TamsPPC – the PocketPC Blog

Microsoft has long been known as the home of a process called dogfooding or “eating one’s own dog food“: it involves using your own products for productivity purposes whereever possible. This (obviously) has its merits and benefits, but was not done so far for Windows Mobile.

Fortunately, this has now changed – the quote below hits us via BusinessInsider:

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Microsoft won’t pay for its employees’ Apple iPhone data service plans anymore, even if they’re used significantly for work purposes. Nor will it pay for Research In Motion BlackBerry service, or a new Palm Pre. Instead, it will only reimburse data plans for Microsoft Windows Mobile-powered smartphones.

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While this measure may not have too many short-term benefits, the long-term implications are clear: as more and more Microsoft folks become acquainted with Windows Mobile, they will also become aware of the possibilities offered. This might lead to better integration in the future (think Visio-to-Go, and so on) – and definitely is a very smart step…

Killing sprees at schools always are horrible – my thoughts are with the victims, who I wish to rest in peace (or to achieve whatever good their belief places after death). Unfortunately, these displays of rage against the society always lead to alarmist behavior from politicians and boulevard press…which usually goes against the IT business.

This time, Germany’s politicians have decided to go for a somewhat softer target: they decided to work on outlawing Paintball and similar real-life games. The calculation behind it was simple: as most people don’t give a sh#t about paintball, banning this won’t provoke much of a lobbyist reaction but will allow us to appear tough.

I honestly have to say that I can’t care less about Paintball – but the implications are clear for me. Once Paintball is disposed of, Arcade games like the House of the Dead are next:

(hey – good ole Tam looks pretty mean in this pic. He is a threat to society; let’s ban the Tamoggemon Content Network)

And once arcade games are disposed of, computer games in general are next. Consider it a waterfall or dam failure scenario: once the first gate busts, all others will follow suite.

Thus, I urge all of you to overcome any sentiments against Paintball. Once again: I don’t give a darn about Paintball and have never handled a Paintball rifle/attended a game…but this IMHO is a question of societal responsibility rather than taste.

P.S. 6 year old kids are forced to hit each other with balls in a game called “people’s ball” in mandatory school sports education => injuries galore. Yet nobody dares to talk about this one…guess there’s too much teacher’s lobby in the background.

Tam Hanna image shot on scene by Dr. D. M. Kohrs – all rights reserved, all reuse prohibited. Anti-paintballheads: I am dead serious. Reuse it and see you in court.

You are of course permitted to print this article out and share or repost it in order to promote paintball and digital freedom – as long as it remains unchanged and is reused in whole.

Microsoft’s recently-uncovered content guidelines for their Markeplace for Mobile immediately came under fire from analysts all over the world: too strict, too stringent…and no VOIP. Oh, the horror – Microsoft has gone Apple.

Even though I can fully understand the dissatisfaction from an users point of view, I have to hold Microsoft largely blameless: most of these restrictions probably didn’t grow on their home turf.

Keep in mind that the Marketplace client will be in the start menu of each and every WM 6.5 box peddled. Carriers and licensees are not allowed to remove it from there either (AFAIK)….which means that a partner who can’t live with the Marketplace being where it is and what it is will not be able to deploy WM 6.5 handsets.

This explains the conditions about VoIP and other carrier’s plans. Nokia had huge issues trying to get rid of its N97 due to its Skype client…now imagine how happy carriers will be about 50 different VoIP applications which are but one click away.

But the show doesn’t end here. Today plug-ins, for example, are a very common culprit for device slowdowns…and device slowdowns are a common cause for complaints about WM devicess.

These complaints obviously need to get handled somewhere….and this somewhere often is at carriers or device manufacturers. For them, giving users access to today plugins is similar to inviting a kleptomanic to a Palm User Group meeting – problems are guranteed.

In the end, Microsoft had to take a judgement call: either open up the platform for most developers at the expense of a few – or leave the market closed for everybody. Microsoft has IMHO done the right thing…what do you think?

HTC’s CEO was extremely untalkative when it came to carrier partners and network configurations for the upcoming Touch Pro 2 – which is understandable, as the Touch Pro still has a few US markets to satisfy.

Nevertheless, the folks at the Boy Genius Report have uncovered very interesting screenshots from the inventory system of a Canadian carrier – the most interesting quote is below:

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While nothing is confirmed, we have to think we’re looking at EV-DO Rev. A for both handsets along with dual-band GSM as the World Edition moniker implies
…

As of now, no further information is available – stay tuned!

Microsoft’s take at electronic software distribution goes by the rather long name “Marketplace for Mobile”: even though it was announced at the MWC, nobody at the Microsoft booth felt like giving demos or talking more about the underlying terms and conditions.

This has now changed. A 32-page PDF has appeared on Microsoft’s servers – and contains some sensible announcements like the one below stating that developers no longer need to worry about distributing the .NET CF runtime along with their apps:

Application providers should not include the .NET Compact Framework redistributable package with their applications. The Marketplace submission process will ensure that .NET CF 2.0 or 3.5 is appropriately installed on the device.

Unfortunately, Microsoft also implemented pretty stringent rules – an example is below:

File-based and Single Document Interface (SDI) applications must support common dialog boxes on Windows Mobile devices, such as dialog boxes for naming and saving files, and dialog boxes for not using proprietary interfaces for these functions

This goes on and includes a few very weird provisions like the one that today panels are no longer needed due to Windows Mobile 6.5’s new UI:

It is a requirement that applications do not have:
x)A Today Screen plug-in
x)A Today Screen component
x)Launch the Today Screen.
The new Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface significantly reduces the need for the Today Screen. Although applications can present the Today Screen on Windows Mobile 6.5, it provides a less desirable user experience.

Other terms prohibit changing default applications, VOIP and so on – it looks like the Microsoft Marketplace for Mobile is well on its way to become about as locked down as Apple’s iTunes App Store. Now all we need is signing mania like on S60…and developers are in hell on earth.

What do you think?

P.S. Most of the provisions above are IMHO intended to keep carriers happy. Keep in mind that the store will be in the ROM of each and every WM device ongoing….and carriers would definitely be extremely pissed if their competitors are one start menu entry away…

Recently, two manufacturers showed surprising acts of commitment towards Windows Mobile: first, Samsung renamed the Omnia HD…and Sony Ericsson now said that the XPERIA brand will remain Windows-only for quite some time in the future.

While both manufacturers have stated somewhat sensible reasons for their move, I personally think that Microsoft has positioned a different marketing vehicle behind its mobile operating system: desktop operating system sales.

In the past, Microsoft has frequently done all kinds of pricing tricks to keep cooperative OEMs happy (for example, HP’s special permit to offer downgrades from Windows 7 to Windows XP) – and also took steps to penalize manufacturers who “deviated” from the standard.

Even though I have no insight into Microsoft or any of the other manufacturers, I am extremely surprised why two large houses (which both produce laptops and PC systems, too) come out with their support now and not at the time of the public announcement of Windows Mobile 6.5

Could it be that Microsoft has offered its manufacturers a deal which they can not refuse in order to keep them loyal? Tell us what you think, and win a prize .

In a sign of future things to come for the Windows Mobile platform, the boys at Microsoft’s have just split their Zune division into two parts according to CNet News:

The software and services portion of the Zune team–the bulk of its staff–will be added to the portfolio of Enrique Rodriguez, the vice president who currently runs Microsoft’s Mediaroom and Media Center TV businesses. The hardware team, meanwhile, will now report to Tom Gibbons, who also leads the hardware design efforts within Microsoft’s Windows Mobile unit.

From my point of view, the intention behind this move is clear: after having gained valuable experience in content distribution with the Zune series of players, the time of harvesting this experience has now come. Microsoft’s Zune store works well and earns Microsoft cash (believe it or not) – so why should PocketPC devices be left out?

CNET’s Chris Matyszczyk recently took apart an extremely stupid bit of research on computer gamers – to cut the message short, we all are antisocial and love to smoke pot. I personally have heavy lung problems and thus am physically unable to do so…and none of my mates has ever felt like it either. So far so good.

Unfortunately, this discussion does not bring us anywhere – in fact, it supports the work of these critters. This may sound weird…but think of my now-classic article on egoshooters:

Many of the studies come from attention-seeking, unsuccessful doctors
I never believed this until I experienced it myself…this is a true story!

One day, I was at a bar programming. The DJ kept playing Rap(hey, its a LOUNGE) – and I walked up to him to ‘motivate’ him to play something else. Ok- Assemblage 23- and back to coding. Suddenly, I noted a gal slipping next to me talking to me about how Rap makes people aggressive, etc. Hmm – interesting gal, lets talk. She openly confessed that she decided to write her thesis on this topic for only one reason: to get media attention. This media attention should help her repay her student loan – mad but true!

If we continue from this story, there is only one thing we (as the analyst community) can do to stop the crap: the solution is to stop covering these idiotic bits of “research”. Whenever you get a press release about it, send them a link to this article and delete it without giving it any airtime.

It may sound weird at the first glance – but is the only thing that works. If these men of honour find their family robbed of a cheap way to get press and money, they will move onto other fields of business or will ideally get on the dole.

The first cleanses our industry from this cancer and helps us grow faster, but puts the burden on others. The second would eventually lead to less folks graduating…which means that the overall burden gets reduced over time.

Either way: the only way to handle these issues is the delete key…

What do you think?

At Tamoggemon’s, corporate policy protects our readers from political statements by our editors – which is why we have been largely unaffected by the recent hype about Mr. Obama’s mobile device of choice. As the inauguration is coming closer and closer and people start to wonder what impact his switch to WM will have on RIM, we felt that it’s time to put one thing straight:

Barack Obama does NOT affect RIM in any way!

Please allow me to back up this bold statement with a variety of facts:

First of all, Barack Obama is switching to a device regular consumers will neither want nor be able to buy. The Sectera Edge is a 3500$ brick, which is way too expensive, heavy and feature-poor to appeal to consumers. If Mr. Obama would go for a device from, say Asus (I am sure that his worst enemies won’t wish him that), the situation would be different. Customers could buy the phone…and probably would do so.

Secondarily: people attracted to Obama can usually also be reached via a selection of pop stars/rappers. The latter have turned out to be extremely fond of RIM’s devices, with a Bold even appearing in a music video. This alone provides RIM with enough “market pressure” to remain competitive – and as the competitor is out of reach and unappealing, there is no danger on this front either.

Finally, we need to think of the approx 45% of people who didn’t vote for Obama. If RIM would invest significant amounts of money into making their BlackBerry “obama-proof”, these customers would be extremely dissatisfied. As many of these are in corporate, the damage potential is high – RIM definitely doesn’t want a boycott similar to the ones happening due to Proposition 8.

In the end, I personally feel sorry for Mr. Obama, as the BlackBerry he currently uses probably is the more convenient solution for him. Even though industrial devices have become much more “bearable” in the past, they still can’t match consumer devices from a handling point of view. Nevertheless, RIM has done the right thing to let him go – unfortunately, the realities of business sometimes force companies to abandon customers…

Motorola’s recent announcement regarding Windows Mobile smartphones left quite a few of my colleagues puzzled and/or shocked. How can Moto go, etc.

For them, a recent ComputerWorld interview brought salvation from despair – in it, a Motorola head honcho stated the following:

The ruggedized snap-on device alone weighs 3.5 oz. and includes a 13-button keypad. The MC-70 and MC-75 use Windows Mobile 6.0 and above. Viscount said that despite some recent rumors by bloggers, Motorola’s enterprise division “remains 100% committed to Windows Mobile.”

Unfortunately, we know better at the Tamoggemon Content network. If our friend was quoted correctly above, he was referring to the enterprise division…aka the folks which were known as Symbol before their company was bought up by Motorola.

These guys have produced a variety of successful handhelds running WM (shot on the left), and thus have little reason to ditch. The consumer division, on the other hand, seems to fare worse.

Let’s just look at the Q11. Its predecessor was sold all over the world – while the Q11 is limited to a few Latin American CDMA markets. The MotoSURF is limited to Asia…all of which doesn’t leave me too confident about the future of the manufacturer…

What do you think?

The box cutting story was a misquotation from the NY Times – get the full scoop in this post! Microsoft does NOT intend to cut the number of boxen!!
The Windows Mobile economy hasd just become richer by a very interesting facet: as HTC states intentions to produce 10 new devices running WM or Android in 2009, Microsoft had the gall to state that they want to reduce the number of WM devices on the market.

NYTimes quotes Todd Peters, the vice president of Marketing for Microsoft, as follows:

The reason that Microsoft is limiting the number of phones with the operating system is because, he said, the company does not want to have its efforts diluted over too many devices.

“I’d rather have fewer devices and be more focused,” he said. That way “we get better integration” between phone and operating system.

As of now, Todd has not stepped forward explaining how he wants to cut the number: as Microsoft currently sells Windows Mobile to everybody who has enough cash in his hands, I wonder how his highness wants to implement restrictions. I furthermore wonder what he wants to tell to licensees who are “not worthy of his attention”…and what he wants to do to keep them from switching away to other operating systems like Android or Symbian.

One of the strengths of the Windows Mobile platform has always been its diversity – whatever you wanted, you could be reasonably sure that something running WM exists to fulfill your desires. Reducing this plethora of devices IMHO does nobody any good…which is why I hope to receive clarification from Microsoft on this matter in the near future.

P.S. HTC has announced plans to release 10 new devices in 2009 – I hope that Todd’s pathetic attempt to get NYTimes column space does not motivate them to churn out more Android boxen. Anyways, their quote is below:

For 2009, HTC aims for a revenue growth of 20%, according to company sources. The handheld device specialist is looking to introduce about 10 new models, consisting of Microsoft Windows Mobile and Google Android platform models, into the market this year, indicated the sources.

According to OFB.biz, the folks at AT&T’s have just turned against a (big) part of their (not so vocal) customers in a move of unprecedented aggressiveness.

The reason behind this is due to the perceived lack of 3G coverage on some areas – AT&T has started to move 2G devices to the “weaker” 1900MhZ band, while reserving the 850MhZ band to 3G only boxen. Customers with a non-3G capable phone (like most BlackBerries, Palm OS Treos or the iPhone 2G) will experience severely degraded signal strength in these areas: which means that phone calls will be dropped in areas where quality of service was not an issue before.

Some AT&T technicians have offered a truly outrageous solution: a 200$ credit which would neither offset the higher cost for 3G plans, nor cover equipment replacements:

When I contacted AT&T’s technical support seeking a solution to the problem, the company did offer a $200 one-time credit, a helpful offer, but not nearly enough to offset replacing my family’s two perfectly functional iPhones and additional Nokia handset (equipment totaling about $1,000 in value over the last two years), nor did the company offer to offset the additional fees attached to the new phones (a cumulative total of $30/month). The standard upgrade offered was pursuant to a new two-year contract on all three lines. Over the course of the next two years, AT&T’s offer would cost an additional $920 plus tax to restore the level of service previously available.

As of now, lawyers have not decided on whether this constitutes a “breach of contract”, which would allow customers to terminate their contract immediately and without penalties (another popular example was the recent CDMA SMS price hike). As the risk for the individual is low (and the class of users is huge), I dare to predict that this will change in the near future…

From my personal point of view, this move is outrageous: it targets less vocal customers (people still using a 2G phone are less likely to be in tech communities according to AT&T’s thinking IMHO), and fuxates the service provided to the majority of users to benefit a small minority.

The Tamoggemon Content team would be thankful for your feedback – if you have any issues, send us an email and we see what we can do for you!

Image: (c) abc texte / Dr. Doris Maria Kohrs – all rights reserved!

It’s this part of the year again: while the rest of the world is running around celebrating and accepting usury cup deposits of more than 2 Euros per cup, yours truly is sitting in front of his MSI Wind U100, creating a reflection on the events of the year.

For the PocketPC, 2008 was a year of stasis without any big moves. Microsoft has managed to establish its Windows Mobile OS well – for them, it is a war of attrition rather than one of innovation. They are under pressure from two points: while RIM is encroaching on the business side, the iPhone is hunting for “fray consumers”.

Redmond’s response seems to take a “back-to-the-roots” approach. Windows Mobile 6.1 was an excellent update for businesses, as it took the fear out of device management due to the excellent integration with Active Directory.

I am not sure if/how long Microsoft wants to continue to pursue the individual (private) consumer market with WM devices now that they have Danger in-house – as the demands of consumers and business users are not exactly aligned, making an OS which fits both is difficult at the least.

According to my information, Windows Mobile 7 will try to “bridge the gap” and eliminate the annoying plethora of different UI systems – if Microsoft manages to release it in 2009, it could heat up the market significantly.

Either way, the growth and demise of Windows Mobile is no longer governed by Microsoft, but rather by its partners and competitors. Interesting times lay ahead – stay tuned!

P.S. Similar thingies will pop up at our sister sites shortly. In case you are interested in my outlook on any of the platforms below, just hit the link and enjoy!

Palmary Christmas (about Palm OS) @ TamsPalm
Christmas with Symbian @ TamsS60
iMas (on iPhone and iPod touch stuff) @ TamsIJungle
ChristBerry (about BlackBerry devices) @ TamsBlackBerry

Austria is a lovely country. It is small, has a population of about 6 million people, lovely food, loads of shrinks hunting smartphone owners (had to do it, sorry )…and about 10 carriers fighting for the 6 million aforementioned folks (who, on average, have more than one phone each).

This has led to a huge price war – carrier managers repeatedly bicker about how the lower and lower fees damage their ability to remain profitable. Nevertheless, the lever gets lower by the minute…we are now down to 4 cents/minute without a contract of any kind.

Hartlauer’s marketing department has proven to be a good friend of the Tamoggemon Content network for quite some time, as they send us a free brochure containing all kinds of stuff once a week. This time, it contained a comparison of tariffs from 2005 and 2008 (click for bigger German version). Needless to say: minute prices have fallen insanely…

So far, so good. But when you look at SMS, you see that all of the five carriers included into this survey have raised SMS prices by more than 25% in the last three years. What cost just 20 cents in 2005, now costs 25 cents across all of the five carriers who do contracts.

While my comparison definitely is skewed to some extent (I have excluded special SMS deals), it nevertheless shows an interesting trend. Carriers are moving away from the “mainstream”, looking for niches where revenue can be generated (think SMS, apps, mail boxes, calls to foreign countries, etc).

The carrier landscape in Austria is shaking as smartphones allow for new revenue models – let me recommend an application that helps our aforementioned friends scam smartphone users passing them by automatically…

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Rüdiger Wölk, Münster

When Microsoft originally acquired Danger (the maker of the extremely popular SideKick), many wondered what the whole deal would be about. Then, rumors of an imminent ZunePhone release (at CES 2009) came up…and it all makes sense now.

Microsoft has had two independent mobile device brands for quite some time (see this interview) – while the one (WinMob) has been highly successful, the other has made problems right from the start.

The acquisition of Danger now does one thing: it provides Microsoft with a successful and popular brand name. By ganging up the SideKick with Zune functionality in ROM, Microsoft gains a consumer-teeny media device similar to an iPhone without much effort.

Windows Mobile benefits, too. So far, the OS was abused as a jack-of-all-trades sort of thingy…while business users demanded classic UI and good usability, many consumer analysts bashed the recent releases for their lack of “FX”.

By dividing the things that should have been divided from the start, Microsoft gains a lot and looses nothing – so why not do it?

What do you think?

via SoftPedia