orktane

The .NET platform is an incredibly powerful and productive toolset that stretches itself well on the client-side, the server-side and now with Silverlight as a web-client, though with one sore spot - the mobile device. The problem per se is not the .NET framework or it's compact framework incarnation, but the platform it exclusively runs on, the Windows Mobile (WM). The WM platform as it stands today is dated, fugly, and is rapidly falling behind it's competition. Sadly yet, it's immediate future doesn't seem very bright either; version WM 6.5 announced at the 2009 Mobile World Congress seems more of a paint job than a sound application platform. What worse is consider the timeline, WM 6.5 is expected Q4 2009 which is well over a year and half since version 6.1 and beyond 2 1/2 years since version 6. And, what has the Microsoft platform brought to bear, specifically since the iPhone redefined the mobile experience? We'll let's see the evolution over the past ten years, courtesy Wikipedia:

Pocket PC 2000 (Apr 2000)	Pocket PC 2002 (Oct 2001)	Windows Mobile 2003 (Jun 2003)
Windows Mobile 5.0 (May 2005)	Windows Mobile 6.0 (Feb 2007)	Windows Mobile 6.1 (Apr 2008)
Windows Mobile 6.5 (Exp. Q4 2009)	Windows Mobile 6.5 (Exp. Q4 2009, Lock Screen)	Windows Mobile 6.5 (Exp. Q4 2009, Start Menu / View)

So really by the end of 2009, in a 10 year timeframe, we are still working on visually tunning the today screen (Zune rip-off) while still supporting a two-button handicap. Add, the mind-bending start menu / view (move to the top, anyone?) mixed with the split-personality between sometimes touch-friendly, sometimes stylus-only and sometimes non-touch UI - makes for a sad story. BTW, behind the facet, is the old Windows 95'ish like UI - of which I particularly hate the omnipresent bottom-oriented tabs.

iPhone, still the Gold Standard with almost 2 years since its first outing. It is a design tour-de-force, and as a whole a superb platform despite it's limitations.

Palm Pre, the best answer to iPhone yet. A well thought out platform with visuals to match. Also puts to shame Microsoft's efforts since the iPhone.

Google's answer to WM, which squarely positions itself as an open platform against the WM ecosystem, with a speedy development cycle to boot.

The bigger problem seems to be there is no over-arching thought, theme or vision at play for the platform - from what I can see. Apple did a fantastic job in rethinking from the ground-up, they made the most of the hardware technology available at that point-in-time, and major kudos to them for the user experience delivered to the end user. And I mean user-experience (UX) in the broadest sense of the phrase, from the consistency of the 3-pallets of colours to the touch based cover-flow, and my personal favourite the "elastic scrolling" (separate from "kinetic scrolling") all in one neat package. The question then, as far as .NET developers are concerned, is not what Apple has done or achieved, but what has Microsoft done to counteract and (wishfully) expand the mobile space for developers? I think that is a fair question, especially since the success of any .NET application on WM is directly linked or at least limited to success of the platform itself.

HTC Touch Flow 3D, is a fairly good outward face, but then again it is only skin deep and HTC et al. can only take it so far.

Another facelift for WM, courtesy LG, with 3D effects and all.

The legendary Meizu M8 (now on sale?), based on Win CE! Dare I say it looks way better than WM no matter who it's imitating? And yes it's from China.

Today the hardware available for WM phones readily surpasses what the iPhone has, but the soft part of the equation is lacking. The competition is heating up considerably, particularly with Palm's Pre, Google's Android, and the Symbian OS from Nokia - which is heartening to see. Though, for .NET developers wishing to extend their skills onto the mobile world, Windows Mobile seems to be an adrift ship at best (not quite sinking though). Also worth mentioning, is that it seems to me the technological capability of the underlying WM Win32'ish core is not the root of the problem, just see the innovation HTC and others are doing atop the same Win CE core, but just the fact that they MUST do this points to the problem.

Past WM 6.5, everyone is looking forward to WM 7 - which is supposed to be a complete overhaul (they better somehow squeeze in Windows 7 / MinWin Magic into it). But I fear, Microsoft is going to cripple themselves with one, offering too much choice (like screen resolutions) and trying to be everything under the sun (like, catering to non-touch phones - just see the three button setup in the screenshots above). I rather, that they limit choices, control the hardware and innovate in generations to allow the software ecosystem to flourish - because ultimately that is the end-game, and no one should know that better than Microsoft itself. Also, today the hottest area of innovation and growth is mobile phones, can we as developers wait for Microsoft given their decade of non-innovation innovation? I think, I might be ready to jump the ship, with good reason, so the notice is hereby given.