/ 25 May 2011

Microsoft shows off Mango

Microsoft has shown off the next version of its Windows Phone mobile operating system, codenamed ‘Mango’, which will be released in the autumn, and claimed it is about to pass BlackBerry maker RIM for the number of apps available for its platform.

The Mango update, which will be free to existing users, will be the first to be used by the Finnish handset Nokia, which is abandoning its own Symbian product in favour of Windows Phone. The first Nokia handsets running Windows Phone are expected some time after October.

Achim Berg, the corporate vice president of Windows Phone marketing, told the Guardian that Windows Phone’s profile will only take off once Nokia begins featuring it on its handsets. But he insisted that the much larger geographical distribution that will follow then, with carriers in Russia, India and Latin America beginning to sell the devices, will have a significant impact on its sales.

“It gives people a level of confidence in what we’re doing,” he said. “This becomes a story now. It was hard to begin with, but we’re going to have high-end phones and we will also be price-aggressive with other ranges.”

The research company Gartner reckons that between Windows Phone’s launch in October and the end of December, 700 000 handsets were sold. In the first three months of this year, it reckons 1.6-million were sold. Microsoft has declined to comment on numbers, though it says satisfaction figures are high and that Windows Phone devices have the lowest return rate of any smartphone operating system in the UK — a claim that has been backed up informally by mobile operators contacted by the Guardian.

Berg said that Mango will include an app to run Skype, the internet telephony system whose company is being acquired by Microsoft for $8.5-billion. But he could not comment further on Microsoft’s plans for the company because of regulatory issues.

Although Microsoft and Nokia have said they will cooperate closely on future development of Windows Phone, Berg insisted that Nokia had no input into the development of Mango, which was essentially feature-complete by the time the two companies’ deal was announced in mid-February.

Berg was bullish about the prospects for Windows Phone as the number of apps available on its Market grows. “We’ve gone from a standing start — zero apps, six months ago — to 18 000 now,” he said.

RIM launched its own app store for the BlackBerry in April 2009, after Apple opened its own for the iPhone in July 2008. Though the company hasn’t offered any clear numbers, the 18 000 figure was quoted earlier this year, suggesting it may have increased since then.

Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft executive who took over at Nokia in September 2010, said in February that he thought that in time there would only be three major “ecosystems” of handsets and apps — Windows Phone, Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. With RIM’s position in the smartphone market under pressure following a profits warning, the company faces a fight to establish a position before Nokia begins its incursion into the space.

Tony Cripps of the analyst company Ovum said: “Microsoft needs to do better if it is to persuade the market that it has the most user-friendly – and desirable – mobile platform in the market today. New features look set to deliver a deeper level of integration between different communication apps (and other apps on the device) than users are so far accustomed to. But integration is a tough concept to sell to consumers, even if they may benefit enormously once they’ve adopted it. Cracking this conundrum may well be key to Windows Phone’s future success.” But, Cripps added, ZTE could be a key addition in the fight against Android at the low end. “ZTE in particular can be expected to take advantage of the more achievable hardware specs now being touted by Microsoft – plus carriers’ desire for low-cost alternatives to Android smartphones. That said, Mango still lacks the potential for customisation and brand differentiation that some manufacturers are looking for. With Nokia likely to dominate Windows Phone shipments once that relationship is fully up and running, that may need addressing if other high-end OEMs are to stay on board.”

Microsoft is setting out the detail of Windows Phone Mango well ahead of time to allow developers to get used to its setup.

Key elements of the update include:

  • Threads: switching between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation.
  • Groups: group contacts into personalised Live Tiles, to show the latest status updates right from the start screen and quickly send a text, email or IM to the whole group.
  • Deeper social network integration: Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now integrated into contact cards, and Mango includes built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web.
  • Linked inbox for email: to show multiple email accounts in one linked inbox. Conversations are organised to make it easy to stay on top of the latest mail.
  • Hands-free messaging: built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice support enables hands-free texting or chatting.

There will also be multitasking for third-party apps, which will go into a suspended mode when not in use to save battery power. The current browser will be replaced with internet Explorer 9, capable of HTML5 rendering. (Notably, Microsoft has not said that Windows Phone will include Flash.)

Mango will also see more phone manufacturers coming into the Windows Phone fold, with Acer, Fujitsu and the Chinese company ZTE offering models. — guardian.co.uk