It’s been a long time coming almost 8 years for me! I have been working with Microsoft’s mobile platforms for a very long time and lets face it, Microsoft never had a very compelling story for the consumer in terms of mobile phones. Now in the enterprise mobility space and ruggedized devices Microsoft had a good offering, in fact if you see someone carrying a large device with a screen and barcoder it is most likely a Windows Mobile or Windows CE device.
Now for the consumer, Microsoft tried with Windows Phone 6.5 but that did not really go anywhere. We did an fun project for MTV for Windows Phone 6.5 and although we did a pretty good job and it was part of an award winning marketing campaign (won an Ogilvy Award in Telecommunications) the phone was not picked up by many consumers.
Windows Phone 7 Is Out To Win!
Now, Microsoft has brought it’s “A Game” to the consumer mobility space, not just any kind of phone but a different kind of phone. A phone I think will appeal to the consumer market a lot more than what was available in the past from Microsoft. You have your Facebook integration, XBox Live Integration and a completely new user experience to the mobile phone market that users will actually find is fun to use. The animations are very simple and not just a sliding screen but you’ll notice only the content you are interested in animates. You’ll also notice you are not overwhelmed on the device by graphics but the user interface on the phone is very clean and simple. This allows you to focus on what you want at that point in time and not work so hard to look for it. Personally, I’ve enjoyed using the device and is actually painful to go back to previous versions of Windows Phone and it’s also pretty painful to go back to my iPhone. Windows Phone 7 has the concept of the ‘hardware back button’ and it’s something you get used to using when navigating on your phone.
Large Brands Are Jumping On Board
When you see large brands jumping on board, to me it’s a sign that they like what they see with the phone. Currently you have brands such as National Geographic, You Tube, Netflix, Twitter, The Weather Channel, EA Games, EBay and a host of 
others that have built or are building for the platform.
Even Canadian brands are getting in to the game and you will see companies like MTV News Canada, Globe and Mail and Yellow Pages Canada that are already available in marketplace. Two of the three Canadian brands were delivered by RedBit Development and was a great experience delivering those (more on that soon!)
When large well known brands jump on board that’s good news for the consumer because not only will they have choice on what type of hardware they will buy, they will have choice on what type of applications to have on the phone.
It’s Ready To Launch
Tomorrow (Nov 8 2010) Windows Phone 7 will launch across North America. I’ve been using Windows Phone 7 since July, and it’s ready for prime time!! There is hardware, there are apps and it will be available in Canada from day 1, which is a very big deal! Tomorrow the big day will be here, and what better way to celebrate than hanging out with 104.5 CHUM FM, purchasing yourself a Windows Phone 7 and getting a free XBox 360! If you want more details on the free XBox 360 offer head over to Anthony Bartolo’s blog (@wirelesslife)
So will you be buying a Windows Phone 7? I already have plans to get a few for testing and R&D for the RedBit team. This phone is going to be awesome and I’m all in!