Hasta La Gadget!

Corporate vice president and director of Windows Phone Program Management, Joe Belfiore, holds his prototype Samsung device running Windows Phone 7 on campus at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com

Microsoft staff refer to December 2008 as “The Reset” — the month that the company killed all progress on its Windows phone project and started over.

It’s a measure of how deep a hole Microsoft had dug itself into that the employees interviewed by Wired.com were unanimous in calling this a good thing. Even though the software titan had a head start on phone software beginning with Windows CE back in 1996, the subsequent Windows Mobile OS suffered from steep declines in market share when pitted against more user-friendly phones, like the iPhone and the Android-powered Droid.

“It was trying to put too much functionality in front of the user at one time,” said Bill Flora, a design director at Microsoft, reflecting on Windows Mobile’s mistakes. “It resulted in an experience that was a little cluttered and overwhelming for a lot of people today. It felt ‘computery.’”

An un-sexy OS didn’t bode well for Microsoft. The outdated design of Windows Mobile contributed to a stereotype that Microsoft cared little about customers and was focused only on big sales to big companies. It symbolized a software leader losing its edge.

Furthermore, Windows Mobile’s shrinkage in the market was embarrassing for a company whose CEO Steve Ballmer previously laughed at Apple’s iPhone for its lack of a keyboard and high price tag, only to admit three years later that Microsoft had fallen far behind.

“We were ahead of this game and now we find ourselves No. 5 in the market,” Ballmer said at an All Things Digital Conference. “We missed a whole cycle.”

Recognizing it needed to play serious catchup, Microsoft essentially hit CTRL+ALT+DEL on Windows Mobile, rebooting its mobile OS like a balky, old Windows PC and making a fresh start.

The company spent six weeks hatching a plan for a Windows phone do-over, and it set a deadline of one year to build and ship a brand new OS.

The end result was Windows Phone 7, an operating system with a tiled-based user interface that looks nothing like its predecessor. The first Windows Phone 7 handsets will hit stores today in the United States.

The reset was no simple task: It involved bringing in new managers, reorganizing the Windows phone-design department and opening new test facilities dedicated to mobile hardware.

Here’s how the company did it.

Corporate vice president and director of Windows Phone Program Management, Joe Belfiore, listens to Don Coyner, General Manager of US Shared Studios as he discusses Windows Phone 7. Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com

HTC HD2 owners have been trying to shoehorn Windows Phone 7 onto their hapless devices practically since day one, but it looks like a port won’t make it into the wild before the platform’s formal US launch. That doesn’t mean you should give up hope, however, because one variant seems to be at least partway done, winding its merry way from boot through the splash screen and deep into the speedy UI in a far more convincing video demo than the last one that hit our inbox. Though no apps are actually demonstrated nor so much as a basic phone call (pretty please?), multitouch pinch-to-zoom appears to work just fine, and we’ve little doubt any remaining quirks will be worked out in due time — if not nearly as soon as new HTC HD7 owners migrating from the HD2 might have liked. Video after the break.

Update: Here comes a new, 5-minute video of the purportedly WP7-equipped HD2 (via XDA.cn / Pocketnow), this time side-by-side with the Surround and with expanded functionality — Office, Zune, and more. Video is also, as you might’ve guessed, after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading HTC HD2 runs Windows Phone 7, makes us yearn for more (video)

HTC HD2 runs Windows Phone 7, makes us yearn for more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Nov 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s a major corporation to do when it’s trying to bring its stake in the smartphone world back from the dead? Why, call in the help of some vampires, naturally. Character Jeremy Gilbert from CW’s Vampire Diaries looks like he’ll be tapping away on an LG Quantum in the next episode, calling up Bing Maps and then getting an aerial view of some mysterious compound. Vampire hideout? Werewolf den? Factory where they make really great hair product? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

Screen Grabs: Jeremy on Vampire Diaries uses LG Quantum to find the undead, look dreamy originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Nov 2010 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though already open for early registrants, as of this week Microsoft has unbarred the floodgates for Windows Phone 7 app submissions from all developers. Full details and instructions can be found at the official App Hub, but if you’re just curious about the experience overall, WP7 dev Adam Nathan — who’s reportedly submitted 30 through the system already — outlines what he sees is the good, bad, and ugly of the process (literally). Face it, if you ever want to see your app on the Venue Pro, this is the gateway you must pass.

Windows Phone 7 app submissions are a go, now for everyone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading LG giving away ten free Windows Phone 7 apps every two months

LG giving away ten free Windows Phone 7 apps every two months originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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