I had to check through the Mobile Industry Review archives just to be sure!

What a difference a year makes in the mobile industry, eh?

This time last year the market was reacting to the news that Nokia had dumped it’s “burning platform” and moved to Windows. There were lingering questions over Symbian and MeeGo (now effectively answered: No-go) but the dramatic move by Nokia silenced absolutely everybody, especially the uber-critical and highly influential Western Media.

The move bought Nokia a year’s worth of breathing space. Obviously the company couldn’t be expected to release a Windows Phone handset immediately. And the mobile world did — I think it’s fair to say — pull a rather thin smile at the promises from Nokia’s High Command relating to delivering their first Windows Phone within the year.

Fast forward a year — a year? I can’t quite believe it — and here is an astonishingly positive post about Nokia from the Western Media Imperial leader itself: TechCrunch. In fact the post is from the site’s Editor-in-Chief, Erick Schonfeld.

Here’s Schonfeld on the Lumia 800:

When you hold one in your hand, it’s clear that the smartphone wars are far from over. It is too easy to dismiss Windows Phone 7 as being too little, too late. That was our first reaction too. No, it’s clear that Windows Phone has more than a fighting chance. Microsoft will make sure that the economics are much more attractive to the carriers than the iPhone’s so that they push Windows Phone. If consumers bite, Windows Phone could emerge as a very strong smartphone platform.

via Fly Or Die: The Nokia Lumia 800 “Flagship” Windows Phone | TechCrunch.

This is the sort of rehabilitation of Nokia’s image that was a total pipe dream 12 months ago.

Finishing off his post, Erick points out that if he had to choose between a top of the range Android device or the Lumia 800, he’d have to think very, very carefully. That’s a huge, huge #win for Nokia given the positivity that continues to surround Android in the Valley.

By aligning itself so closely with Microsoft, Nokia has bought itself a ticket at the top table of the smartphone world. Critics might argue that Nokia has been pushed to the back standing behind Microsoft, however I think that’s been necessary. The company’s image was so bad that it was next to impossible for many in the Valley to take them seriously. So a Microsoft wing-man is proving thoroughly useful.

There’s a few caveats to this broad perspective on Nokia. Of course we need to see how consumers react to the Lumia devices. At the end of the day, it’s all about sales. Ideally we need to hear about millions of Lumias being placed into consumer hands this year. And then toward the end of this year, we need to see Nokia bring some of their own tricks to the fair — especially in the context of gorgeous hardware and magical mobilised services. I think they can deliver.

To answer my question then, is Nokia’s rehabilitation in the Western Media complete? Yes. I think it’s all about delivery now.

Microsoft smartly jumped straight into bed with the team of developers who got together to try and make it easy to hack (or, to install unsigned applications on) their Windows Phone devices.

Instead of making it a total flipping nightmare for users, it’s actually going to be rather simple. Here’s the Chevron team with more details:

We know that our work is sometimes misinterpreted as promoting “jailbreaking” activities. This is not the case. Our goal is to help bright people do awesome things without infringing upon the developer community with apps in the Marketplace. In fact, we had many conversations with Microsoft to make sure we do this the right way. It may be the long way around, but we feel this approach is ethical, the best way to ensure that the program stays alive and hobbyists like us get more access to cool toys.

They’re funding themselves by charging $9 to unlock your device:

On the desktop, you’ll run our custom version of the unlocking tool. It’s very similar to the official “developer registration” tool, however instead of requiring an App Hub account, it requires an unlock token. Oh and it looks prettier. Otherwise, it behaves identically. No magic spells. No exploits. Your phone’s warranty and support lifelines will remain intact.

Very, very cool indeed.

Other manufacturers are going to need to step up to the mark to rival this.

I would imagine that a lot of people will be encouraged to try this out — and given that it’s permanent and it doesn’t void your warranty I reckon we should hopefully see a hotbed of innovation growing up around Windows Phone.

Keep your eye on their site at http://www.chevronwp7.com/.

- – - – -

First, I thought Google. Now, I think Microsoft.

I was reading recently about Skype functionality being built into the forthcoming Mango release on Windows Phone (WP) and I started thinking: who is now moving forwards fastest in this whole ecosystem race?

At the turn of the year, I was part of a research panel discussion around the near future of mobile. The NDA I signed on the evening prevents me from disclosing what treats we were party to, however, what I can share is some of the thoughts we went in with.

Each of us was asked to present our ideas around future mobile technologies. My pitch was around, funnily enough, ecosystems:

“We’re already seeing mobile operating systems appearing in car dashboards. Soon they’ll be in our fridges, on our televisions, built into our coffee tables.. and, when that happens, purchasing decisions will also be made based upon these ecosystems. If your main technology at home is Android-based and you’re coming to buy something new for your household, you’re more likely to keep within the ecosystem that you’re used to. Both from a UI perspective and also from a service interaction ideal.”

This was at the end of last year. Rewind a few years, back when I was working at a certain voice to text company, and Google was talking about launching their own voice-to-text product through Google Voice – “They’ve parked their tanks on our lawn, we must be doing something right”.

At that time I was thinking about the different pieces being put in place by the big G:

GMail, GTalk, Google Maps and now, Google Voice.

Communications + presences + location? I remember saying to a French Googler whom I knew at the time “Man! I can totally see where you guys are going! Amazing. Android will be the glue to pull it together aaaand.. when you align the stars, it’ll be perfect!” – he smiled and bowed his head, knowingly.

The communication ideal behind these nodes, if you will, for me seemed like a major background strategy that was slowing falling into place. Alas, here we are several years later and – even with the likes of [the yet to be proven] Google Plus – all of these services are still yet to fully link up properly. But these things take time.

Fast forward back today and this piece on Engadget highlighting Skype integration in Mango hits. My brain clicks into gear.

Xbox, Windows, Windows Phone, Hotmail [yeah, I said it] and now Maps – the pieces are all there. But the key part here for me is Xbox. The one thing everyone seems to be overlooking: Xbox. There are 53.6million of these machines worldwide – already sat under televisions. Of those, 66% are connected [or at least registered] online via Xbox Live. Include in that another 10million Kinects [the fastest selling peripheral of all time] and you have one hell of a home entertainment system / internet ecosystem.

The Kinect already had video calling before Skype was announced for Windows Phone. Skype is also rumoured to be bundled in the next Xbox update. I’m not saying video calling is the future, not by any stretch. But a true and proper unified communications plan for consumers is the next big step. [Facebook is nearly there, but isn't interested in home or mobile hardware].

Windows 7(.5/Mango/Tango/Rango/Bingo/Bango – delete where appropriate) also promises gaming integration, amazing applications [like the mind-blowingly awesome British Airways app we saw demo'd earlier this year] and well, I can’t help thinking that a sleeping giant has been stirred.

I used to think that Google would be the one pulling this stuff together – the faster, more agile of the huge players in the world. They still could be. They still might be.

All I’m saying is, don’t forget about Microsoft and above all, don’t ignore the Xbox. I genuinely think it’s a trump card that Microsoft is yet to play.

Whatley out.

Pradeep over at wmpoweruser.com has published an email that is being sent out to the (apparent) legions of developers jumping ship from WebOS to Windows. The email is from Brandon Watson, top man at Microsoft’s Windows Phone developer relations.

You have to hand it to Microsoft: They really do know what they’re doing when it comes to developers.

Here’s the first part of Brandon’s note:

First things first. Thank you so much for reaching out to the Windows Phone team to signal your interest in bringing your talents to our platform. To be honest, we didn’t expect this level of response, so we were caught a bit flatfooted. It took a few days (on the weekend) to pull all the mails together into one place to allow me to respond in a smart way and not retype every mail by hand. Consider this a first step in building a relationship with the Windows Phone team. We are psyched to have you aboard and to see what your imagination can do on the Windows Phone canvas. Read on

Brandon goes on to list out the names and email addresses of every single Windows Phone ‘mobile champ’ in a whole list of countries.

He also points out that free phones are available — something that, ultimately, any successful developer is going to want. I get the impression that if you can prove your credentials to your local champ, they’ll sort you out with a device or two.

It’s unclear how many WebOS developers there are flocking to Microsoft. Irrespective, it’s nice marketing from the Microsoft team. It’s continuing to get the word out. This is just what Microsoft needs at this point as Mango ships and new devices (particularly from Nokia) begin to step into the light.

You can find out more about developing for Windows Phone at create.msdn.com/.

Alas the opportunity has been snapped up by Canadian firm, Polar Mobile. Congratulations chaps.

The focus for Polar is obviously Windows Phone — and this news demonstrates Nokia isn’t hanging around. Microsoft has already made good progress getting content on their app stores, this will certainly keep things moving. There’s a lot more details via the link below.

Nokia Corp. is turning to Toronto-based app developer Polar Mobile Group Inc. to build more than 300 mobile apps for its current and future smart phones, as the world’s largest handset maker tries to regain relevance in the next-generation mobile device market.The deal, to be announced Wednesday, is one of the largest in Polar’s history. The first 50 apps, to be released in the next two months, will run on Nokia’s Symbian operating system, which powers several of its existing line of phones. Polar will also develop apps for the MeeGo platform.

via CTV News | Nokia picks Polar to build 300 mobile apps.

More from Jeb

Espoo, Finland and Redmond, US – Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement on a partnership that will result in a new global mobile ecosystem, utilizing the very complementary assets of both companies. Completed ahead of schedule, the definitive agreement is consistent with the joint announcement made on February 11.

In addition to agreeing to the terms of their partnership, including joint contributions to the development of the new ecosystem, Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. With hundreds of personnel already engaged on joint engineering efforts, the companies are collaborating on a portfolio of new Nokia devices. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers.

“At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership,” said Stephen Elop, President and CEO of Nokia Corporation. “It is the complementary nature of our assets, and the overall competitiveness of that combined offering, that is the foundation of our relationship.”

“Our agreement is good for the industry,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. “Together, Nokia and Microsoft will innovate with greater speed, and provide enhanced opportunities for consumers and our partners to share in the success of our ecosystem.”

The relationship is structured around four broad areas:

1. A combination of complementary assets, which make the partnership truly unique, including:

- Nokia to deliver mapping, navigation, and certain location-based services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia will build innovation on top of the Windows Phone platform in areas such as imaging, while contributing expertise on hardware design and language support, and helping to drive the development of the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft will provide Bing search services across the Nokia device portfolio as well as contributing strength in productivity, advertising, gaming, social media and a variety of other services. The combination of navigation with advertising and search will enable better monetization of Nokia’s navigation assets and completely new forms of advertising revenue.
- Joint developer outreach and application sourcing, to support the creation of new local and global applications, including making Windows Phone developer registration free for all Nokia developers.
- Opening a new Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure. Developers will be able to publish and distribute applications through a single developer portal to hundreds of millions of consumers that use Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices.
- Contribution of Nokia’s expertise in operator billing to ensure participants in the Windows Phone ecosystem can take advantage of Nokia’s billing agreements with 112 operators in 36 markets.

2. Microsoft will receive a running royalty from Nokia for the Windows Phone platform, starting when the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone ship. The royalty payments are competitive and reflect the large volumes that Nokia expects to ship, as well as a variety of other considerations related to engineering work to which both companies are committed. Microsoft delivering the Windows Phone platform to Nokia will enable Nokia to significantly reduce operating expenses.

3. In recognition of the unique nature of Nokia’s agreement with Microsoft and the contributions that Nokia is providing, Nokia will receive payments measured in the billions of dollars.

4. An agreement that recognizes the value of intellectual property and puts in place mechanisms for exchanging rights to intellectual property. Nokia will receive substantial payments under the agreement.

With the definitive agreement now signed, both companies will begin engaging with operators, developers and other partners to help the industry understand the benefits of joining the new ecosystem. At the same time, work will continue on developing Nokia products on the Windows Phone platform, with the aim of securing volume device shipments in 2012. The scale of both companies’ mutual commitment is significant and is in keeping with the intention to build a new ecosystem based on this long-term, strategic partnership.

The last paragraph is probably the most important segment of the announcement in the context of the industry. It’s been long rumoured that operator groups have been utterly delighted at the prospect of a Nokia-Microsoft alliance and if these operators get behind the concept, they could really change the marketplace. It’s far too easy to forget that in most markets — especially the Western ones — the mobile operator plays a critical role in the adoption of new handsets through their subsidy decisions.

If we get operator groups committing to, for example, 10 million and 20 million chunks of handsets, that’s really going to change the market dynamic. Bring it on!

Microsoft offered today its most detailed look yet into the next version of Windows Phone, code-named Mango, at the companys annual show for Web and phone developers.

via Microsoft gives details on next Windows Phone OS | Microsoft – CNET News.

If you haven’t checked out Windows Phone yet, I recommend you talk to one of your team and have them put one in front of you. Better yet, swap to it for a week and see what you make of it. For a version 1.0 product, it’s really rather smart.

But when the iteration begins, that’s when the excitement starts. Witness, for example, the Quantas scenario that Jay highlights. All integrated deeply with Microsoft’s desktop and enterprise facilities too.

Consumers and Microsoft Geeks (there are a LOT of Visual Studio coders out there) are reacting well to the platform. I know we haven’t seen much in the way of sales figures yet, however I won’t be surprised if the next raft of Windows Phone handsets get a rather good push from the operators around the world. Add in Nokia and their legendary distribution, hardware and experience, it all gets rather exciting.

Speaking of Nokia, I’m pleased to read that Mr Ovi (Marco Argenti) made an appearance at the Microsoft event. I’m looking forward to seeing the fruits of the Nokia-Microsoft collaboration soon.

Here’s Gideon with an overview of the service:

Over to Soujana:

Richard was there to talk about his organisation’s new arrangement with the upcoming Taxi service, TaxiStop (see the next video for more about that). Thank you for taking the time Richard!

And remember, next time you need a cab in London, why not Tweet one?

BlueVia, Telefonica’s global developer platform has taken yet another step forward today. They’ve partnered with Microsoft to integrate BlueVia’s SDK directly into the Microsoft .NET Framework, Silverlight and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Over 6 million folk develop with these Microsoft tools so now network integration for almost any application is just a click-away.

This is very good news for BlueVia and it also enhances Microsoft’s developer offering. With the BlueVia SDK, it’ll be a piece of cake to put SMS, user context or mobile advertising elements into all sorts of applications (not just mobile).

Of course, given that Microsoft’s Windows Phone developer tools all run through the same platform, integrating BlueVia into your Windows Phone app just became even simpler.

Here’s the post from BlueVia’s blog:

Today we are delighted to announce a groundbreaking partnership with Microsoft to create the BlueVia SDK for .NET. We recognises the need to drive awareness and adoption of the BlueVia platform, and from today, this partnership with Microsoft puts BlueVia in front of Microsoft’s 6 million developers.

The BlueVia SDK for .NET is a set of drag and drop controls and templates for Microsoft’s Visual Studio, making BlueVia powered app development super simple for any.NET developer who wants to build applications for Windows Phone 7, Windows, Internet Explorer or Xbox. The BlueVia SDK for .NET also enables real-time, programmable voice and data communications that can connect applications to social-networking capabilities. Core to this concept will be the creation of controls that tap into Windows Live Services for key functionality, including user identity, network presence and contacts.

As well as collaboration at a technical level to create the BlueVia SDK for .NET, the partnership will see joint developer outreach between Microsoft and BlueVia. One of these developers is Medianet, who were excited to announce integration of the BlueVia.NET APIs within their TAXISTOP application to ensure non-smart devices can take part in the TAXISTOP transport revolution: Gideon Clifton, CEO, Medianet said: “Developers have been waiting for an opportunity to integrate network operator services within our apps in a robust and seamless way for over a decade. Third party solutions have never delivered due to the historic lack of understanding by operators of the Developer opportunity. Telefonica and Microsoft have corrected this and we are excited to integrate their tools to deliver our TAXISTOP application to millions of feature phone passengers who would not have been able to access TAXISTOP had it not been for the BlueVia SDK for .NET.”

And for anyone hunting for the BlueVia .NET SDK? You can find that here.

Here’s BlueVia’s top man, Jose Valles, giving us the overview in a tightly packaged one minute, 22 seconds:

The chaps over at WPCentral picked up this video highlighting a new series of Windows Phone 7 video ads coming soon from Microsoft.

The ads are particularly smart. They highlight some of the smart features of the operating system that help you get stuff done quickly. Complete with on-screen stopwatch.

Believe it or not, WP7 is actually very nice. I’ve been living with it for a while now and some of the little features are particularly genius.

Microsoft, then, has decided to capitalise on them. For example, the share-to-Facebook feature. It’s super quick on WP7. Super quick. [Not as fast as a Nokia N86 running ShoZu, mind you, but ... let's move on.]

Have a look at this video courtesy of WinRumours and see what you think. I reckon the average normob (“normal mobile user”) is likely to be highly impressed by these ads.

This, by the way, is good news for Nokia. If Microsoft keep up this kind of smart work — and you combine that with Nokia’s talented marketing skills (and gorgeous device capabilities), it could be a very powerful combination.

Bring it on!

It ruffled a few feathers during the morning of the 1st of April. The story was slightly believable. You know, you could imagine Microsoft buying Nokia. But it’d have been a big gamble. And a huge, huge story. It was, fundamentally, unbelievable though. Even at $100 billion. Nokia was still flying back then. It still had momentum.

Fast forward just 10 months and it’s quite a different story. Both companies really need each other.

If time permits, have a read of the logic I used in the post. Here’s a quick flavour:

Analysts reckon that whilst Microsoft’s new Windows Phone has a pretty good chance of success in the North American markets, the reality is that India, China and the other major developing economies are completely cold to Microsoft. And guess who’s storming ahead in those sectors? Nokia. 1.2 million handsets a day fly out the Nokia factories, many of them low-end handsets aimed at the developing countries.

I’d love to say I predicted it all a year ago. But, no. Alas it was pure guess work at that point…

Vic published this tweet with the hash-tag #feb11:

So, Nokia’s definitely not doing business with Google Android in the short term then, eh?

Depending on the configuration of the strategic announcements coming on Friday, Google should be a little/reasonably/highly concerned.

Meanwhile Vic also reports that tickets for the upcoming Google I/O event sold out within 59 minutes.

I was absolutely delighted to hear from one hugely respected source that Nokia will announce Windows Phone 7 support on Friday. Yesteday, a whole load of other sources confirmed the same.

The precise nature of the Windows Phone 7 announcement is unclear at the moment. Are we going to see one throw-away Windows Phone 7 Nokia device rushed to market to satisfy the baying masses before the ‘Windows’ strategy is quietly dumped 6 months later?

Or are we going to see an entire division or segment of the company begin to deliver multiple devices at multiple price points with an on-going roadmap stretching out 3-4 years? Will we see a series of class-leading 20-megapixel Windows Phone 7 devices hit the market in the summer? I wonder.

What is clear is that something big has to happen. When even the credit rating agencies start sabre rattling, it’s time for a significant change in strategy.

As far as many are concerned, Nokia is well past the ‘written off’ stage and wading through the swamp of irrelevance as far as many are concerned. The N97 didn’t help. The N8 (despite selling pretty well) solidified the market’s perspective: Change, please.

The fact the company is still shipping hundreds of millions of devices means next to nothing in the eyes of the Western tech/media/marketplace. It would have been fine if Nokia announced it was only focusing on the developing markets by only producing feature phones. The market would have left Nokia alone.

Nokia’s inability to at least half-delight the tech media/market with smart, exciting and fun devices and services, especially in the high end, has made life very, very difficult for them.

So this week, I’m sure we will certainly see the beginnings of some kind of big theme. I worry that it will be watered down and not quite as bold the market needs it to be. Either way we’ll get a good demonstration of how much of a handle Stephen Elop has on the company.

It’s certainly sounding good. I’m particularly excited as the possibility of the establishment of a ‘virtual headquarters’ in Silicon Valley (If memory serves, I think this was muted by the Financial Times today). It really won’t take too much to get Nokia back dominating the market.

Bring on Friday. Bring on Mobile World Congress. Come on Nokia!

It’s good to see the company getting attention beyond the usual ‘Nokia is doomed’ line.

Indeed I’d go so far as to say that in recent weeks, Nokia has never had so much Western media attention that didn’t involve a serious amount of kicking.

There is quite a bit of excitement around the marketplace.

And you know what, it’s so refreshing.

It’s refreshing because we’re seeing traditionally iOS/Android dedicated publications like Forbes giving Nokia the time of day, recognising that should the company play ball as per expectations (Windows, Android, some sort of deal), then Nokia will become a very big fish indeed.

It’s already a big fish. Just, not in the way the media wants it to be.

Here’s what Forbes had to say:

Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) simply need to do a deal. The logic is obvious. Nokia has large but eroding handset market share, and increasingly dated software. Microsoft has spiffy new handset software, but hardware partners who seem smitten with Android. The companies need each other.

That, at least, is the way many on the Street see the situation.

via Dear Nokia And Microsoft: Please Do A Deal, Love, Investors – Eric Savitz – Tech Musings – Forbes.

Now.

The ultra negative bit here is that if Nokia does not impress next Friday at Capital Markets day. Or possibly through MWC, that’s it. It’s game-over. It’ll be time for the Western media to deploy words like ‘confused’, ‘beleaguered’, ‘struggling’ and so on.

Nokia’s status has already been set to ALSO-RAN/IRRELEVANT. The media is going to absolutely nuts if Nokia doesn’t ‘make good’ on some kind of additional platform announcement beyond MeeGo and Symbian shortly.

Bring on the fireworks.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s certainly winning legions of admirers. Wherever I took the Samsung Omnia 7 or HTC HD7, it drew many-a-glance. And when you look deeper, it does a super job of the main functions that your average consumer wants. There’s now a good amount of apps, there’s a healthy developer community (18,000 developers now) and even Apple users haven’t been forgotten with the release of the stunning Windows Phone Connector (beta)app that will sync all your iFavourites (iTunes/iPhoto and so on) beautifully with your Windows Phone.

Achim Berg, Corporate VP of the Mobiles Communications & Marketing Group at Microsoft is quoted on Microsoft’s News Center explaining:

We are pleased that phone manufacturers sold over 1.5 million phones in the first six weeks, which helps build customer momentum and retail presence.

Achim points out that Microsoft is working to a long view strategy:

We know we have tough competition, and this is a completely new product. We’re in the race – it’s not a sprint but we are certainly gaining momentum and we’re in it for the long run.

I’m pleased the company’s having success. The marketplace needs an aggressive and capable competitor in Microsoft to keep pushing the rest of the players.

The HTC HD7, by the way, is a very nice handset with a super screen. More on that soon!

The admiring crowds with the super MSFT Sketch projection in the background

I’ve just arrived back from the swish Microsoft Windows Phone party held tonight in London. Goodness me there’s a buzz about the company. The excitement was demonstrable and the beautiful people were out in force for the event.

“Are there a lot of famous people here, then?” I asked, scanning the crowd and recognising nobody. I was talking to Casey from Crown, the logistics team behind the event.

“Oh yes,” nodded Casey who then began to ream off the great and the good. I should point out that I recognised next to nobody because I spend most of my time with my head buried in mobile phones. Pop culture is most definitely not my thing. I am only cool when I step outside without a jacket.

I spent a good 30 minutes playing with one of the HTC Windows Phones as the beautiful people looked on. Indeed, I reckon I was the only person in the room who tried putting his own sim card into the HTC phone to activate an internet connection on the device to have a look around (there was a slight issue with the WiFi).

“What do you think of this?” I asked, thrusting the HTC in the face of what could well have been a famous actress. (The paparazzi were out in force, by the way — and they don’t bother unless it’s someone worth the effort). My wife would probably have recognised her instantly.

“Oh I think it’s lovely,” said the girl, her friends nodding vigorously.

“What phone do you use now?” I queried.

I understand, you see, that there’s meant to be some kind of ‘my gosh, are you so-and-so off-off TV‘ etiquette but I wasn’t bothering.

The girl didn’t appear too worried about my total lack of recognition and brought out her iPhone 3GS.

“I do love my iPhone,” she explained — before I could prompt her, she added, “But I think I would buy one of these… it’s just so nicely organised.”

Her colleagues all nodded away in agreement.

And you know what? I believed her.

Of course one expects a certain element of built-in positivity when you’re talking to someone who’s been invited to the launch event.

One person I did recognise was Eliza Dolittle, the ‘pack up yer troubles’ girl who’s doing very well this year in the charts. She popped on stage and did a very well received set. She also thanked Microsoft profusely for giving her a handset.

And guess what… I think she might even use it.

You know, I’ve been to many a launch event where the devices have just been dire. They’ve been shit before the company even launched them. It’s such a disappointing experience having to participate in going-through-the-motions when even the CEO tries and fails to demonstrate the device(s) nicely.

With Windows Phone, Microsoft are on to a winner. It does actually work. It is rather elegant. It’s nice and simple. Sharing media is effortless. The app experience looks good. You don’t have to force the touchscreen to work. You don’t have to wait patiently while the phone does the human equivalent of staring-at-the-wall for five minutes before doing what you’ve asked. It’s such a breath of fresh air.

I think Microsoft know they’ve got something good on their hands. The European team are excited. There’s a lot of energy flowing through them and their partners. Finally, their mobile products do not suck. So all the usual capability and super marketing agility that you associate with a company such as Microsoft can actually be of value.

I asked Oded Ran, Microsoft’s Windows Phone Consumer Marketing genius, if he had a message for you — the MIR reader.

“Most definitely,” he said, “Come down to the Orange Store on Oxford Street tomorrow [Thursday -- i.e. today] at 7am and get your phone.”

I was half tempted. Oded has a point. This is an operating system you should not and cannot ignore. Whatever your immediate loyalty, whatever your built-in perspective, if you work in or around the mobile industry (and you’ve got the budget available) you should definitely get yourself a Windows Phone tomorrow or sometime soon. You just should. It’s Microsoft, they’re serious, they’ve done a *good* job with this version and I recommend carefully monitoring their performance. But most of all, you should experience it directly and physically. Watching Balmer lay out his stall online doesn’t count. Neither does browsing the Orange online shop or reading a review. Get one and see what you think.

My issue tomorrow is a logistical one. Logistical because, as nice as Orange are (and, they’re very nice people), I don’t think they’ll let me add another contract handset to my already burgeoning account. However I am due an upgrade on one of my Three handsets.

What of developers? Facebook’s live tomorrow, I hear. Touchnote is looking phenomenal (I was delighted to see it in Oded’s list of applications). The marketplace is looking full. There is confidence and excitement amongst the ranks of Windows Phone developers I’ve spoken to. 600,000 of them have downloaded the SDK so far. There’s a good few thousand on the store for tomorrow morning — so I don’t think the first lot of consumers will be disappointed.

I bumped into my colleague Belinda from LadyGeek (standby, our all new series of The App Show is coming soon) who was chatting away with Rikke Rasmussen (Developer & Business Marketing, Windows Phone, Microsoft). Rikke was going nuts with her HTC WP7 device, snapping photo after photo of the band and zipping them up to Facebook in short order. I have to say, it did look fun. I can see a lot of consumers enjoying the WP7 experience.

I asked Rikke if she had a message for you, too. She nodded, “Being a woman, loving gadgets is so much cooler now Windows Phone 7 is in the market.”

Again, I do agree. I am very excited to see how the market reacts. 

And what about your favourite app, Rikke?

“Right now, it’s got to be MSN Celebrities.”

I’ll need to look that one up.

Almost everyone with a phone was taking a snap of Eliza

Here's Eliza on stage

One of the HTC WP7 devices

More of the crowds

What is up with Microsoft at the moment?

Recently a good colleague of mine — who used to work there — pointed out that Microsoft will simply drop a billion each time to try and get their mobile strategy correct.

If initial reports of the Windows Phone 7 system are to be believed, it looks like Microsoft will be down another billion by the end of the year.

Charles Arthur at the Guardian picked up InfoWorld’s Galen Gruman’s report about an in-depth demonstration of Microsoft’s new mobile phone operating system.

All I’ve seen of the Windows Phone 7 system is a few screenshots and some fairly promising animations at Mobile World Congress.

I have made no mistake of my absolute abhorrence of everything Windows Mobile 6+ (with 6.5 being slightly easier to live with than 6). Indeed I’ve made it a bit of a mission to ensure the companies I consult with don’t go near it. And I do a brilliant party trick destroying the lives of any Windows Mobile user, by simply asking them to run IM, check their email, load a web page and then calling them (and watching their hunk of joy barf under the load).

But I was hoping for a lot better from Windows Phone 7. I have been rather excited. I’ve even been telling the legions of developers I speak to that they should — tentatively — take a look at the platform.

I have had to use the word ‘tentatively’ and the phrase ‘take a look’ because I haven’t seen it in-depth and because I — like a lot of people — was concerned that Microsoft would arrive to market with a dud.

I’d put it down to a slight possibility.

But after Galen’s drubbing, I really do wonder. I hope he was just having a bad day. It really didn’t sound like it though.

We shall see…

Claims that Microsoft may have sold just 500 Kin phones before the end may have been accurate. A tip from a “well-placed little birdie” to historically reliable John Gruber said Wednesday that Microsoft only sold 503 of the phones in the six weeks before the phase-out began. Previous talk had claimed it was higher, but still under 10,000.

Have a read of this post for more (inc follow-on links).

(If you’re looking for more on the Kin, check out Noah’s unboxing overview video at PhoneDog)

What will Ballmer be evangelizing about during Apple’s big iPhone 4 reveal? Err, Visual Studio 2010, according to Chowdhry, which lets developers create iPhone, iPad and OS X apps on Windows. Apparently seven minutes have been “blocked off” for Ballmer, presumably with time being given to developers, gaming publishers and the like.

I wonder.

You never know!

Steve Ballmer of Microsoft got up on stage at 7am this morning in London to announce that they intend acquiring Nokia for $100 billion in a mixture of cash and equity — a substantial premium over the company’s $58.2 billion market cap. The markets are going nuts, as one might expect, with Nokia shares topping $20 each, sending their current valuation to well over $74 billion already. Ballmer and the team at Microsoft presumably expected this rally based on their tabled offer. Of course, it’s important to point out that this is just the opening gambit and that although Ballmer claimed that institutional investors (who account for a large portion of Nokia stock) are in favour of the deal, there is no guarantee that they’ll be able to reach agreement for the whole company.

But there’s a sweetener: Microsoft is offering Nokia shareholders 2 shares for every Nokia share — a smart move seeing as Microsoft’s market capitalization closed yesterday well north of $250 billion.

Now then. What does this impending transaction mean for the marketplace?

Shocking. Absolutely shocking. Whilst there’s long been rumours that someone might snap up Palm, the fact that Microsoft has made a bid for Nokia changes things dramatically. There’s been no secret that Microsoft — once dominant — has really screwed up their mobile division time and time again. But they’ve got the cash pile, the patience and the market clout to keep at it.

Analysts reckon that whilst Microsoft’s new Windows Phone has a pretty good chance of success in the North American markets, the reality is that India, China and the other major developing economies are completely cold to Microsoft. And guess who’s storming ahead in those sectors? Nokia. 1.2 million handsets a day fly out the Nokia factories, many of them low-end handsets aimed at the developing countries.

Why would Microsoft want in there? Let’s put this in perspective. In December 2009, India added 19.2 million NEW mobile customers. That’s like adding the equivalent of o2 UK every month. Just in India! Every single one of those customers needs a handset (not necessarily a new one, by the way) and every single one of them is going to want to start using basic mobile services — something Nokia has been investing in heavily with it’s Ovi Suite. Did you know, for example, that Nokia Messaging is now in use across 70 countries? So if I buy a new reasonably priced Nokia handset, guess what, I get email, instant messaging, Maps, sharing, the whole shebang, all included. Microsoft wants in there.

And goodness me they’ve got the cash to make it work.

There’ll be a bit of a culture shock though. Ballmer explained that he reckons that if the acquisition was to go ahead, they’d run Nokia as a separate unit for at least 2 years whilst the work out how precisely to integrate the companies.

A sensible move.

Anyway, let’s see how things go.

An exciting morning!

Speculation that Palm will be scooped up by a well-capitalized tech company has intensified since the well-received release of the Palm Pre and the company’s new operating system, webOS. While most of the commentary has centered around Dell possibly acquiring Palm, recent speculation pegs Microsoft as a potential suitor.

via Rumor Mill: Should Microsoft buy Palm? – FierceWireless & @mobilegd

What d’ya reckon?

It’d be an interesting shot-in-the-arm for Palm, that’s for sure.