Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I love my TP2 and I love Windows Mobile.

I've read a few different opinions on a few different websites and some people seem to think that Windows Mobile is on it's way out and that it's just a matter of time (not much time from what some say).

I'm at the point where I'm feeling the itch to upgrade my phone again; however, I don't think there is something on the Sprint Network that would be an upgrade to TP2 and still be Windows driven.

Will there be? Or will I finally have to move to Droid if I want to upgrade and/or change out my phone?

It's a serious question and I'd love to here what some of you experts (compared to me) have to say.

Is Windows Mobile on its way out?

Thanks,

KCHruby

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Its already over lol.. you should've seen how many tp2s were getting traded in at best buy yesterday.

Wirelessly posted (HTC Diamond: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint MP6950SP)

Not over for me!
I'm waiting to see what WP7 is like before I dump WinMo. :P

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Windows Mobile as we know it, is done already. It's been that way for almost 8 months or so when Microsoft announced that it is abondoning that existing Windows Mobile OS for a complete revamp - which means the current Winmo development is essentially over.

The new Windows Mobile 7 will be completely different (all existing programs will not work).

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Windows Mobile is on its way out. However, Windows Phone is on its way IN! I love my TP2 and just got the EVO which is a sweet device as well. I will likely check out a WP7 device later this year when the OS is finally released.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

WM is not totally dead, I think Window's Phone 7 will ether make or break it. I think it's going to be Do or Die for them with it. We are defiantly in the minority that are still using it but that Minority is strong. I think its still got a few years left before it is completely gone.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Thanks to everybody that's replied so far but many thanks t0 x10Guy. That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

Over the years, I've invested a good amount of money into programs to run on WM6, it's disheartening to know that those programs will now longer work after WM7 comes out.

So, either way, I'll have to give up on WM6 and all the programs I've learnred to love. Either way, I'll have to eventually start with a new operating system so now I guess I need to decide of I want that operating system to be Windows Mobile 7 in the more distant future or Droid in the near future.

I'd still love to hear others thoughts on this matter.

KCHruby

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

I'm done with it. Too many problems, and with 7 meaning I have to lose all my apps I might as well make the jump to droid.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Windows Mobile 2003 was the first truly advanced mobile OS, heck it even had multi-tasking back in 2003!!!!

Windows Phone 7 is actually based off of the existing Windows Mobile, which is a GREAT Mobile OS by the way. Its just the default user-interface is lacking.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

I live 3 miles from Microsoft. I have a friend who worked on the Windows Mobile team for 2 years. He recently moved to a different team. Windows Mobile is far from dead. They have been working on Windows Mobile 8 for at least 9 months, not major work on 8 but WM7 has been done for quite awhile. I'm not sure why they did not released it months ago. I can tell you WM7 is a memory hog. My friend at Microsoft thinks that Android will be much better than Win Mobile in the next year or two.

Microsoft rarely leaves a market once they've entered it. Windows Mobile and the new WM7 will continue. Historically, Microsoft has thrown billions of dollars at products to win the race. Microsoft spent billions to dethrone Netscape to win the web browser war in the 90's (Firefox & Chrome are catching up quickly today) and billions in the video game console market with their XBOX brand. Microsoft continues to make Zune MP3 players for reasons that I will never understand. Basically, they have billions of dollars to throw at their product development and they are more than willing to spend whatever it takes to win for however long it takes to actually win in a market.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

yes but it wont happen overnite or even in a year. 1 in 5 smartphones in the us are wm phones. short term (2 years or so) it will still have its place, long term though i think the lack of microsoft support will kill it. will there still be people tweakin and cook, sure there will but the mass market appeal wont be there.

also windows mobile 6.x and windows phone 7 are two completly different things and people should stop clumping them together just because they both come from microsoft. its like mentioning palm os in the same regard as webos just becuase they both came from palm.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Yeah, if it's 100% incompatible with my current apps, my next upgrade will most likely be out of the WinMo area. By next year, Android will have matured a bit, as well.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

It's a dead OS. MS really missed the boat when it came to smartphones. They should have released WinMo 7 years ago, when the market was heating up and Apple revolutionized the smartphone market. Give people a choice, and you'll still capture marketshare even though your products are pretty similar.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Microsoft's strategy of not innovating but reacting to the innovations of the competition worked in the desktop market because they dominated it so much; they could steal ideas and incorporate them years after they first showed up and to most consumers it was the first time they saw it, so they thought it was new and exciting. This strategy just doesn't fly in the mobile market because the real innovators are actually dominating the market. Without the ability to get away with intellectual plagiarism, Microsoft is hopelessly in last place.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

What makes or break on OS believe or not is developers. Make easy to use tools and developers will come in droves. Gamesalad for iphone is a easy to use developer tool. I dont even own a mac but my friend does and I could just jump in and program. Visaul Studios unless you went to school or have alot of time , takes to long to make a game or app. Its about the tools , Microsoft better start making tools for the average person to learn development. That way more people with great ideas can develop for the platform.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

I agree. That's probably why Microsoft created a whole separate IDE for just the WP7 platform. And best of all, they made it free. I have no clue what they were thinking when they deiced to make Visual Studio Professional a requirement to develop WM apps, and then made it cost $800... So now they've released the IDE for WP7 ands it doesn't cost anything to use. It still costs to register with the Windows Marketplace in order to submit apps, but at lerast you dont have to drop $800 to get the process started...

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

like silverlight???

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

there's nothing wrong with being a good copycat. history shows us that. the key is found in the word good.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

sure that's true? developers and business customers would not be happy.. i think there has to be some back compatibility

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

All of your posts are opinion based. Other than the guy who claims to know a guy working at MS which I doubt is true but. All opions aside lets look at the facts shall we?

Developers for WM are pretty much done. They have all moved over to droid. SPB has announced no further support for WM. You cant sell a WM phone now days to save your life no one wants them. I used to sell 10 to 20 phones a week on CL and now im lucky if I can sell 1 at a decent price. Apple is scared to death of android and they should be. If you take all the phones HTC sells vs iphones sold HTC wins by a long shot hence the reason apple is sueing HTC, bullshit lawsuit yes indeed. WM7 is a lost cause and most likely wont even be seen in a production build (my opion) Even at my best buy I was at the sprint section and seen 3 people getting rid of their WM phones for droid and that was in 10 mins. Droid is where its going to end if you dont got stock in google buy some because google tv is almost here as well and its based off droid. Microsoft really messed up with WM and not ever updating the .net 1 framework on all releases up to WM 6.5. No one writes in .net 1 anymore and that was there demise. Not to mention what a resource hog WM is. I develope for a company using Microsofts Sharepoint 10 and this is a big company cant mention the name for legal reasons but up until 3 months ago they had a team of contractors 100+ developing their health software for WM. They have announced to all contractors they are abandoning WM and going to droid. They are supporting current apps till the end of 2010 and customers must be on droid after that. Is Windows Mobile dead? Sure seems like many people are jumping off the sinking ship.

I woulod also like to add I own a TP2 and a moto droid. And the same apps I run on WM I run on my droid and exchange for droid is better and remote desktop better. Garmin gps better, google maps ect ect. All the apps run smoother and respond well. All apps for droid are java based which is funny because so many people thought java was dead.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

The underlying OS for WP7 is the same as WM6. I have high hopes that the folks over at XDA will come up with some equivalent to rooting or jailbreaking WP7, and that some type of comparability layer to run existing software will be created.

While I think Microsoft is playing like Apple on this one, and trying to lock down way too much about the phone -- the exact opposite approach that Android and WM6 have been successful doing -- I also think it's only a matter of time before their lockdowns are circumvented.

I mean, you have to "unlock" your TP2 to flash a ROM on it. Which is pretty much essential. God forbid you have to use your carrier's stock ROM; most of them totally suck. I don't see how it can be too different to unlock a WP7 phone, the load up a custom ROM that lets you do what you want.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Would u mind sharing whatever it is that you're smoking on? :^o

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

lol, what, do you work at Walmart or McD's, you really think $800 would stop serious developers. That's peanuts for such a comprehensive piece of software. oh no, so there wouldn't be all the useless apps like on Iphone and android, is that really a bad thing? in it's hayday windows mobile had a crazy amount of applications, almost all of them served a very useful purpose.

The fact that now there is a market for smart phones for idiots who don't have a clue what to do with there new tech so they really want to "Rate a Fart" or poke a cartoon image in the eye, is really sad.


------------------------------
What makes or breaks a phone is Marketing not development past a point of acceptable usability, if you don't understand this than you really are fooling yourself, professional 3rd party developers go where the money is PERIOD.

You can't tell me the Iphone OS or Android OS were anything near perfect when they first came out. hell they still aren't. but a billion dollars in ad's and none of that matters.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

haha my sentiment exactly.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

I like WM. It has been abandoned by MS for a while but unlike PalmOS it was abandoned in a much more mature state. I'd say the problem is hardware, not soft. I was perfectly pleased with WM6.1 on Axim.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

you are an extreme minority then. also if it were hardware related then you wouldnt see so many people putting android on winmo devices as well as trying to get wp7 on devices also. winmo has been put on a lot of very good hardware (tp2, hd, hd2 etc) but the issue is def. software, many have just grown weary of it.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Originally Posted by Kliptik http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
I agree. That's probably why Microsoft created a whole separate IDE for just the WP7 platform. And best of all, they made it free. I have no clue what they were thinking when they deiced to make Visual Studio Professional a requirement to develop WM apps, and then made it cost $800... So now they've released the IDE for WP7 ands it doesn't cost anything to use. It still costs to register with the Windows Marketplace in order to submit apps, but at lerast you dont have to drop $800 to get the process started...

Visual Studio has never been a REQUIREMENT to develop in windows mobile. Its called wordpad. And all of the SDK's are free. Please know what your talking about before you post.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

WM6 apps are built on the .NETCF. WP7 is not using the .NETCF

1) No I don't work for walmart or McDs, and no need to be insulting. and if you think im saying REAL devs are trying to be cheap, then you missed my point
2) My point is that with the iPhone OS you can pick up one of several free software development environments and have a simple (likely pointless) app in minimal time with minimal knowledge of what you're doing. I agree that $800 isnt going to stop a serious developer/company. ppl brag about how "BIG" the iPhone and Doid app stores are, and yet it's filled mostly with fart makers and woot buttons.
3) thanked your post for the benfit of the doubt I wont get more crap.

1) Don't need to get hacked off about something this small
2) I understand it's not "required" per se, so maybe i misspoke before. My point was that apple/droid have free app dev environments that you don't have to code and compile everything manually. And apple/droid are renouned for having "huge" app stores, while most of its just crap. but obviously it doesnt matter WHAT makes the app store bigger, just that it is bigger. so MS missed the boat of having monster app stores filled with crap. as much as i prefer legit apps only in the app stores, it doesnt sell.
3) thanked your post for the benfit of the doubt I wont get more crap.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Your statement is also opinion based.....we shall see very soon what the future holds....lets remember this is big business....big business is about market share....don't think for one minute MS will sit back and let the others just pass them easily...

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

+1

As someone else already said in this thread, MS is known to throw money at it until they dominate. It may take them a bit to catch on, but I doubt they're gonna be willing to concede the market entirely.

Wirelessly posted (HTC Diamond: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint MP6950SP)

Posted by twasnow:

What makes or breaks a phone is Marketing not development past a point of acceptable usability, if you don't understand this than you really are fooling yourself, professional 3rd party developers go where the money is PERIOD.

You can't tell me the Iphone OS or Android OS were anything near perfect when they first came out. hell they still aren't. but a billion dollars in ad's and none of that matters.

This is the main reason and may be the only reason why Android and iPhone have gained so many followers.
People don't realize how they are baited into buying products. People blame the WinMo OS but I really think it was never sold properly. Most people just want someone else to tell them what is good and they want to be associated with what is percieved to be hip. That's why so many are developing for Android and iPhone not because WinMo is inferior.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

+1 on this Horn.....look at the 2 phones the Evo sales broke....the Instinct and the Pre....lmao

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=123995

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

Very well put.

If you want a app store for WM try Handango.com they have been around for longer than iPhone and Android's market places where even a thought.

Wirelessly posted (HTC Diamond: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint MP6950SP)

Yeah, there are apps out there but many don't know about them because they haven't seen them on TV. ;)

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

So true, it really is sad that a box drives are futures.

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

has a winmo phone sold that many 1st weekend? hd2 maybe? serious question.

EDIT: got my answer, sold at worst 5 times as the hd2 did on launch day


agreed, the problem is they arent on the phone when people buy it so theres not as much exposure. probably 80%+ of the people with winmo phones will never ever visit it, unfortunatley

i hope m$ learns from thier mistakes for wp7!

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

heres an article on the subject:

Windows Phone Ownership Holding Steady

another

Winmo 6.x Staying Alive for at least another year

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

That does not surprise me...what I was getting at more than anything is exposure...look at all the palm pre commercials and instinct commercials....that is what drove those peeps to those phones.. Evo is far superior to those phones...but marketing is key.....I just have never been one to follow the hype I guess...I am still unsure as to what i am going to do....for now holding steady though....may end up with an Evo next week...I am unpredictable...lol

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

exactly more phones in more hands means more devs mens more quality apps. easiest way to get quality is thru quantity. marketing can only take something so far (2 great examples the pre/instinct) there still has to be substance there behind the marketing and android is just starting to get that foundation imo.

btw im routing for your flyers bro, hope they pull it out!

Re: Is Windows Mobile On Its Way Out?
 

This is exactly it... Thats why the iPod is such a hit, is because Apple made it "COOL" to have one.

Now if MS would get some good marketing going for WP7, and devs get some quality apps into the Marketplace for WP7, their market might increase in the phone industry... But its def gonna take time and $ now that theyve fallen way behind. I'm just hopin that the biz side doesnt get forgotten in WP7...