Windows Mobile 7: not just a “me-too iPhone”

Windows MobileOr at least that’s what they say in writing. One can only judge when it’s done.

Speaking of when, by the tone of this job advertisement for a Principal Development Manager on the Windows Mobile 7 team whose responsible for building the OS foundations, the project is definitely still in its early development stages.

The Windows Mobile 7 team is searching for a Principal Development Manager

Do you have a passion for the mobile space? Enjoy big challenges, working with and learning from a high-performance team? Do you want to be part of driving the next big business for the company?

Windows Mobile 7 will change the way you view your phone. We aren’t just building a me-too iPhone or RIM competitor; we’re changing the way customers use and experience their device. In the OS Platform team we are responsible for the OS, file systems, security, hardware platforms and drivers, networking & connectivity, location framework and updateability. In other words, we build the foundation upon which the rest of Windows Mobile is built.

As Development Manager for the Core System, you will have both ICs and Leads reporting to you, with a team of approximately 20 developers. As part of a matrix style organization, you will work closely in a triad with your PM and test counterparts. Specific areas of ownership include the kernel, file systems, security, loader, and device management.

Your job will entail:

  • Building and leading a high performance team
  • Owning and driving the core os (kernel, file systems, security, and device management) features and roadmap for Windows Mobile
  • Defining an engineering system that can scale to large organizations and span multiple releases.
  • Driving quality and performance into the core platform.
  • Mentoring your organization and building a strong bench and successor.

Update: It’s interesting to point out one particular feature the job ad mentions which I think will be essential to Windows Mobile 7’s success – “updateability”. What Microsoft is planning to achieve in WM7 is the ability to ship OS updates directly to the end-user without the need for vendor and operator snail-like intervention, a current problem that’s holding faster Windows Mobile updates back. The question is if it’ll come soon enough?

13 insightful thoughts

  1. Well, after being so very late to the iPhone competition arena ( actually still not there, 6.5 has yet to be released ), I don’t think Windows Mobile even qualifies for the me-too position anymore.

  2. If they are building a new OS, why do they still call it Windows Mobile 7? Why not give it new code name..?
    There is no me-too iPhone outhere.

  3. I don’t see how they could still be at that early stage. If they are, they have already lost.

  4. @wreiad

    Don’t want to brust you bubble but the small glimpse your are talking about is clearly composited in (which means not actualy running on the phone), and is more that a Year old. And Photon (if WM7 is still Photon) has been in the work since the release of WM5. Porjects can restart from scratch many times before realease, it’s praticaly always the case (depends on many factors, like competion, economics etc..).
    Just rememder the SKyMarket jobs posting back in August. Everybody thought the same (“no! MS can’t be in this early stage in dev of their App store etc OMG..) and it was true. MS fucked up big time withWM7 and they know it. Back to the drawing board.

  5. @Josh

    How did they screw up big time with Windows Mobile 7? Have you used it? That video didn’t look faked to me at all.

  6. Nice to know.

    The post doesn’t show up right in IE8 RC1, the ‘blocknote’ isn’t spanned across the whole width. Maybee look into it since IE8 is being released next week , sssst 😉 I didn’t tell you

  7. I think if Microsoft wants to truly compete in the Smartphone space they need to rebuild their mobile OS from the ground up. Not just prettify the Interface.

    I think the real beauty of the iPhone lies in it’s underlying architecture. For developers there is very little difference between developing for the iPhone and developing for the Mac. The main difference is the Interface. Most of the core APIs are essentially the same.

    I don’t believe the same can be said for the Windows platform. Then add on top of that a myriad of different hardware platforms, screen form factors and it’s difficult to see how Windows 7.0 will ever be as good as the iPhone OS unless they rebuild it from the ground up.

    In my mind Microsoft should dictate the hardware parameters for the phone and then build an OS around it or better yet release their own mobile hardware… just buy up HTC and be done with the hardware part.

    I am just stumped how all of these mobile manufacturers and Operating system developers could underestimate the iPhone platform to the extend that Apple now has a 2 to 3 year development lead. And their only answer now seems to be to release a pretty interface. If they really thinks that’s the only reason why the iPhone is so successful then they really have now idea.

  8. Who is me to? I have had an ms phone/pda probably like 6 years.. and it has had useful features like cut and paste form day 1. The only thing apple has that I want is multi touch … and they are trying to patent that … what balz….

  9. I agree Windows Phone 7 Series looks great and should be able to try and challenge the iPhone dominance.

    I think though that it’s perhaps too late. Apple has a huge headstart with the number of users, developers and applications.

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