Windows phone 7 Series
What you see above is the Microsoft sign at Mobile World Congress. At first there was nothing special except for a large sticker covering...something.
The savvy cats at Engadget decided to use the "X-ray filter" in Photoshop and lo and behold, beneath the sticker it says: 7 Series.
Seven? Series? Sounds like that might be hinting at the rumored Business and Multimedia editions that we mentioned a few weeks ago.
While we don't know all of the details about what Microsoft has in mind for Monday, we're still surmising that the overall strategy (and what we've talked about during the podcast #88, #89) is thus:
- Pink/Zune/Turtle/Pure phones = Feature phones; not full Wp7
- Business Edition = The true upgrade path for WM6.5 --> Wp7; customizable
- Media Edition = Combine the Pink & Business edition for one high end smartphone
Call us crazy, but we think this three-pronged approach (with only two being 'true' Windows phone 7 devices) is what Microsoft is attempting. Mind you, according to the WSJ, we might not even hear about Pink/Zune/Turtle/Pure at Mobile World Congress. That actually makes sense as those devices are not true Windows phone 7 series nor would they want to scare off their OEMs.
It's also becoming more clear that last week's "rumors" were probably more about Project Pink than Windows phone 7, which we strongly suggested ;-)
So, what do you think? Sound off below!
Email this pageComments
There are 26 comments. Sign in to comment
It should be called the Mullet instead of Media Edition.
Business up front / party in the back.
Daniel Rubino says:
lol, zing
Windows phone 7 Mullet Edition.
I like it.
i hope you are right about three as you've described. and i hope they are viewed together as all in one business line so that they can be defined together and branded accordingly each to occupy their own niche.
- more tightly defined chassis specifications are a must.
- once interface parity is acheived, differentiation from other platforms needs to be defined by a higher level of integration with other msft services than possible from any other platform - outlook, office, live, zune etc..
- partnered advirtising with major device makers and carriers is a must.
- integrated branding across all msft consumer solutions is a must.
success will be based on the perception that the windows series 7 offers a winning end-user experience. so, just like apple has educated the market on what is possible with an iphone, microsoft will need to educate consumers so that they are aware of what is possible with a windows series 7 phone. i hope they are getting their advertising agencies all sorted out now. this is the time to get it all right - not half-baked as we've seen the last few years.
god - i hope they can get an integrated consumer marketing vision in place, so msft does appear in the market to be a bunch of siloed and overlapping solutions that seem to be from different companies.
anyone at the show in barcelona? please feel free to print out some of these comments and give them to the product managers at the show. that's probably asking too much. well...
Daniel Rubino says:
Dieter & Phil are on their way right now.
I think MS will advertise this big time. They probably sunk little money into 6.5 because why sell customers on an OS that's is EOL? Save it all for 7, which is a product they can truly stand behind *and* integrate with Zune, Windows 7 and XBox ecosystem.
I don't think Media edition will be a pure aggregation of Pink plus Business. They're going to take features away from business to make it more iPhone-esque. Media is a step up from Pink, while business will be off in its own (XDA) world.
Daniel Rubino says:
Mmm...good point on the Media edition.
jfa1 says:
And stay away from Palm's Pre Lady of Great Eerieness!!!
an integrated communications plan has been lacking from msft for the entire life of winmo. advertising should have started years ago. a brand is not based on a single release of software, no more than chevy dealerships arer reliant on a single model car.
so, advertising for 6.0, and 6.5 should have started years ago.
the winmo brand need to be built. you start with what you've got. no need to wait for 7. why cede all that time and fight to android and apple?
Home come the font of the '7 Series' is considerably slimmer than the font of 'Windows Phone'?
wreiad says:
Probably a variation of the font they're using. Seems to be Zegoe/Segoe ui and Zegoe/Segoe light respectively.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071114/zegoe-zune-font/
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/Fonts/family.aspx?FID=331
an integrated communications plan has been lacking from msft for the entire life of winmo. advertising should have started years ago. a brand is not based on a single release of software, no more than chevy dealerships arer reliant on a single model car.
so, advertising for 6.0, and 6.5 should have started years ago.
the winmo brand need to be built. you start with what you've got. no need to wait for 7. why cede all that time and fight to android and apple?
an integrated communications plan has been lacking from msft for the entire life of winmo. advertising should have started years ago. a brand is not based on a single release of software, no more than chevy dealerships arer reliant on a single model car.
so, advertising for 6.0, and 6.5 should have started years ago.
the winmo brand need to be built. you start with what you've got. no need to wait for 7. why cede all that time and fight to android and apple?
uranidiot says:
malatesta needs to put bac slider sounds tap and new Google map 4.0. on his tp2 malrom. instead hes playing with xray specs lol.
X-Ray filter or not the new OS looking pretty cool. I created a pros and cons lists with all everything i know so far http://proconlists.com/list/consumer-electronics/windows-phone-7-series/27
Thanks for the post. Here is a different perspective on Windows 7 Phone Series.
http://links.maas360.com/luckyNumber7
i hope you are right about three as you've described. and i hope they are viewed together as all in one business line so that they can be defined together and branded accordingly each to occupy their own niche.
- more tightly defined chassis specifications are a must.
- once interface parity is acheived, differentiation from other platforms needs to be defined by a higher level of integration with other msft services than possible from any other platform - outlook, office, live, zune etc..
- partnered advirtising with major device makers and carriers is a must.
- integrated branding across all msft consumer solutions is a must.
m65
success will be based on the perception that the windows series 7 offers a winning end-user experience. so, just like apple has educated the market on what is possible with an iphone, microsoft will need to educate consumers so that they are aware of what is possible with a windows series 7 phone. i hope they are getting their advertising agencies all sorted out now. this is the time to get it all right - not half-baked as we've seen the last few years.
god - i hope they can get an integrated consumer marketing vision in place, so msft does appear in the market to be a bunch of siloed and overlapping solutions that seem to be from different companies.
