In his address to the Microsoft faithful, Turner appeared to be stoking the old rivalry between Microsoft and Apple. He promised that users of Windows Phone 7 Series devices won't have to worry about how they hold their phones. Reports have Apple's iPhone 4 suffering signal loss when the innovative antenna comes in contact with human skin.
Back in the Game?
Noting the market's strong adoption of Windows 7, Turner said, "We're back in the game with Windows Phone 7. Our customers are going to vote by what they buy, but clearly we've done it once, we're going to do it again."
That comment, of course, ignores the fact that Microsoft is behind in a competitive mobile market with Apple and Google's Android operating system moving up fast. A Nielsen study of the first quarter found that Microsoft lost two percent of the mobile market while Apple and Google each gained two percent.
Microsoft has also dropped its ill-fated Kin phones aimed at the youth market and suspended sales of the once-popular Sidekick line it inherited from subsidiary Danger.
In addition, Microsoft is scrambling to get developers interested in creating apps for Windows Phone 7. As we previously reported, Todd Brix, a senior Microsoft director, reportedly said the company is offering financial incentives, including income guarantees, and free tools and test phones to get developers on board.
Microsoft reportedly has just 246 smartphone apps in a market that is fueled by mobile apps. By comparison, Apple's App Store has 225,000 apps and Google's Android Marketplace features 65,000 apps.
Challenging Apple's iPad
Wireless analyst Kirk Parsons of J.D. Power and Associates has said Microsoft needs to show that Windows Phone 7 is not just a miniaturized version of Windows for PCs. "Until Microsoft has a viable OS platform, it's not going to attract the volume of talent needed to make a serious dent in the apps space," Parsons added.
And Jeff Burstein, program manager of Florida-based Mobile Application, sees Microsoft caught in a Catch-22 cycle of not having enough users and thus drawing little interest for applications, which perpetuates the low adoption rate.
None of this appeared to faze Turner, who also promised that tablet computers using Windows 7 will improve on Apple's popular iPad, which he said is "fabulous at content consumption." What the iPad doesn't do well, he claimed, is content creation, and he indicated that Microsoft will focus on creating tablets for business use.
