Meego and Windows Phone 7 challenge Apple and Google mobile dominance
Microsoft has a steeper road than Nokia and Intel, analyst says
By Matt Hamblen | Computerworld US | Published: 12:58, 16 February 2010
In separate announcements from Barcelona's Mobile World Congress 2010, three traditional powerhouses in computing and communications - Microsoft, Intel and Nokia - kick-started major revamps to their technology to adapt to a quick-changing smartphone and mobile device market that's increasingly dominated by Google and Apple.
"Microsoft is in a bigger 'start over' penalty box than Intel and Nokia, but it really is a start over for all of them," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates about the announcements made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "Microsoft does have a much steeper road to climb to get back into the game than Nokia/Intel does."
Intel joined Nokia in unveiling Meego, a Linux-based open operating system to be used in smartphones, netbooks, connected TVs and tablets. Meego combines features from Intel's Moblin OS and Nokia's Maemo OS. Devices using Meego are expected to arrive in the second half of 2010.
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Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer touted Windows Phone 7 Series software that's expected to be running on smartphones due out by the 2010 holiday season on a variety of carriers globally.
Ballmer said the new version of Microsoft's operating system for mobile phone will bring "more consistency in the hardware platform and in the user experience" than earlier versions.
In both announcements, it was obvious that the three companies are adjusting to the market success of Apple's iPhone and the coming iPad tablet, as well as Google. The search company is behind a host of software applications for a variety of upcoming Android OS smartphones and devices that it helped create in its sponsorship of the Open Handset Alliance.
Gold said that Microsoft has "basically had to nuke its existing OS and start over," while Intel and Nokia could blend most of the existing code in Moblin and Maemo to create Meego.
Ballmer did not describe Windows Phone 7 Series as a start-over, of course, but implied it comes in reaction to past criticism of Windows Mobile OS and its decline in sales in late 2009.
"We have a chance to make a major impact on the [smartphone] market... (with the new OS)," Ballmer said. "We had to step back and recast."
Ballmer also didn't go as far as he did last fall when he told investors that Microsoft had "screwed up with Windows Mobile" and had shuffled its Windows Mobile team to regain lost ground.
Windows Phone 7 will also provide a touchscreen Qwerty keyboard as in some Windows Mobile 6.5 devices, Ballmer said.
