Ah yes, it's time for another "crack" post. I must admit, it's becoming one of my favorite categories on this blog if only because I find it so personally entertaining when I see things on the web that I find completely absurd. This time, crack comes from another article/blog entry I found on Information Week talking about a blog entry (don't you just love the web?) from Fabrizio Capobianco - the CEO of Funambol - who all but declared Windows Mobile dead (sorry, "on its last legs"). Shoot me now...
This goes beyong my bombastic, flamboyant titles for some of my blog posts. This is just plain ludicrous. Fabrizio's comments are clearly biased (don't forget Funambol is all about open source) and unfortunately flat out (embarassingly dare I say) wrong in many respects:
- Windows Mobile is a "slow selling operating system." Well, if you consider selling 20 million copies of something in 2008 slow selling, good for you. Personally, I'll take that any day. So would most major recording artists ;-)
- "Motorola [is] abandoning any effort on Window Mobile." Right. Enough said.
- "Same for Palm." I mean come on...really?!?!?!? Palm has declared on more than one occasion a dual platform strategy. I'm not going to name names at Palm, but I know people there who are focused on this dual platform strategy. Get your facts right Fabrizio! Ma dai!!!! (Italian for "come on!")
- "[HTC is] now the leading supporter of Android." They are also the ONLY supporter of Android in terms of having a device available in the market! Again, Ma dai!!!
- And in other news, there is only one sun in our solar system...
I'm going to stop poking fun at Fabrizio. It's too easy, frankly. It's actually not even fun at this point. He's so open sourced biased, he's wearing the kind of glasses that Offenbach's Hoffman did. (See, I do listen to more than just heavy metal)
Now, before you think I am a Windows Mobile zealot, slow down. Yes, I do very much like the Windows Mobile platform, but I am not blind either. The platform provides much flexibility...too much even. It's user interface is candidly, behind the times (even with HTC's TouchFLO), especially when compared to the iPhone, Android and Palm's new web OS. The OS is often sluggish and there has been more than one occasion when I called T-Mobile tech support with problems on a device where they walked me through settings and options that weren't even on my device...talk about flexibility!
Is Windows Mobile in trouble right now? Yes. Is it too late for Windows Mobile to steer the ship right? Hell no. There are many rumors that Microsoft will be announcing Windows Mobile 6.5 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in a couple of weeks...here's to hoping that the delta between 6.5 and 6.1 is far greater than the difference between 6.1 and 6.0. I'm not going to even venture on what Windows Mobile 7 could be yet...go ask Motorola about that one ;-) I will however add my $.02 that Microsoft should STRONGLY consider losing some backward compatibility for the sake of greater upside. Palm had the guts to do it, Apple does it all the time on the desktop....why can't Microsoft do it?
The point is, Windows Mobile has many strengths and also many weaknesses....as do ALL platforms - including Symbian, BlackBerry, the iPhone, and Android. I can't comment yet on the new web OS - I haven't played with it. However, Windows Mobile is one of the best mobile platforms available for application development, which is a top priority for enterprises. Now, I have said it a thousand times before that enterprises are filled with consumers (and I will eventually write a post on the iPhone based upon my experience), but shame on you Fabrizio for suggesting Windows Mobile is "dead."
