How Microsoft could increase WP7 market share

I got an iPhone 4S shortly after it released in October, and I have been incredibly happy with it thus far.  It loads applications in a jiffy, I can take calls on it without incident or hassle, it hasn't experienced a kernel panic ever, and all around it responds in a fluid and timely manner to my commands.  This all sounds like it belongs in the realm of the utterly mundane, but you should understand, I had a Motorola Droid before this.  That entails a lot of things, so let me simplify my gripes as quickly as I can: take everything I said about my iPhone and use an extreme opposite for my old Droid.

But although things are wonderful and easy-going in my new Apple-centric mobile life, in the past few months I was exposed to an HTML5 demo of Windows Phone 7's operating system, and since then I've experienced an overflow of OS envy.

If you're on a smartphone, try the demo for yourself (note that it doesn't work nearly as well on Android devices as on other hardware).  If not, take my word that the amount of polish and utility shown off in WP7 is staggering, especially when you consider that this is the same company that brought us Windows Millennium Edition, Vista, and Windows Mobile 6.  The concept of the People Hub alone is so magnificent that I'm astonished that this kind of social aggregation hasn't been done before.  Really, if our phone is meant to connect us, then why force compartmentalization onto our interactions with people?

The problem, though, is that despite the amazing potential Windows Phone 7 has to redefine our notion of the mobile OS, it is caught in the awful position of being a very late follow-up to the most maligned and stagnant operating system in phone history.  It also comes into the game years after iOS and Android, meaning that it's facing an uphill battle of numbers, both in terms of users exposed to its charms, and in the number of devices on sale from the opposing forces.

Microsoft knows this, and that's why they made the web-based demo I linked to up above.  The problem is, I checked out the demo on my brand new iPhone, and I'm willing to bet that plenty of other people looked at it on their new iDevice, or their RAZR or Galaxy S.  They're already on board with someone else, so what good is this web demo to them?

Let's go back in my own life to the summer of 2007.  I was just starting my sophomore year of college, the original iPhone hadn't been out for even a year, I was carrying a plastic, clamshell Samsung device -- which didn't even have unlimited texting -- in my pocket, and the only time I could do anything on the Internet was when I was in front of an archaic device known as a "personal computer".  Then Apple came out with the iPod Touch, described by pundits as an "iPhone without the phone".  I got one, and within the month it completely changed my life.  Suddenly, I had a fully-fledged gateway to the world wide web in the palm of my hand; less cumbersome than my Nintendo DS, and having far more real world applications.  It was the perfect companion to my Samsung phone: Now, I had a device that was, for all purposes, my personal data assistant.

It was years from that point until I finally got a smartphone in my Droid, but even after getting the Droid my iPod Touch was a staple of my pockets.  Having the ability to use an iOS device for the things that were either too cumbersome or simply impossible on my Droid was too useful to give up.

And now that I see the strength of Windows Phone 7 I'm left asking: why isn't there anything like the iPod Touch, but running the Windows Phone 7 operating system?  The iPod Touch is integral to the success of iOS in the mobile ecosystem because it gives Apple access to a market segment that Android and Blackberry don't even touch: non-smartphone owners.  I have one coworker and multiple friends who still own either the most basic of cell phones, or a feature phone, because of any number of reasons.  Maybe a data plan is too expensive, maybe they like how their current phone works just fine, maybe they're overwhelmed by how quickly new smartphones are released, or maybe don't want to be locked into a multi-year contract.  Whatever the reason, they have opted not to get a new phone, and that means they stand almost no chance of being exposed to the Android or Blackberry ecosystem.

But what's this?  A device that doesn't come with a contract?  It uses wi-fi to access the Internet?  It's smaller than my wallet, and I can play games and check Facebook on it?  It has a built in camera for photos and video?  I can carry all of my music with me?  And it's only $200?  With far less commitment on the user's end, Apple has just sold another iOS device, and the user can keep everything they love about their old phone.

Windows Phone 7 has just as much opportunity to get new users, and it needs new users.  I'm willing to bet that there's plenty of demand for a new device running Mango (aka Windows Phone 7.5) as a direct competitor to the iPod Touch.  Heck, I'd be one of the first in line for it, as long as it ran on these few guidelines:

1. It needs to run the shiniest new version of Windows Phone 7 and be eligible for the exact same updates as any other phone released in the time frame.  If the non-phone device isn't a gateway through which users can look and say, "Wow, this must be even better on phones", Microsoft will lose any upselling power it might get from this class of device.
2. It has to be cheaper than the iPod Touch.  Sell it at a nice, digestible price point like $150.  Even if this number results in a net loss on hardware sales, increasing the user base will directly increase the number of sales made in the app marketplace, which will lead to more developer interest, which will lead to  more apps,  which will lead to even more user interest.
3. It has to integrate into the user's environment.  If the device is complicated to set up, then it won't do well.  It should be as easy as possible for users to get content between their device and their computer, be it through iTunes, Zune, Windows Media Player, Winamp, or whatever else they use.  Windows Phone 7 is all about simplicity and interconnectedness; if that philosophy isn't maintained throughout the entire experience, then it might as well not exist.

It should be obvious to anybody by now that I really want to see Windows Phone 7 succeed.  That may sound really weird, especially considering that I have an iPhone, an iPad, and an iMac at home, but here's the thing: It's a damn good mobile platform.  Let alone how I feel about the history of Windows desktops, Windows 8, and any tablets that may come out for that.  Windows Phone 7 is an original idea with fantastic implementation, and if it dies out then we can all look forward to a total lack of innovation for smartphones in the near future.

Thanks for reading!