Nokia’s launch of the N9 phone looks to be a very interesting sign for things to come. At first sight, the design of the device is nothing short of impressive. It’s slick and elegant, and, I might add, cool. Seems to me it’s the kind of phone that has the capacity of creating a buzz. I did yesterday a flash quiz among some of my friends and about two thirds of them were so impressed about the looks of the phone that they admitted it looks better than an iPhone or any Android device. I know, this is not relevant from a statistical point of view. But, to me, it’s still a very interesting indicator. It proves once again that Nokia still has what it takes to produce fantastic hardware.

Obviously, there is one flaw with Nokia’s story, which is the OS running on the phone. Although it looks pretty nice, the MeeGo OS has no real future perspective. So, the immediate question is: what was on Nokia’s mind to launch such a phone with only months to go until the availability of Windows Phone 7 devices? For me, the answer is quite obvious: it’s a teaser. It’s a product that probably was in the works by the time Nokia entered the Microsoft deal, a product that is most probably aimed to restore a bit consumer confidence in the company and ease the wait.

In fact, Nokia’s N9 is nothing more to me than yet another element to support the decision regarding my next Windows 7 phone. Although I decided quite some time ago (when the news about the Nokia-Microsoft deal went public) that my next device will be a Nokia running WP7, the N9 is a proof that I’m right to wait. Imagine running Windows Phone 7 Mango on something like the N9…

Nokia is sailing through rough seas these days and many are questioning their decision to go the WP7 way. I totally agree with the fact that there is absolutely no guarantee that this marriage will be a successful one. And that’s simply because you’re talking about two very different companies, with very different cultures. Still, one cannot ignore the reality. The one big thing that Microsoft missed when it launched Windows Phone 7 was a killer device. Sure, all the phones in the original lineup were good. But none of them made me say wow! in the way that the N9 does. On the other hand, the one big thing that Nokia was missing for years was a good OS. They produced fantastic hardware in the past but they never seemed to be able to nail it with the OS (remember Symbian?). Combine the needs and the strengths of the two and you might get the ultimate gadget.

A product that goes in the footsteps of N9 from the point of view of design and hardware, and runs WP7, might be that perfect combination capable of becoming the new king of gadgets. The truth is that the more I study the N9 and the more I use WP7, the more confident I get about the chances of success for the Nokia-Microsoft marriage.

And that success might just open the door for a killer Nokia Windows 8 tablet, right?

I have to admit that, as many others did in the past months, I had quite a few times questions, even doubts, about the direction the WP7 team has been taking. Many times, I asked myself what is happening, why is this or that feature not available yet, why is this or that geographical region not supported yet, and so on…

Don’t get me wrong, I was a big fan of the Windows Phone from the very beginning. Above anything else, because it proved to be the fresh concept I was waiting for and because it showed that Microsoft had what it takes to fight its way back into the top 3 of the smartphone market. Last week I attended MIX 11 and had the unique chance to meet and discuss face to face with some of the key members of the Windows Phone team. I must say, these past few days produced a dramatic change of my perception regarding both the Windows Phone team and the phone itself.

To be more specific, I am talking about what was shown during the second day keynote @ MIX. Without any doubt, the developments expected for the end of the year in terms of both the user experience and the developer experience are a very good indicator of the solidity of the platform. Some of these developments are:

• Search Extras (connecting user actions on the phone with apps on the market place)
• IE9 coming to phone (the same code base from the IE9 running on the PC; this assures a consistent experience when it comes to markup and scripting)
• Built-in SQL database coming to the phone
• Access to Contacts and Calendar
• Access to raw data stream from camera, compass, and gyro (if the HW is available)
• Skype, Spotify, and Angry Birds () coming to the platform
• Motion Sensor
• Multitasking (fast app switching as well as background running for audio,downloads, and alarms)
• Live Agents (the best combination for background apps and battery life)

While these will put Windows Phone in a clear and solid position among the platforms offering the best user experience, the one thing that makes it clearly stand out is the developer experience. I dare to say that the Windows Phone developer platform is by far the best available on the market. And if you take into consideration some of the announcements made at MIX (performance analysis via the profiler, accelerometer and location simulation in the emulator, native performance improvements of many aspects, 1500+ new APIs, database support, LINQ support, Silverlight and XNA running in the same time – to name just a few), there is no doubt in my mind that, as usual, Microsoft is set to deliver THE development platform of the day.

As I mentioned above, part of the change in my perception is also due to the face to face meetings with folks from the team. Without any exaggeration, I can say they won me over 100%. Although I previously had an idea about it, the meetings enabled me to fully understand the level of commitment, the dedication and the effort they are putting into the quest of making Windows Phone an equal competitor with iOS and Android.

It is for the first time that I feel not only enthusiastic about WP7 but also confident. Why confident? First of all because of the dramatic improvement promised by the updates presented at MIX. Second, because I had the unique opportunity of getting a glimpse into the real life of the team and a chance to understand the magnitude of the task they are facing. Third, because seeing somebody like Joe Belfiore acknowledge a mistake in the opening of a MIX keynote convinced me more than anything else that the team is 100% connected to the reality of the field.

Based on my experience at MIX, I can say Microsoft was able to prove it has the three key ingredients for making Windows Phone one of the best experiences available:

• A great phone platform
• Vision and the ability to execute it, as well as the ability to convince others to share it (thinking mainly about the Nokia deal)
• A fantastic team

The Developer and Platform Evangelism group at Microsoft is launching a cool contest for Windows Phone 7 developers. For all WP7 developers out there, this is a chance to get known in the international community as well as to a free ride to the Worldwide Partner Conference 2011.

The important dates are:

Begin:March 25, 2011

End:June 6, 2011

Final judging:July 10-14, 2011

You can check all details on the contest site.

5 years ago, anyone asking this question would have been deemed as a lunatic. Today, after several years of iPhones, iPads, and Androids the question seems almost an obvious one. Almost from nowhere, two worlds emerged in the consumer space: smart phones and slates/tablets (let’s call them tablets). Well, emerged is perhaps not the right word. Boomed is a better one. That’s because those worlds existed before, but they were small compared to their present size.

In order to get to the answer of my question, I’m limiting my analysis to the following markets:

• Desktop PCs
• Laptops
• Netbooks
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Gaming consoles

Although there are obviously other markets which are important (media players, regular phones, TVs, servers, and others), I consider them secondary from the point of view of my question. First of all, let’s take a look at the current status of the ones I enumerated above.

The desktop PC is still one of the workhorses of today’s IT effort in the world. People use it at the office and at home. It’s still interesting for many reasons like sheer power, multiple (and large) display support, and flexible hardware configuration (to name just a few). Hundreds of millions are in use as we speak. Then we have laptops (and their derivatives, the netbooks) which became quite some time ago valid replacements for desktop PCs. Their main advantage over the desktop? The ability of being moved. Some are a breeze to carry, some are heavy, but still, they can be moved. Some of the lightest configurations one can find today are down to several hundreds of grams (usually around 800, give or take). At the other end of the scale, some of the most powerful ones can easily compete even with server hardware or high-end gaming desktops. What do desktops, laptops, and netbooks have in common? They all have highly productive keyboards and pointing devices. Might seem that I ‘m stating the obvious here, but I think this little detail is an important one.

Now we get to smart phones, which some call the new PC. The amount of power packed in such a tiny space is truly amazing. Functions like media playing and gaming are now in the realm of reality (Angry Birds anybody?). Combine this with touch and you do get killer devices. Despite all of this, the size factor is the ceiling here. Despite its power and capabilities, a smart phone cannot exceed a give size. On the other hand, there are things that you cannot do (at least not in a productive and easy way) unless you reach a certain size (I’m thinking here about keyboards and screen space, for example). That’s why the tablet has become such a popular choice. Extending those limits to values that fall between the ones specific to smart phones and the ones specific to netbooks/laptops makes things like browsing, media playing, and even typing move into the realm of acceptable/enjoyable. What do smart phones and tablets have in common? Obviously, they don’t have highly productive keyboards or pointing devices. Also, they are way more mobile than desktops and even than laptops. And there is one more very important thing: the most popular ones, the ones that have the largest market shares today, are all running OS's initially developed for smart phones. I dare to say, this is the Achile’s heal of most of today’s tablets. Despite of this, tablets might be the one thing that has the potential of making the PC as we know it history.

Finally, we do have the gaming consoles. Building on our almost unlimited need and desire for games, these are devices that had a fabulous evolution throughout the past 10 years. Today, they aim to become almost complete entertainment devices that bring together the game, the media, and the social.

Now that we have the 10000 feet view of the matter, let’s zoom in on Microsoft. Where is the Redmond giant in these games? Let’s start with the easy ones. They own the desktop PC. They own the laptop game too (to a slightly lesser degree, due to the notable exception of the Mac laptops). Interestingly enough, they also have a firm grasp on netbooks too, despite all the analysts who were predicting the death of Windows by the hand of the netbook. Due to the fantastic work Microsoft did with Windows 7, they are still well ahead in the game.

Things get more interesting in the gaming console’s area. Three main contenders, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are fighting the war here. Which is perfect if you ask me. Why? The answer is quite simple: if things were to be different, things like the Wii or Kinect would have probably not been invented yet. Competition is tough, but if and when the gaming consoles will start to be a real threat to the (Microsoft, PC) binom, Microsoft is perfectly positioned to defend the castle. As we’ll see in a moment, this doesn’t automatically mean they will be successful in doing that.

Finally, let’s talk about the hard ones, smart phones and tablets. There is no doubt here, Microsoft is lagging behind. iOS and Android are the pacemakers today when it comes to both smart phones and tablets. And they are hugely successful. Their success is so big that some are wondering whether this is the moment when (Microsoft, PC) will get its coup de grace. I admit, this is by far the most important threat faced so far by Windows as we know it and Microsoft as we know it. There are many reasons for this, and I’m not going to analyze them because it’s written history already. Let me just note that Microsoft was among the early inventers of both concepts (remember Windows Mobile and Tablet PC?), and then it simply failed to bring the game to the next level. It’s also common knowledge that the smart phones train was missed because of Microsoft being paralyzed in Windows Mobile. The tablet train was missed probably because nobody really believed in the potential of such a market. Looking back, one can clearly see what happens when there’s no threat on the horizon. Even powerful giants fall asleep.

So, there is no surprise that many are expecting today no less than the death of (Microsoft, PC). The threat is clear and present, no doubt about it. And it’s amplified (mainly in perception) by the fact that Microsoft is not announcing loudly a clear strategy to fight the tablet war. Makes some people think that folks in Redmond are living in a dream world and lost their sense of reality. Well, I somehow do not buy into this.

My perception is that, on the contrary, the chess is well played now. One of the greatest chess players the world has ever seen used to say that the worst thing you can do after a bad move is to rush in with a fix. Most of the time, it will get you in an even deeper hole. It’s a fact, Microsoft did miss the smart phone train. Because of that, missed the tablet one too. Combined, these are now gaining huge momentum and are sieging Microsoft’s position. Where is the Windows Tablet? Why are they insisting with Windows 7 as a choice for the tablet form factor? These are some of the questions people ask me a lot these days.

I have to admit I asked myself those questions at some point. And I’ve also asked myself why doesn’t Microsoft consider Windows Phone 7’s OS the obvious candidate to fight the tablet wars? After all, given the circumstances, it’s doing a good job in the smart phone space. After spending a fair amount of time thinking about this, I realized that throwing in the battle at this moment a WP7 based tablet (or tablets for that matter) would really qualify in the “rush in with a fix” category of moves. Let me explain why.

The most important reason is that Microsoft and Windows own the (desktop, laptop, netbook) space. It would be fundamentally wrong to ignore this fact when developing strategies for the smart phone and tablet wars. And it would force Microsoft to fight the war without its most powerful weapon. I’ve said above at some point that I think the fundamental weakness of the tablet today is the fact it runs OSs initially developed for smart phones. Combine that with the form factor, and eventually you will find out after a while that it’s quite hard to perform productive work on the tablet. Pressure is high for a compelling Windows tablet, no doubt about it. Android and iOS are gaining more and more traction every day, including in the enterprise. Yet more and more tablet owners admit that after the initial enthusiasm of owning a tablet they end up back to the (desktop, laptop, netbook) for productive work. The fact is, neither the smart phone nor the tablet are yet in a position to kill the (desktop, laptop, netbook). It’s likely that for a few years at least, these worlds will coexist. Actually, I think this gives Microsoft a bit of space to think, prepare, and make the right move. Finally, it’s pretty obvious that both the smart phone and the tablet markets are in their infancy. There is a lot of room for growth, and, while the early players have a clear advantage, there’s always going to be room for quality products.

What should be Microsoft’s next move? I now believe it has to be Windows centered. Not Windows 7 because, despite it’s awesome qualities, Windows 7 is not really suitable for touch devices. Microsoft’s next move also needs to capitalize on the strengths of Windows vs. the weaknesses of today’s tablets. In a nutshell, Microsoft needs to deliver a new Windows that’s ready for the next killer device. What’s that device? I dare to predict it’s the one that will combine the efficiency of the laptop with the mobility of the tablet. Many say the smart phone and/or the tablet are today’s new PCs. Turns out they are not. At least not yet. But the day is coming, there’s no doubt about it.

My vision is about a device that can act as a regular PC when needed (keyboard, mouse, power, and so on) and as a tablet in the mean time. Think how you’d feel if you could just detach you laptop’s screen and make it a tablet. The intelligent OS that powers your device knows how to adapt to context. When the screen is docked, it works like a regular PC. When the screen is loose, it changes the user experience to one that is better suited for touch. It also detects proximity, so when you’re around the main body of your device, you can still take advantage of it’s computing power, storage capabilities and even it’s internet connection. Ironically, seems to me the perfect name for this next killer device is Tablet PC. The power of the PC combined with the flexibility of the tablet.

Well, it might take a while until my vision turns into reality. But it’s quite obvious to me that the next big thing waiting around the corner is the merge between the tablet and laptop/netbook concepts. As long as Microsoft is capable of delivering in a reasonable amount of time a Windows OS that materializes the promise of this new killer device, (Microsoft, Windows) remains on solid ground for the foreseeable future. From what I’ve seen in the past 12 months, despite the pressure and bad moves from the past, Microsoft is preparing the right move.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve blogged, mostly due to a large number of projects I’ve been involved in. It sure feels good to be back . And if I factor in the context, it feels even better. Let me explain…

I’m watching the PDC keynote as I write this from the comfort of my office. It’s a pretty bold approach from Microsoft, I must admit. Having many thousands (perhaps even more since the figures are not published yet) of viewers watching a multi-track conference live via the web is something that has never been tried before at this scale. From what I can tell so far, it’s been working out just great. But this is not the main reason why I'm feeling good.

The real reason is what I see in front of my eyes. The code, right? you might ask yourself. Well …, it’s not the code. What I see is a company that has gone a long, long way from what it used to be 10 or 15 years ago. It’s a company that survived a fundamental change at the very top level. A company that “lost” its founder who was also its leader and one of the major figures in the industry (and still is). A company that many said will go down and will be lost in the shadow of the new “enfants terribles” of the industry. A company that was supposed to loose the race between its main cash-cows Windows / Office and Linux / Open Office. Or the one between its development platform and Java. Or the one between its SQL Server database engine and Oracle/MySQL/others. Or many, many other races. Yet, despite these predictions it survived and it did this quite well. The interesting part for me is that not only it survived but it turned into something that I never thought of … a COOL company.

I’m watching the new leader of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer as it talks to thousands of developers via a virtual PDC. What strikes me is that Steve has a main slide behind him which has three lines:

• IE9, HTML5
• Windows Phone 7
• Windows Azure

I’m not the kind of person that gets easily carried away and those of you who watched me speaking or delivering workshops and trainings know that it’s not really uncommon for me to criticize openly on Microsoft when I think there’s good reason for it. But right now, I just can’t help it … it’s for the first time I perceive Microsoft as being a cool company. I’ve had this feeling in the past about some of its products, but never about the company as a whole. Listening Microsoft talking about its present and future plans for the browser, the mobile platform and the cloud platform is fantastic. I’m realistic, and I admit that in two of the three (browser and mobile) Microsoft is currently a follower rather than a leader. Yet is shows good signs for strong comebacks in both areas. As for the third one, the cloud, Microsoft is shaping the game.

All in all, looks like this is going to be a great PDC. Not necessarily because it’s an online one (you can watch it here), but because of the content. We’re living very interesting times and it looks like Microsoft is on the track to be one of the major players in all three dimensions of these interesting times (browser, mobile, cloud). Even more than that, seems to me its on the track to achieve the one thing most of us thought it’s unachievable.

That one thing is being a cool company.

For the past several years I developed an acute sense of criticism towards Microsoft’s strategy in the mobile area. Watching first the iPhone and then, to a certain degree, the Android becoming shining stars while Windows Mobile was stuck in its own paradigm, had constantly fueled my criticism. It became obvious at a certain point in time that Microsoft will either come up fast with something truly spectacular or abandon the market for an indefinite period of time. And so it did. After all, who’s willing to abandon the huge market of the “new PC”?

Windows Phone 7 Series is the bet Microsoft has on its future in the mobile market. It’s a bet that comes in a rather difficult context generated by the fact that Microsoft lost so far the “coolness factor” battle as well as the online marketplace one. Despite the struggle to constantly improve Windows Mobile, it’s clear now that this road is closed. Unlike in other cases where it’s leading the game, Microsoft now has to come back. Does it have what it takes? Isn’t it too late? Will the technology be properly supported (aka international marketplace, international subscriptions, and the like)? Right now, I can say for sure that the concept is amazing. Whether it’s going to be successful or not, depends on many things. The “details” as I call them in the title of this post.

But let’s enter into some of the “details”, to help you better understand what’s really going on.

First, the user experience. This one is truly amazing. Surprisingly for some, Microsoft managed to outperform in this area its rivals. It’s fresh, fast, and fully adaptable to its user. For me this didn't come as a really big surprise, since I’ve been exposed to the user experience of Zune HD which seems to be the source of inspiration for Windows Phone. And the fact that Silverlight is supported natively is a blast. Here at MIX we’ve seen some demos of Silverlight-based applications which were spectacular. Speaking about Silverlight, we also need to mention that is fully hardware accelerated and it’s identical to the one that runs on your desktop.

Second, access to native phone functions. This one wasn’t addressed earlier this year when the concept was introduced. Fortunately, we’ve seen in the keynote demos clear indications of the fact that these functions are going to be fully accessible from our apps. I’m talking here about location, map control, accelerometer (get phone motion), microphone (access to the raw input files), and push notification support (react when something happens, even if the app is not running).

Third, developer tools. Microsoft did make a big announcement yesterday related to development tools for Windows Phone. The Windows Phone Developer Tools containing Visual Studio 2010 for Windows Phone 7, Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone 7, and XNA Game Studio for Windows Phone 7, are going to be free for all developers (actually, you can already download it from http://developer.windowsphone.com). But that’s not what really impressed me. Instead, it was the ease and simplicity of the development process itself. In addition to a bunch of apps that are already available (and do look better than their iPhone or Android counterparts), we’ve seen a few apps being created from scratch during the first day’s keynote. Visual Studio 2010 comes with a true Windows Phone 7 emulator, which is actually a Windows Phone 7 virtual machine running in the background. Expression Blend 4 comes also with project templates for Windows Phone 7 enabling the creation of mobile apps from the point of view of the designer. I witnessed an impressive developer experience with Blend 4 during the same keynote, when a data-driven, multi-screen app was built entirely in it.

Fourth, gaming. Windows Phone 7 supports XNA. Same programming, same code, same tools. We’ve seen a true 3D game demoed on it. If that’s not impressive enough, we were also shown how the same code developed with XNA gets deployed on the desktop, on the XBOX, and on the Windows Phone. Wow!

Fifth and final, ecosystem. I was glad to see that the main app used to sync with the PC is an evolution of the Zune software. Being a Zune user, I can tell this app is one of the best and coolest Microsoft ever released. No more ActiveSync, no more mess. There is one big question here, though. I’m a Romanian citizen, which geographically is not included in the United States. Tough luck. I don’t get access to the Zune marketplace. Hell, I’m not even supposed to be able to buy a Zune in my country. Since the marketplace experience seems to be heavily rooted the Zune experience, I’m a bit concerned here. No clear sign from Microsoft yet on the international dimension of the ecosystem around Windows Phone plus previous US-centric approaches are the main causes for this concern. Finally, another question: how’s the application marketplace going to evolve? No clear sign either. I think Microsoft will have to be clever enough to avoid past mistakes as well as learn from similar mistakes done by some of its competitors. Adoption will be tightly linked to the success of the ecosystem.

So, will Windows Phone 7 mark the rebirth of Microsoft in the mobile space? Too early to say. The start however, as late as it is, is more than promising. Good user experience and device integration, excellent developer story, and strong gaming support. All Microsoft needs now is to avoid the devil from the details…

It’s been so far a fantastic experience for me attending MIX10. Apart from the fact it’s held in Las Vegas, Nevada :), it’s been very interesting for me since this is my first MIX ever. Being a regular attendee at traditional developer conferences like TechEd and PDC, MIX strikes me as an amazing combination of developers, designers, and media-connected persons. Not the usual gang I was used to meet at Microsoft conferences. On top of that, I have to admit I’ve never seen such an abundance of Macs per square meter :) at a Microsoft conference.

Besides the obvious differences I’ve noticed, and perhaps in an unexpected kind of way, one thing strikes me more than ever: a sense of freshness in the air. Being seriously involved with Microsoft technologies via the Microsoft Regional Director Program, I dare to say I’m more or less in the loop with most developments originating from the Redmond giant. This enabled me during the last say 5 years to have a front-row seat to Microsoft’s change in terms of corporate culture and technological vision. These days, seeing stuff like Windows Phone with its amazing user experience and free (yes, no mistake here) developer tools, Silverlight 4, OData, and many more, I fully realized this is not the Microsoft I’ve used to know for decades anymore. The company that used to do things like implementing proprietary protocols when ubiquitous and proven ones were available or hiding God knows what kind of knowledge behind binary, proprietary file formats in Office, is now a thing of the past. Today’s Microsoft is and plays a whole different ball game. It’s open, capable of leaving hypocrisy aside, and what’s the most important thing for me, more innovative than ever. So the question popped up in my mind: what was the catalyst of this amazing transformation?

The answer became apparent and obvious to me during a meeting that we, Regional Directors, had yesterday with Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research. On a personal note, meeting Bill was one of the few enlightening experiences I’ve ever had during my professional career. The guy is plain and simple, nothing short of amazing. But let me get back to the point. We discussed a lot about how amazing technologies like the mouse, multi-touch, and many others went below the radar for many years until surfacing as life-changing “novelties”. It’s amazing how the most important, ground-breaking products we’ve seen in past years express nothing more than innovative ways of putting together existing (sometimes already mature) technologies. The first thing that comes to my mind is the iPhone. Well, I digress … again …

Windows Phone is fantastic. It’s very very very late, true. But it manages to zero out all the competitive advantage held by its competitors, iPhone and Android. On top of that, it comes with a truly amazing developer experience unfolding within the boundaries of free developer tools. Windows 7 is the embodiment of what I’ve always wanted an operating system to be. Yes, it comes after that thing we called Vista :), but still, it just rocks. Silverlight is by far the brightest star on the horizon. And the list goes on with Bing, Visual Studio, XBOX, and many more.

So, back to my question. Windows 7, Windows Phone, Silverlight, Bing, Visual Studio 2010, and XBOX are all technologies that are not just good, they are truly inspiring. Some of them are already proven and some have yet to prove their potential. Some might even fail on the long run. Still, how come Microsoft did manage to stay or get into all these games? There is only one word in the answer: competition. Without Linux being what it is, i dare to say we wouldn’t have today Windows 7. We’d still be stuck with the cozy and rather mediocre user experience of Windows Mobile had the iPhone never been invented. Probably no Silverlight without Flash, no Bing without Google, no XBOX Project Natal without Wii, and so on. Every single time, Microsoft proved this amazing capability of either leading the game, or getting back in the game with a vengeance.

The amazing part is that pressure from Linux, iPhone, Safari, Firefox, and Google (and others obviously) had a spectacular side-effect: not only did they change Microsoft’s products, but they did change Microsoft itself. And that’s never been so obvious as these days at MIX10.

This why I honestly think that, besides being some its most fierce competitors, Linux, iPhone, Safari, Firefox, and Google prove to be also Microsoft’s best friends. Long live competition!