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Microsoft has announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Phone 7, their last great hope to recover their position in the smartphone market:
Today is the day that the Windows Phone team has been driving towards, and we’re very excited to say that we’ve reached the biggest milestone for our internal team – the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Phone 7! While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners’ hardware, software, and networks is underway, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete.
Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released. We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready.
Now the question is when partnering cell phone hardware vendors and service providers will be ready to launch some Windows Phone 7 phones. The consensus is before the end of the year and perhaps as soon as October. Early reviews range from the dismal to mildly favorable although the missing features enumerated in the latter are a trifle disconcerting.
Microsoft’s KIN phone didn’t last long – it was announced in April and killed today in favor of the mainline Windows Phone program:
Amid anemic sales, Microsoft has decided to halt work on its Kin phone less than two months after the product hit the market.
The social media-oriented phone will not make its planned European debut and Microsoft is shifting the entire Kin team to work on Windows Phone 7, the Microsoft smartphone operating system due out later this year. Andy Lees, who heads up the company’s cell phone efforts announced the move to Microsoft workers earlier on Wednesday, according to a source close to the company.
A Microsoft spokesman later confirmed the news.
With Microsoft’s decision, it is now unclear whether there will ever be software updates to the phone, including one originally planned for this summer. Over the weekend, Verizon cut the price on the two Kin models by as much as 50 percent.
Microsoft won’t say how much it spent on the Kin launch, but it has been backed by significant TV, Web, and print and radio advertising campaigns.
Neither Verizon nor Microsoft would say how many devices were sold, but a source told CNET that the number of Kins sold thus far is more than 1,000 but south of 10,000–significantly below expectations.
"We don’t share sales data or marketing strategies but the device remains an important part of our portfolio," a Verizon representative said in a statement.
Roz Ho, the Microsoft executive who lead the unit that developed the Kin will oversee the transition of the team and then move to an as-yet-determined role at the company, according to a source.
Every company makes missteps, but this one is destined to be a classic right up there with the Edsel.
Microsoft today released Expression Studio 4, the latest version of their Web development tooling brought up to date with support for Silverlight 4, .Net Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 and the expected variety of feature enhancements. However, what is missing is the promised support for Windows Phone 7 development:
Microsoft is providing a timeline for when it will add Windows Phone 7 support to Expression Studio 4. Here’s a statement from a spokesperson:
“We will ship a service pack for Expression Studio 4 within the next few weeks that will include Windows Phone 7 support. Developers can now get a beta of the design tools targeted at development for Windows Phone 7, which include a free version of Expression Blend as part of the Windows Phone 7 SDK. The final version of the Windows Phone 7 SDK will be made available to developers well before the general availability of Windows Phone 7 devices in market, to ensure adequate time for development.”
And as a matter of fact, wannabe Windows Phone 7 developers should not even install the released version of Expression Studio 4. Not the best start for a new and seemingly critical release to regain Microsoft’s lost smartphone momentum.
Microsoft also took the opportunity to condense the four different packages available for Expression Studio 3 into only three for Expression Studio 4:
Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate?
A: Expression Studio 4 Ultimate is comprised of 4 products, Expression Web 4, Microsoft Expression Blend® 4 + SketchFlow, Expression Encoder 4 Pro and Expression Design 4. Expression Blend 4 includes SketchFlow in Expression Studio 4 Ultimate product only.
Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Premium?
A: Expression Studio 4 Premium is comprised of 4 products, Expression Web 4, Microsoft Expression Blend 4, Expression Encoder 4 and Expression Design 4. Expression Studio 4 Premium is not available for retail purchase.
Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Web Professional?
A: Expression Studio 4 Web Professional is comprised of 3 products, Expression Web 4, Expression Encoder 4 and Expression Design 4.
Along the way however, they restricted the highly regarded SketchFlow design tool to only the high dollar Ultimate subscription. Previous users of Expression Blend 3 plus SketchFlow are understandably cranky, particularly as the change came without warning.
Microsoft today announced a major shakeup in the continually troubled Entertainment and Devices Division via a letter from Steve Ballmer to employees:
Robbie Bach and J Allard, founding fathers of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, are leaving the company as part of a broader restructuring that will give CEO Steve Ballmer more direct oversight of consumer businesses including Microsoft’s struggling mobile unit.
The changes — a major management reorganization, even by Microsoft’s standards — will reshape the division leading the company’s battles against Google, Apple, Sony, Nintendo and other rivals in the hard-fought consumer technology market.
Bach, 48, president of the division since its inception five years ago, isn’t slated to be replaced. That will effectively dissolve the division’s current structure and leave the existing Xbox and Windows Mobile leaders to report to Ballmer starting in July.
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Microsoft is describing Bach’s departure as a retirement. He said the decision was his own, and he wasn’t encouraged to leave. He’ll remain at Microsoft through the fall, to ensure a smooth transition.
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Speaking with TechFlash, Allard said his decision was unrelated to the recent cancelation of the "Courier" dual-screen tablet project that he had championed inside the company. Allard said he doesn’t plan to work for Apple, Google or any other Microsoft rivals. After 19 years at the company, he said, he wants to devote more time to his personal interests, particularly adventure sports.
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The separation of the Windows Mobile unit from the current Entertainment & Devices reporting structure also reflects the company’s efforts to connect its mobile initiatives with a wider range of products, including its online services and traditional software.
Don Mattrick, the senior vice president in charge of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, will report directly to Ballmer as part of the management changes, as will Andy Lees, the senior vice president who leads the Mobile Communications Business.
Mary Jo Foley also notes some other changes:
Windows Web Services is born. Antoine Leblond, who has been Senior Vice President of the Office Productivity Applications Group, is moving to a new role: Senior Vice President for the Windows Web Services team. What is Windows Web Services? Good question. CEO Steve Ballmer’s e-mail describes it as “integral Windows services that today deliver updates, solutions, community and depth information for the Windows consumer.” Leblond will be reporting directly to Windows/Windows Live President Steven Sinofsky.
Office gets a new engineering chief. Kurt DelBene, Senior Vice President of the Office Business Productivity Group, is now head of all of the engineering responsibilities for the Office business.
Former Live Platform Services head David Treadwell moves out of the Windows division and into the Interactive Entertainment Business (the part of Microsoft that oversees Xbox and video games).
Xbox has finally started making money after the billions poured into it, but the Windows Mobile story was acknowledged even by Microsoft to be a vast missed opportunity verging on a disaster. Microsoft doesn’t like to lose markets where they used to have a commanding presence. The other entertainment products are yawners (e.g. Zune), but Mac Office is still a money maker and customers still love Microsoft keyboards and mice. Unfortunately they are the smallest and least visible part of the E&D menagerie.
