you can connect instantly to the experiences you care about, no matter where you are,” Ballmer said. “We’re working with partners across the industry to deliver a new generation of Windows phones that break down the barriers between people, information and applications and provide great end-to-end experiences that span your entire life, at work and at home.” [ref01]
The first remarkable fact is the naming: “Windows Phones”. Since a phone running the Windows Mobile platform is per definition a MOBILE device, the term Mobile is absolete. It’s al in the simplicity of the word choice: A phone running Windows. In slightly different words Clinton Fitch’s describes Balmer’s idea’s above:
“Microsoft is working on the concept that people and information are the center of your personal universe, not necessarily a phone, pc or other digital device. Accessing those people and that information is really what is key – on what you use to access them is somewhat secondary. To that end you will see with Windows Mobile 6.5 a focus on getting to the information you want to access quicker. Further, you will see more of this information being available in different locations. You can see some of that now with Live Mesh and with the introduction of My Phone, you will see this vision further develop.” [ref03]
The essence however is to connect the different platforms (PC, Cloud & Phone) and to get quicker acces to your information With this essence in mind I will guide you through the main area’s of change, and focus on the different aspects shown in the accompanied screenshots. After that I will provide a summary an some initial thoughts about the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.
1. LOCKSCREEN
The first major area of change is the lockscreen, which is shown in the screenshots above ! Research has shown that people want to know three things on the first screen they see on a mobile device: (1) the time, (2) the next appointment, (3) the status of their phone. The latter means the notifications about missed calls, voicemails, new text messages etc. This lockscreen is shown when the device is touched or turned on. If you have enhanced security enabled on your Windows Phone, you probably need to enter the code AFTER this screen. The next appointment and the time are more or less obvious (remark the homescreen of SPB Mobile Shell and the background information I provided in the review of version 2.0). However the phone is locked and the blue box shows the total number of notifications. If you tap or click on the blue notification box, the notifications are split up per type. As an example you have a missed call, than you simple make a sliding gesture to the left or right, which results in the automated action of opening the dailer and calling the “missed call” number.
2. HOMESCREEN
The second major area of change is the homescreen. I will start to lookback at (1) the sliding panels which were introduced with Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard, and (2) the interface of a Zune Player. It looks like bits of both interfaces have com together in the new Windows Mobile 6.5 homescreen design. While the sliding panels were only available on Windows Mobile Standard, this homescreen is rolled out both on Standard and Professional devices.
“The order of the items on the home screen are not movable but you will be able to add web widgets for things like weather. These widgets will automatically update so you don’t have to tap around to update them, improving the information feed to you.” [ref03]
For the readers among you who hooked up to the livestream of the keynote already saw this homescreen in action during one of the demo’s. Personally I was pleasantly surprised by the speed of the interface on the HTC Touch Pro2 device (Windows Mobile Professional). At this point in time it’s not clear to me if and how this new homescreen will interact with custom userinterfaces like TouchFLO 3D.
3. START
The third main area of change, and probably the most dramatic is the honeycomb-style start menu. Let’s have a look at a current professional device where you have a folder with programs and a folder with settings. If you install third party applications some get their link in the programs folder, others in the settings folder. With the new Windows Mobile 6.5 start menu both the settings and programs are merged into one single honeycomb-style menu, which is fully customizable. The end-user can manipulate the icons where-ever he or she wants to have it in the list. If you look at the darkened sides of the screen, and not showing additional honey-combs to the left and right a user knows that he cannot scroll to the left or right (and the same applies for scrolling up in the screenshots above). The start menu isn’t a single-level list, but consists of more levels:
“If, for example, you were to tap on Settings, you would see the Settings menu in this same honeycomb layout with thinks like Bluetooth, Owner Information and so forth occupying the cells of the menu.” [ref03]
The question may remain: “Why a honey-comb and not a box or a circle ?” There are two arguments which favor for use of the honey-comb design, which came out of Microsofts Research groups. (1) The honey-comb is the optimal area to tap on with your fingerprint (not a box or a circle), in short finger-friendlyness, and (2) The honey-comb design makes it possible to pack relative a large amount of links / icons into the screenspace. The combination of these two arguments results in this easy to use, simple start menu.
4. BROWSER
The fourth main area of change is the browser: Internet Explorer 6 (for Mobile). This browser supports flash lite, and is optimized for finger use like you can see in the screenshot above. Cool but very functional features are the zoombar and the breadcrumb, which shows up in the corner during panning accros a webpage. Furthermore Microsoft claims that it’s possible to complete more online transactions on this mobile browser (than on any other mobile browser). Furthermore this browser is based on the (desktop version) Internet Explorer 6, and now brought to the mobile platform.
“One of the questions that many of us MVPs asked was why the version was based on IE 6 when Internet Explorer 8 is near release. The answer, which makes good sense, is that the vast majority of website were built to the IE 6 standard. This will make sure the browsing experience more robust for users.” [ref03]
5. SERVICES
The last area of change is not directly ON the Windows Mobile platform, but consists of the services which INTERACT with the Windows Mobile 6.5 platform. Recently the Microsoft Live Mesh service was introduced, which easily connects and let you share files on the PC, in the cloud and on your phone. This only supports the fact that Microsoft will explore the service domain a little further. During the Micrsoft Mobile World Congress keynote of Steve Balmer and Andrew Lees two additional services were announced: (1) Microsoft MyPhone, and (2) Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
The MyPhone service was also shown in a demo, and if you are interested you can read more in my article about the MyPhone service. The second service Windows Marketplace wasn’t shown in a demo, nor in any screenshots, so we have to be a little patient to see more on this service.
WRAP UP & FINAL THOUGHTS
This article highlights the main changes that will come to the Windows Mobile platform in the next upcoming release called Windows Mobile 6.5. While there are changes in five main area’s I assume that Microsoft will do a lot more tweaking and finetuning under the hood, for example to increase batterylife. Overall I do think that this is a step in teh right direction, where both the Professional and the Standard platform get the same look and feel, resulting in a more unified platform. Furthermore Microsoft tries to simplify the use, and make it more easer to use (fingerfriendlyness), and for all to get quicker acces to your information. Also the addtional services are good signs, since I think that there is a bright future for services (compared to applications).
A first question might be: Is my phone compatible ?”
HTC’s Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2, announced today, will be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5. New enhanced contact integration combined with new Internet capabilities deliver a people-centric approach to mobile communication. HTC’s Touch Diamond 2 features TouchFLO 3D, a sleek and compact design with a large 3.2″ high-resolution wide-screen display, while HTC Touch Pro 2 introduces one of the best-ever mobile productivity experiences on a phone highlighted by HTC’s new Straight Talk technology, an integrated E-Mail, voice and speakerphone experience.
The LG-GM7300 is a stylish, user-friendly phone with features such as one-click E-Mail set up to help people stay connected to the information they care about most. Available first on Windows Mobile 6.1, LG will add a Windows Mobile 6.5 version to the family, complementing an expanded alliance to dramatically increase the number of LG phones running Windows.” [ref01]
A second question could be: When will it be available ?
“The new Windows phones are expected to be available in the second half of 2009.”
While during the keynote we already saw some first impressions during the demo’s. I would like to finalize by asking your opinion about the changes, the direction Windows Mobile is heading, the services and the time frame of the whole development.
Reference list:
A week ago the::unwired already published an article about Microsoft MyPhone service that went live, prior to its scheduled date. Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona during the Microsoft keynote with Steven Balmer and Andrew Lees, not only the Windows Mobile 6.5 is unveiled, but also two additional services: (1) Microsoft MyPhone, (2) Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
Some of you might saw the demo during the MWC-keynote, but -with many thanks to Scot Rockfeld from Microsoft for providing the screenshots of this service- I will be able to focus more on some details, in the following walk-through. Microsofts strategy is aimed at providing the Windows-experience on (1) the personal computer, (2) on a mobile phone, (3) in the cloud, and provide an exhange of information among the different “platforms”. The Microsoft MyPhone service connects these platforms, resulting in synchronizing, editting and sharing of personal information.
Currently MyPhone is offered as a free backup-service, which includes 200MB of storage. For using this service you need to install a client on your Windows Phone, and this also emphasizes that this is not an Exchange Active Sync solution for the mass market, although this might be a direction to go for the furture. However if you use a Microsoft Exchange solution now, you can use MyPhone as a complementary service because it backups your text messages, your photo’s, your video’s, your music and your documents. The Microsoft Exchange partnership has priority over the MyPhone service for managing your contacts, calender, tasks and e-mail just to be perfectly clear. For the documents backup and restore the following file-formats are supported: ppt, xls, doc, one, wks, as well as txt, rtf, pdf, html and xml.
The screenshot above shows the option “connected devices”. It is possible to connect multiple phones to this service, extremely helpful for technology enthusiasts lik we are. On the other hand the normal consumer probably just has one Windows Phone. Furthermore you can browse on your personal computer and upload a picture to the MyPhone account, and add it to a contact, restore it to a Microsoft Phone (one or more if you have connected more phones), or Archive it to the web. The last option just puts the file on your MyPhone account, while the icon clearly shows that the file isn’t on a device but in the cloudservice.
The MyPhone service is compatible with all Windows Mobile 6.0, 6.1 devices (professional and standard) up to the today announced version 6.5. Furthermore the MyPhone service seems to work both over a cellular data connection as well as over WiFi. The MyPhone business model is currently based on advertising, in order to provide the free storage. However for the future one could also think of premium subscriptions, which offer more storage space, or even operator “branded” services. For example: “My T-Mobile Phone” or “My Vodafone Phone”.
The bottomline is that I’m really enthusiastic about the MyPhone service, because it can keep all my important information in the cloud. And for instance in comparison with DashWire it is a total Microsoft solution which builds upon the existing Windows platforms, Microsoft Exchange and cloud-services, resulting in a solid and robuust backup and restore solution. If you are as enthusiastic as I am, please read on over here for additional information.
Reference List:
Last week sad news arrived from Hal Golstein, the publisher of Smartphone & PocketPC magazine. After 11 years of hard work, devotion and commitment to the Windows Mobile platform, the magazine will be suspended until further notice.
As already introduced the magazine is totally tailored to the Windows Mobile platform, with contributions of many online communities from around the world. Hal Goldstein provides some details around the difficult decision in his blog-post on the magazine’s website. Let’s have a look at the most important facts:
Suspension means that we have no plans to publish future Windows Mobile issues. However, we have left the door open, particularly if a sponsor or buyer steps forward. [ref03]
The main reasons for suspending the Windows Mobile issues of the magazine, are a non-growing subscriber -base and the difficulty to keep advertisement-revenues at a stable level. Hal Goldstein describes these problems as follows:
It has become harder to grow our circulation over the past three years since Windows Mobile changed from being PDAs to being phones. Pocket PC manufacturers like HP used to work with us to offer their customers a free issue of our magazine in their packaging. The phone companies have not shown similar interest in working with us. [ref03]
The other business challenge has been the lack of advertising sponsorship from Microsoft, phone companies, and OEMs, despite our coverage of their products. In order for us to sell subscriptions at current low consumer magazine-type prices, we must have a stronger and growing circulation, and we must attract the large advertisers who benefit the most from our existence. [ref03]
These problems are not specific to this magazine, but can be seen at regional newspapers here in the Netherlands, which merge in larger publishing- and media-groups. So let’s hope that some investor will stand-up, so that the printed magazine can continue.
The magazine is also know from its’ “best software awards” and has a website with lot’s of information and background topics about the Windows Mobile platform. This year they will continue with the awards, but for the upcoming year it is depended, whether there is a sponsor or not. Furthermore the publishing firm will continue with a new magazine: iPhone Life, due to the interest and booming market share of these Apple devices.
I will buy the last issue of the magazine and hope you readers will also do this, in order to support this great magazine. Also their website is a great reference guide to use, so have a look at www.pocktpcmag.com !!
At the 31tst of July Skype updated its famous VOIP application for the Windows Mobile platform. While there are two versions available for both the touchscreen and non-touchscreen devices, only the first category is upgraded to support Window Mobile 6.1 (Professional).
Since there are not yet many non-touchscreen devices running Windows Mobile 6.1 available, the upgrade policy can be understood. However I don’t doubt that Skype will also release an upgrade for non-touchscreen devices.
Skype generates revenue through its premium offerings such as making and receiving calls to and from landline and mobile phones, as well as voicemail and call forwarding. Skype, based in Luxembourg, has relationships with a growing network of hardware and software providers and is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). [http://about.skype.com/]
Skype is extremely useful if you are travelling abroad and want to make free computer-to-computer calls or very cheap calls to landlines or cell phones. It can be used over a WiFi or 3G connection. Besides the support for Windows Mobile 6.1 no huge changes have been implemented. So if you own a HTC Touch Diamond, the HP iPAQ Business Messenger or another WM 6.1 Professional device, go and download Skype v2.2.0.45 here !
Reference list: