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September 5, 2012

Setting expectations for WP8 and BB10

Filed under: General — Tags: — Nate @ 9:54 am

The more I read about Windows Phone 8, and BlackBerry 10 the more I am reminded of WebOS, especially the die hard community around both platforms.

I like WebOS myself, I still use my devices daily, despite my fondness for the platform I was not delusional about it – if HP had released the Pre3 when they were planning on it last year (right about this time last year), it would of been destroyed by the iPhone (I believed this long before I owned the hardware, now that I’ve been using it for the past year my thoughts haven’t changed at all). It would of been just embarrassing to see. Especially after the lackluster performance of the HP Veer, the world’s smallest smart phone at the time (perhaps still is), as far as I know the Veer never received even a single software update post launch which was sad(and there are some bad bugs in it). By contrast the Pre3 received several software updates even though it was never officially launched in the U.S. and had a tiny launch in Europe.

Anyways back on topic, Windows Phone. I have been loosely following the Windows Phone Central site where many of the die hard WP8 fans seem to hang out at for good reason. They were so excited about the launch of the newest Nokia phone, they raged against users who had lost faith in the platform, even raged against manufacturers that seem to be losing faith in the platform.

Microsoft and Nokia have tried to hype up the announcement that came today, and as I’m sure many expected, they over promised and way under delivered. This is the exact same thing HP/Palm was doing (I remember one comment from a HP/Palm person forgot who it was, who said they weren’t going to launch a product that wasn’t perfect – of course the only time they did that was when they shut down the Pre3 before it fully launched).

I feel they failed to truly impress at this event. All the leaks ruined it for me personally. All the new info was boring IMHO

Another user posted

So basically waking up and watching this event was pointless. Nearly everything that was “announced” has already been leaked anyways…seriously, their employees and partners are like swiss cheese when it comes to non-disclosure agreements.

In another article people reacted to the fact that there is no release date, no price, and no firm date for the release of Windows Phone 8 itself. The WP Central site tries to spin the news as positively as it can (much as the Pre Central, oh I’m sorry WebOS Nation site does and did for WebOS). One user wrote

this reveal was choreographed and edited to death.  really a bad demo.  Joe Belfiore just pisses me off the more he comes on stage.  Build 2012 in F-ing november…that’s over a month’s loss of sales opportunities.

I just don’t understand why these other players think announcing (or releasing) products around the time Apple does so is a good idea, it sounded incredibly stupid to me for HP and the Pre3 last year, and it’s even worse this year with Microsoft, Amazon and others trying to steal Apple’s thunder. Samsung did a great job in their latest Galaxy SIII releasing it in June. I have to assume it’s because they have been unable to adjust their product cycles to off set them enough with Apple, or perhaps they just want to try to drive some hype around the holiday season, but if your going up against Apple you really have to bring it. Microsoft/Nokia talk the talk, but they haven’t shown they can hold a candle up to an Apple product launch, so it’s sad to see them even try.

I just saw an interview with the Nokia CEO on CNBC and the only phone he picked up and sort of showed off was not a phone that was announced today, he seemed to focus on their dwindling leadership in the low end phone race.

RIM was sort of saved by further product delays, they did want to launch this fall, but due to problems with the platform they’ve had to postpone the launch yet again to sometime in 2013, more than a year later than the dates I heard originally tossed around a while ago. RIM is busy trying to keep their hype machine primed, offering to essentially bail out (for lack of a better term) developers that make $1,000 or more on applications to the tune of up to $9,000 (for a total of $10,000). If that doesn’t tell you they are bleeding developers like crazy I’m not sure what will. But kudos to them for going the extra mile to try to retain them.

Hopefully, for their sake, RIM can over deliver on their promises, but given how they’ve been for the past year I wouldn’t hold my breath. Nokia seemed to let out another massive disappointment with their announcement today, knecapping Windows Phone 8 before it even gets out of the gate.

One thing Nokia fans can get excited about I suppose is the Nokia touchstone, I mean wireless charging. The Palm wireless charging technology I’ve been using for the past three years is one of the key things I like about the platform. The main downside to it from a mass market perspective from HP/Palm at least is the wireless charging base station was not a cheap accessory, so I suspect many non techies did not opt for it due to the price (which could easily be $50-60 at product launch).

I really would like one of these platforms to do well, trust me I am not a fan of Android nor iOS, it’s just sad to see history repeating itself.

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