Windows Phone 7: following iPhone’s footsteps?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a large rock this entire past week, you should know that Microsoft has just announced the Windows Phone 7.

While normally this is not a topic we’d write about on iPhoneWorld.ca, after having a closer look into the features of Windows Phone 7 and the phones that are supposed to come out on this platform we’ve spotted something familiar and weird at the same time.

Now, what do we mean by familiar?

#1) The entire announced variety of Windows Phone 7 powered cell phones appears to be of the touchscreen variety – just like the Apple iPhone.
#2) If you’ll look at the springboard of Windows Phone 7 powered devices you will discover that it looks quite similar to the iPhone.
#3) Microsoft has introduced an XBOX Live! gaming feature to Windows Phoone 7. Does that remind you of Apple’s Game Centre?
#4) Microsoft writes: “Windows Phone 7 is also the first to offer the Zune music experience on a phone: People can play their music collection, synced wirelessly from their PC, or stream or download new tunes from Windows Marketplace. “… But all of this already exists in the iPhone + iTunes, while Apple’s Remote.app for streaming music from iTunes came out back in 2007?!
#5) “The free Find My Phone service new on Windows Live can remotely ring, lock, erase and show the location of your phone on a map.”… didn’t Apple just introduce this exact feature earlier this year?

So yes, from the looks of it Microsoft is playing catch-up while introducing already-familiar (to users of the iPhone) features to the Windows Mobile platform.

But what seemed weird to us? Well, only a few years ago Microsoft was sure that touchscreen phones are no good for anyone (you can read quotes from: Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer). It seems that it took them only three years to jump on the same bandwagon.

Of course what Microsoft has going for it is the amount of hardware manufacturers that it will be working with (see below). But this still does not guarantee that it will be able to catch up to the iOS and Android mobile phone platforms.

ANNOUNCED MICROSOFT PHONE 7 DEVICES

The following devices will come to North America, Europe and Asia Pacific in the holiday 2010 timeframe.

In North America:

AT&T
•HTC Surround, United States
•Samsung Focus, United States
•LG Quantum, United States

T-Mobile USA
•HTC HD7, United States
•Dell Venue Pro, United States

TELUS
•HTC 7 Surround, Canada
•LG Optimus 7, Canada

América Móvil
•LG Optimus 7, Mexico

In Europe:

O2
•HTC HD7, United Kingdom, Germany

Orange
•HTC 7 Mozart, including France, United Kingdom
•LG Optimus 7, France
•Samsung OMNIA 7, including France, United Kingdom

SFR
•HTC 7 Trophy, France
•Samsung OMNIA 7, France

Movistar
•LG Optimus 7, Spain
•HTC HD7, Spain
•Samsung OMNIA 7, Spain

Deutsche Telekom AG
•HTC 7 Mozart, Germany
•Samsung OMNIA 7, Germany

Vodafone
•HTC 7 Trophy, including Germany, Spain, United Kingdom
•LG Optimus 7, including Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

In Asia Pacific:

SingTel
•HTC HD 7, Singapore
•LG Optimus 7, Singapore

Telstra
•HTC 7 Mozart, Australia
•LG Optimus 7Q, Australia

Vodafone
• HTC 7 Trophy, including Australia

Tags: Apple, iPhone, Microsoft, mobile phone, News, Windows, Windows Phone 7

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