by Frank McPherson, author of How To Do Everything With Windows Mobile

 
The iPhone / iPod Touch App Store is freaking awesome! One of the applications that I have installed on my iPod Touch is Evernote. The Evernote team has been releasing frequent updates for all their clients, and they have already released an update to their iPhone client. Today the App Store icon on my iPod Touch had a little red 1 on it, indicating that I had an update. I open the store up, tap the Updates button and it shows you what updates are available. Just tap Update All and boom, down comes the update to my device and is automatically installed. The one quirk is that it moved the Evernote icon from the first home page to the second, but I can live with that.

The bottom line, this is how updating mobile devices should work. I should know on the device when an update is available and the software should do the work of getting that update to my device rather than my having hunt all over the Internet to find something.

It's scary how Apple, a company that has been only selling a mobile phone for a little more than a year, gets how to do these things, while Microsoft, who has been at this more than ten years doesn't seem to. I know there are many good people at Microsoft and I am certain there have been those within Microsoft who have been pushing for these type of changes for years. If some people at Microsoft had their way, I am sure the Windows Mobile U.I. would have been improved years ago.

IMHO, the problem here is bureaucracy. Apple is a corporate dictatorship driven by A person who is passionate about creating the best devices based on HIS view of what that means. Microsoft has become consensus driven, making decisions based on polling, causing changes to take years if they occur at all, resulting in just looking the same rather than standing out.

It's like how we want people to run for president in the U.S. versus how people actually run for president.

What is refreshing about Apple's entry into the mobile market is their willingness to be different. I personally don't agree with their approach to text input, but I do appreciate their willingness to be different and stick to their guns. That attitude is what allows them to change quickly.

I believe Microsoft is coming to a crossroads with their mobile devices. Are they going to continue trudging along at a slow pace and risk following Palm's path, or are they going to become passionate about being in the race with Apple in making mobile devices that stand out?

Labels: 2008

posted by Frank at 9:27 AM

1 Comments:

Frank,

Your comments are "right on!" Apple reminds me of the old Avis "We try harder" ads.

Microsoft is big enough that the could get away from the "consensus building" model by adopting a philosphy of internal competition--allow competing groups to develop alternative solutions & letting the market determine the winner.

I've been a dedicated Pocket PC / Windows Mobile user since I purchase an HP 548 (now using a T-Mobile Dash) but am seriously considering making the switch to an iPhone.

Rich

By  Rich, at 10:30 AM  

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