Microsoft's awkwardly-named "Windows Phone 7 series" Monday afternoon at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I was struck by the contrast between the advanced look of some of the features - notably the "integrated experiences" -- and the almost old-fashioned way Microsoft has chosen to describe its new platform.
While the rest of the industry seems to be taking pains to call their offerings "mobile devices" and to emphasize that they are "more than phones," Microsoft has gone in the other direction, calling this "Windows Phone" instead of Windows Mobile. Indeed, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer went out of his way to stress that "a phone is not a PC," and while that's certainly true, the Windows Phone platform is clearly trying to be a lot more than just a traditional phone platform.
Indeed, Microsoft is clearly trying to leverage its other businesses - including its Office tools, Windows Live services, Zune HD, and Xbox Live - in adding a large number of features into the Windows Phone 7 platform. When devices that use Windows Phone 7 come out at the end of the year, it's clearly a lot of these services that will be what differentiates them from devices on other platforms.
Here's PCMag's look at the UI. But what stood out the most in the demos from UI designer Joe Belifore was the focus on integrated experiences, which combined multiple applications, so that you didn't have to constant switch between individual applications to do things. He pointed out five different "experiences" or "hubs" as the core of the new platform. In the People hub, you have a list of the people you connect with, including the most recent contacts, their status from Facebook, Windows Live, and recent messages on Exchange or Online Mail services, including Google, Yahoo, and Windows Live Mail. That's nice, although not all that different from the integrated contacts list I've seen in Palm WebOS, Android, or even Samsung's Bada.
Perhaps the most important one is an "Office Hub," which includes a version of the OneNote notetaking devices that can sync with the desktop version, your Microsoft Office documents, and SharePoint services. As near as I can tell, this integration with Microsoft's business productivity tools is deeper than that other platforms now offer, and may very well act as an important differentiator in the business space. It's also very nice that the mail applications support offline caching, so you can work with your mail when offline.
Another one that stands out is the Games Hub, which ties into Xbox Live, and lets you play Xbox Live games, connect with your friends, and mark achievements, just as you do on the Xbox. I can imagine a group of gamers who will find that compelling as well.
The other hubs bring together pictures from the phone and various online services, again including Facebook and Windows Live; and music and video, including synching with Zune HD and a way to integrate third-party services, such as Pandora; and Games, which ties into Xbox Live
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