Slashdot Mirror
T-Mobile Dumps MS SmartPhone
burgburgburg writes "It seems that T-Mobile International, Europe's second largest mobile phone operator, has decided against introducing a Microsoft SmartPhone after all. T-Mobile had announced their plans in February to introduce the MS SmartPhone this summer. Industry insiders say that the software for the phone continued to have 'fundamental problems,' leading to a high failure rate. French mobile carrier Orange introduced a MS SmartPhone, SPV, late last year. It initially had software security problems which Microsoft has claimed are patched."
Just wait for version 3.0 to come out. That'll probably be good enough to whack Nokia and Qualcomm around. Think about it: Windows, Pocket PC, Tablet PC, etc. All of these products didn't really do well until version 3 rolled around. MS usually tries to get a product into a niche just to get experience there. They then spend the next few years figuring out means to really grab hold of the niche, and then they dominate it. That's how it works with them. Not a bad business strategy at all. In fact, it's really good one.
iRooster, the Mac OS X a
I have to admit I'm a little skeptical about it having "security problems." After all, Microsoft is very pro-security. I highly doubt it was their fault that there were security problems.
Last I heard you couldn't even make the phone dial a number straight out of Pocket Outlook.
DUH.
Something went very wrong in the QA chain between Microsoft, the 3rd parties and the mobile telcos when they were trying to rush this out.
This is a more accurate story entitled "T-Mobile has NOT dumped MS Smartphone, just delayed it a bit".
Also, RCR says:
a T-Mobile spokesman said the carrier had never set a definite date, only that it would begin selling the phone sometime this summer. Spokesman Philipp Schindera said there are software problems with the phone, and that T-Mobile, manufacturer HTC and Microsoft are working to fix those problems. He said the phone has not been delayed, because there are still several months of summer left.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
It initially had software security problems which Microsoft has claimed are patched."
:)
Yeah, connect your smartphone to the SmartWindowsUpdate via GPRS. It only takes about several megabytes(every week) of download(yes in fact that's entire OS replacement) and in view of the present strikely *low* GPRS rate (US$1/kbyte) it won't be too much hassle, will it?
Cell phones require far more resilience then organizers or pocket PCs. For example: Compare the Treo to the Nokia Communicator. While the second is designed as a cell phone with added functionality, the first is primarily an organizer with crammed in phone functionality. I know a number of happy Communicator users, while the number of happy Treo users I know of is precisely zero.
In addition embrace and extend is a philopsophy, which rightfully has zero credibility in the phone business. It's all about (meticulously respected) standards.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
No, it doesn't figure. It's not a French phone at all. It's manufactured by a Taiwanese company for a German customer. And with which part of the phone is there a problem? The software developed by Microsoft, a U.S. company.
As the ex-owner of a Psion Revo+ (replaced with a Zaurus), I will say that I expect symbian to dominate the cellphone market.
The Symbian OS (formerly known as EPOC) was designed from the ground up for small devices with small screens. Even the older version that my Revo ran was more feature-rich and polished than any other PDA OS I've touched. Most importantly (for cellphone use) the OS itself was rock solid. I can't remember a single time when I was forced to reboot.
Simply put, Microsoft is offering too little, too late. Most of the major cellphone manufacturers has signed on for Symbian.
Life is too short to proofread.
From Reuters
Here is Microsoft's proud announcement of their partnership with BMW.
First, MS has only been successful in things that they can bind to Windows (prime example is MS Office which generates about 40% of MS revenues, a phyrric victory is IE which generates no revenue but was also pushed by the Windows domination), everything else is losing money.
All the following projects have been canceled:
- Windows/Mips
- Windows/PowerPC
- Windows/Alpha
- "HomeR" Project
- Modular Windows
- "Otto" Project (SW for cars; 1992)
- MMOSA (Set-Top-boxes Operating System
- WebTV
- Blackbird/Internet Studio (1995)
- proprietary MSN (Microsoft should have become the sole ISP, remember?)
- COOl (C++ Object Orientated Language)
- PenWindows
- Microsoft Bob
- Ultimate TV
- Hailstorm (2001 - 2002)
Those projects are losing money:
- XBox (revenues declined by 40% in Q1 2003, losses nearly doubled (+96%) http://www.golem.de/showhigh.php?file=/0305/25460
- Non-proprietary MSN
- Mice, keyboards
- Cell phone OS (Stinger)
I don't know where all the "MS will win automatically" people crawl from, if you look at their track record, they have lots and lots of unsuccessful projects.
If you look at the big picture, MS is currently being stripped off everything except their core business (x86-desktop). And wether MS is really able to make the 64-Bit transition is questionable. They are so incompetent in producing something 64Bit that they will lose a lot of people to Linux/Athlon64, even on the desktop.
In the non-graphic embedded market, Linux is already the standard, on cellphones Symbian is the standard and Linux is coming, leaves only PDAs, where Microsoft is still holding out (but there Linux is coming, too).
I'm confused.
I underatand why Microsoft's operating systems and word processors and stuff might be buggy: they have to provide legacy support and the hardware configurations can be complex.
However, considering their resources and (I'm assuming) talent... shouldn't they be able to do something like this and have it be pretty sound technology?
I think nowadays even to non-technical people, Microsoft has come to symbolize a product that will work but also let you down in so many ways in terms of quality, security, bugs, price, etc.
Thank you for purchasing the Microsoft Smartphone. Be sure to activate your phone online within 60 days else your phone will be permanently disabled. Also please sign up for our .NET Passport SmartPhone service*
*Disclaimer:
Although we use the terms "security" and "privacy" in much of our press releases, we can guarantee neither. Your personal details and credit card numbers will be safely stored on our secure system which is roughly equivalent to leaving your keys in your car's ignition.
[Clipped from MacInTouch 5/15/03]
Jimmy Grewal followed up on recent notes about a BMW computer bug that trapped the occupant inside his car:
I work for Microsoft (program manager for Mac Internet Explorer), and I own a 2002 BMW 745i. Though the underlying OS the vehicle is running is Windows CE for Automotive, BMW and Siemens VDO wrote all of the software that the car is running: [BMW iDrive press release]
I don't think Microsoft should be blamed for problems with the applications written by others on top of their OS, just as no one blames Apple for the problems users have with third party software on their Macs. Furthermore, the on board computer that is running WinCEfA is used to control the radio, tv, navigation system, telephone, etc (commonly referred to a telematics features). The engine management system, electrical, etc. are controlled by another set of computers that also manage emissions, diagnostics, etc.
The 7-Series does have a lot of issues that BMW needs to address, including major failures like this, but most of those are related to the drive-by-wire systems rather than the navigation/entertainment system that's running WinCEfA. It has its own problems, but those are related to confusing controls and an unintuitive interface
I work in the embedded market and it is the standard.
Our partner-company was a 100% Microsoft-shop and Linux is forbidden in the corporate LAN - yet they still chose Linux as their platform for *ALL* their new devices.
What about VXworks? PalmOS? QNX? Are these people quaking in their boots?
Yes they are. You can get big discounts from everybody.
What about all the special purpose real time OSes that many companies use.
Used in many existing devices, but for most new developments, a real OS is chosen for shorter development time. (the hardware is fast enough already)
Linux isn't the standard in the embedded market any more than it is the standard on the desktop.
Laughable. According to this study: here Linux (+ BSD) was running on 11% of existing systems in 2001, but was used for 50% of new projects.
I can only confirm these developments, Linux is already the de-facto standard on embedded systems.
There is a fundamental problem in WinCE which causes 90% of all the issues people see with these devices. The problem is that WinCE has poor memory management. Theoretically the OS is supposed to manage all memory aspects from stopping running apps to free memory to dynamically loading and unloading DLL's. The most serious problem however is that it restricts the amount of memory available to a DLL to 16 MB. On devices like the HP 5450 and these T-Mobile Smart Phones, this becomes a problem because of the numerous integrated devices the OS has to support. The 5450 has WiFi, Bluetooth and Biometrics which fill up 12 of the 16MB of available memory. As a result, user applications like Adobe Acrobat do not have enough memory to load their linked libraries. The only solution is to jump through hoops managing the memory manually and to disable unused devices like Bluetooth or the Biometrics (which negates getting to the device to begin with!).
.NET comes out which is due sometime this summer.
A solution to this problem is not due until WinCE
Its unfortunate that this problem exists. It has apparently been caused by these PocketPC devices growing in size too quickly for the OS. Talk about growing pains...