The wraps came off Windows Phone 7 on Columbus Day (Monday) and judging from the buzz in the usual places (ZDNet and the healthcare blogs), it gets credit for cool design (always critical TechRepublic sees a lot to like). But as a late entry in a crowded field, it’s already back of the pack and maybe third at best (whither BlackBerry??) With smartphones and tablets parallelling in development, has Microsoft any edge? Yes, according to iMedicalApps which is written from the HIT point of view, the Windows OS has plenty of ‘cred’ in healthcare integration–it’s compatible with every major EMR, as well as MS Office and SharePoint (cloud). In the US, Verizon is taking a pass (their bets are on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry), but AT&T and T-Mobile are up, and 58 others including big UK carriers Vodafone, O2 and Orange and others in the EU and Asia/Pacific are adopting. At least initially, this does not look like a replay of Windows Mobile (who? what?) Also of interest: Microsoft is controlling all software updates and will send out to all carriers simultaneously (unlike the Android model). Guns blazing indeed.
Update 15 October: For your weekend reading, click over to ZDNet and Jason Perlow’s Tech Broiler blog post on how the Windows Phone 7 could be a cure for smartphone dysfunction, and his nervy suggestions on attracting boomers to these phones. Also the comments are a hoot! Windows Phone 7: The Cialis of Smartphones?