Why is everyone bashing Smoove?
He is simply saying that WM might be dead in terms of popularity and I agree with him. He thinks this because Microsoft had basically nothing to say about the new OS for the upcoming year.
Its a pretty reasonable opinion.
I agree with him because if you look at WM in terms of popularity, apps, and its UI, it is safe to say that is is lagging behind its competitors.
Lets face it, many consumers would rather have Android, iPhone, WebOS and maybe (just maybe) the new Blackberry OS before they think about WM. Its just the way consumers feel at this point.
In terms of apps, I know many argue that WM is meant for business and not entertainment BUT if Microsoft thought that then they would have never made the Marketplace. I think Microsoft sees that in order to make WM more popular they needed to balance out the entertainment as well as the business aspects of the phone. When you talk about apps in themselves, I have seen many sites that have apps for Android, Blackberry and iPhone but they leave WM completely in the dark. (I wish they wouldnt do this!)
Finally its UI. Consumers are at the point where "flashy" matters. They want a phone that looks attractive not only hardware wise, but software wise too. And WM, software wise, is just not there yet. (6.5 is going in the right direction though.)
I love my HTC Touch, but I would be lying if I told you that I didnt think about jumping to the Android. However, with Microsoft saying that they will show off WM7 in Feb, then I may wait to see what it looks like.