Microsoft representatives — all the way up to Steve Ballmer — have repeated on many occasions the mantra that the company is “all in” with the cloud. Microsoft likes that vow so much that it even made it into a logo for its cloud services.
This public display of affection for cloud computing has some of us wondering, though, whether the company is just as committed to the mobile market. When Windows Phone 7 was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona back in February, it generated a lot of excitement and some good reviews. The fresh, simple Zune-like interface, so unlike the old Windows Mobile, definitely captured the interest of phone fans around the world (Figure A).
Figure A
The Windows Phone 7 interface is similar to that of the Zune HD.
At this year’s TechEd North America in New Orleans in June, many of us got a chance to see some Windows Phone 7 devices and play with a large demo of the interface. I especially liked its intuitive nature. With every smartphone I’ve owned, there have been some functions that I couldn’t figure out on my own and had to resort to reading the manual. I didn’t encounter that with the Windows Phone 7 interface; everything was straightforward and easy.
And it does this without just copying the iPhone’s basic idea
