[Windows Phone 7 General] N8ter:
Those 99 people are all hyped up for the iPhone and Android phone - they have MOMENTUM, WP7/7.5 didn't/doesn't to any factorably extent - and imagine 50 of them work at businesses that issue work-provided smartphones. Would you rather try to get at 99 and only end up with 15 or go at 50, end up with 35 and still get 8 from the 99 who simply like your OS?

The issue is that they completely IGNORED a huge segment of the market that is actually rather ripe for a new player, while trying to target consumers in an oversaturated and uber-dominated market.

I think they could have played their cards better, that is all.

By the time they actually get WP7 actually ready to compete with BB in the Enterprise market, iOS and Android will already be there. In fact, they're already there, period. Even the Government is starting to use Android (albeit modified, but pretty much everything they use at the upper eschelon of Government is modified/hardened beyond what consumers see).

And before someone mentions Exchange ActiveSync and Office365, like they matter at that level of corporate use... Exchange doesn't have enough or the necessary policies for security-minded corporations. That is why Blackberries are so ubiquitous there. 500 BES policies and counting.

1. Anyone can do this. Even Apple can do this if they choose to. That's solely at the discretion of the company developing the OS.

2. Unique and Amazing is totally subjective. User Interface ranks below services, media library size and reach, and available/quality of Apps to consumers. The iPhone has all but proven that by sticking with a 3.5" screen since 2007 and almost the same UI since its inception. Then the iPad came out with basically the same UI and dominated the tablet market (which Microsoft could have owned, but they were too slow to get to it, as expected).

I own iOS, WP7.5, and Android 2.2 device and I despite the WP7 device running smoother than the others (I only have an iTouch atm, which performs worse than an iPhone due to low RAM) I always use the others more because I am 150% willing to deal with the lag, freezes, or worse performance for a device that lets me access literally all the services I want through apps - as opposed to one that does not. That's just the way things work these days.

WP7 has only existed for ~1 year. Windows Mobile used to be a dominant market player back in the day. Microsoft fell behind because Microsoft fell behind, not because something came up that was massively better than it or had more features. Windows Mobile had as many features as Android. The reason why Android plummeled them was because Microsoft was too slow to make the necessary adjustments.

They should have started revamping Windows Mobile for touchscreen use at least back in late 07/early 08. They were lazy.

I'm not Anti-WP7. I'm pro-improvement and that does not come without criticism. My criticism is harsh, I know. Different people have different personalities. I'm harsh on all platforms I use - equally harsh. No truce is needed. Just civility and understanding and acceptance of others' viewpoints.

---------- Post added at 11:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 PM ----------

Well Zune Pass is still useful if you get the 10 free songs. If you have an Android phone with MTP support (like a Galaxy S) you can sync directly to Windows Media player and load those onto your phone. The DRM does suck, though... for the Zune Pass music but I don't use Zune pass for that. I only use it for the 10 free tracks. It's worth it just for that, IMO.