Why the Windows Phone browser has no tabs. Should it?

Microsoft’s newest Windows Phone browser (coming soon via the Mango software update) shows improvements, but tabs aren’t part of the redesign. According to the official Windows Phone blog, by way of Gotta Be Mobile, Microsoft’s research shows that an overwhelming number of smartphone users type out web URLs in the address bar, and that tabs and favorites are barely used at all. Both are still available through the browser’s menus in Mango, however.

With a relatively small screen to work with, I can understand the design trade-off to some degree, but it still feels like an omission to me. Perhaps I’m outside the normal user base of mobile devices, but my go-to browser on Android devices, Dolphin HD, does support traditional tabbed browsing, just like a desktop browser. I use the tabs feature extensively — as well as the favorites – even on the small screen of a smartphone. It’s support for tabs that first drew me to this third-party browser, although there are a number of other reasons I think every Android owner should try it.

While the IE9 browser in the newest version of Windows Phone has impressed me, it’s a little disappointing that Microsoft didn’t go further with the redesign. There’s a number of design options that would have allowed for tabs, favorites or other features in way that doesn’t require a menu button. We’ve seen this with Firefox Mobile, for example; swiping the screen left or right shows open tabs, favorites and settings through the clever use of virtual screen space, similar to Dolphin HD. Even a user-configurable option for tabs would be nice. Instead, IE9 in Mango replicates much of Safari’s look and feel on Apple’s iOS platform.

Again, maybe I’m in the minority. Perhaps most mobile users prefer to type their website addresses in or would rather have the small screen of a smartphone focus mainly on web content as opposed to tabs or on-screen menu options.

It likely depends on the display size on a device: A larger or higher-resolution screen — which new handsets are generally trending toward — may provide enough “room” for tabs and such. What’s your take? Do you want tabs in your mobile browser, or are you happy with tapping a menu option to switch between open sites?

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Mango for WP7 ready to roll within 2 weeks

After months of demonstrations and testing, Microsoft’s next major software update is nearly ready for Windows Phone 7 (WP 7) handsets. In a blog post today, the company said that existing smartphone owners can expect the software, known as Mango or WP 7.5, “in the next week or two.” The upgrade availability will vary based on carrier and smartphone model as it will also include hardware-specific updates from the original handset makers.

When it launched last year, my first impressions of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 showed a solid start but had plenty of room for improvement. The new Metro interface, application tiles and hubs showed me a fresh take on old touch interfaces while performance was reasonably good for a first iteration on hardware that was cutting-edge nearly a year prior. But unlike rivals such as Google Android and Apple iOS, Windows Phone 7 lacked multitasking, copy and paste functionality and a unified Inbox, to name a few. I also wasn’t sold on the home screen tiles, finding them to take took long to show useful information.

Then I tried the final developer version of Mango in early August. What a world of difference.

My tests were run on the same hardware I initially used last November and yet it felt like I had a brand new phone. It was as if someone replaced the processor on my HTC HD7 with a peppy dual-core unit while boosting the available program memory at the same time. Apps open faster and the entire interface moves along quicker. A nifty way to multitask was added — just hold the Windows button to see or switch between running apps — although developers will need to update their software to enable support.

Voice recognition, by way of Microsoft’s purchase of TellMe in 2007, is stellar; perhaps even better than it is on Google Android devices. A unified Inbox is now available and the mail client supports threaded conversations. Xbox Live integration is improved and the IE9 browser supports HTML5. And all the while that Microsoft has been working on Mango, it has been attracting developers and third-party applications; the platform now boasts more than 31,000 apps.

It’s certainly true that sales of Windows Phone 7 smartphones have underwhelmed and there are several reasons why. Few handset models are actually available and all use the same basic hardware. The application market, while steadily growing, pales in comparison to rival ecosystems. And the first software release lacked key features as I noted.

But now, nearly a year after first launching, I think Microsoft Windows Phone is set to gain momentum due to the improvements in the Mango software. Improved marketing may help and so too will new hardware from partners such as HTC and Nokia.

As Microsoft gains momentum, Research In Motion is losing it, Symbian didn’t have it, and HP’s webOS has completely lost it. That leaves Microsoft in a good spot in the race for the No. 3 mobile platform, just in time for the Mango software update.

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Forrester: More than half of enterprises support consumer phones

Enterprises that never expected to support personal consumer devices are slowly changing their minds, with 59 percent now supporting employee-owned smartphones in various ways; something unheard of when I worked in I.T. just a handful of years ago. The growing number, based on data in a Forrester research report published today, is likely to continue rising as the mobile lines between home and work keep blurring. That means more opportunity for device makers and mobile app developers to create solutions that effectively cater to both.

While Apple’s iOS has been making strong headway in enterprises, Forrester’s data shows that Google still has a strong play in the workplace even as companies are wary of both. “[I]n the next 12 months, 83% of firms expect to support iOS and 77% expect to support Android, despite underlying security concerns for these platforms,” the report says. Given how the iPad is still outselling Google Android Honeycomb tablets by many factors, it sounds like businesses are supporting more Android smartphones as opposed to tablets, while iPads and iPhones are both making their way into the workplace.

But one can’t talk about enterprises without mentioning Windows, and in this case, it comes in two flavors: Windows on the desktop and Windows Phone on handsets. Although Forrester doesn’t come out and say it specifically in its report, the possibility of supporting Windows Phone in the workplace is certainly suggested. And that makes sense because there’s definitely room for a third major mobile platform and ecosystem.

After using the new Mango software update on a Windows Phone — and because competitors such as webOS and BlackBerry aren’t showing as much forward momentum — I think Windows Phone will be that third platform. Given the Microsoft Office, Sharepoint and Exchange hooks, it seems a natural fit for the enterprise.

In terms of Windows itself, there’s a mobile aspect worth considering which highlights a broader opportunity: mobile virtualization. As employees shift from desktops and laptops to smartphones and tablets for work, there’s still a need for desktop-grade software access. That can be handled on mobiles through remote desktop solutions such as LogMeIn Ignition or Citrix Receiver, allowing for secure desktop access from a tablet or smartphone, for example.

Remote desktop access is just one piece of the enterprise puzzle when it comes to consumer devices, however. Personal smartphones and tablets could be used to carry enterprise data, so secure methods are needed. And employees don’t want to see their work software in the way of games, social networking apps and other personal software. Virtualizing a work environment on the phone or tablet can keep the two worlds apart on the same device.

The MyModes software I used on a T-Mobile smartphone attempts to do this at the user interface level with different themes for work and play on the same smartphone, for example, but a truly virtual work environment on consumer devices brings needed security. A solution like the one from VMWare that I pointed out in December could temporarily turn an employee owned phone into an enterprise tool as needed with little to no risk of compromised data.

Regardless of the platform, device or mobile apps involved, it’s clear that enterprises can either embrace consumer devices or suffer unhappy employees that are forced to carry multiple mobiles for both work and personal use.

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As bad as it seems now, Nokia’s future looks worse

After revising its earnings estimates downward in May, on Thursday Nokia shared abysmal results for the second quarter. The onetime clear leader of the first smartphone era has tumbled down to what looks like the third spot for smartphone sales, definitely behind Apple and likely behind Samsung as well. With a new CEO in Stephen Elop, Nokia is surely in a transition, but a transition to what?

My first reaction to today’s results was twofold: one of sympathy and one of optimism. I thought to myself that one of Elop’s major actions so far, choosing Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform for the future, was akin to quickly yanking a Band-Aid from a wound: Sometimes it’s best to just get the pain over with. But after digesting the news a little more and thinking about the path Nokia traveled to get to its current low point, I don’t see how the bleeding is going to stop this year, now that the Band-Aid is off. Here are five reasons why.

Feature phones can’t save the day. Each time I’ve pointed out Nokia’s challenges, the company’s faithful have railed at me and rallied on the general platform of “. . . but Nokia sells more feature phones than most others combined!” While that’s always been a valid point, it’s less relevant as the world transitions to smartphones. Nokia’s own sales numbers reflect this point: Total mobile-phone-handset sales revenue declined 20 percent from the year-ago period and 25 percent from the prior quarter. Combine the sales drop with a 3 percent decline in the ASP of Nokia’s mobile phones, now 36 euros ($51.20), and you can see that Nokia’s bread and butter contributed to its $692 million quarterly loss.
Existing smartphones aren’t helping. So as feature-phone sales are in decline, one would hope that high-profit-margin smartphones can help make up the difference. That’s not happening, given that the company didn’t capitalize on the smartphone market like Apple and Samsung, for example. Apple just reported 20.34 million iPhone sales for the quarter, a 142 percent boost from a year ago, while Samsung is estimated to have sold around 20 million smartphones in the same time period. This happened while Nokia’s smartphone sales declined 34 percent from a year ago, with 16.7 million smartphones sold. The ASP did rise 2 percent, but that’s not enough to offset the sales dropoff.
A smartphone answer doesn’t exist yet. Nokia is still at least one, if not two, quarters away from even beginning a sales transition to Microsoft Windows Phone 7 devices. Elop today confirmed that Nokia would launch a Microsoft-powered device by the end of the year. That means sales and revenues in the high end are likely to continue declining throughout 2011. And there’s still uncertainty about the first WP7 handsets from Nokia: What will make them different from those offered by LG, Samsung and HTC, for example? Again, the Nokia faithful will chant that Nokia makes hardware second to none. I’d be the first to agree with that, but there are two problems with the mantra. Nokia always made good hardware, and yet that alone hasn’t saved the company. Second: Nokia may not be manufacturing its first Microsoft phones. Instead, it reportedly outsourced the production to Compal, in Taiwan. In other words: Nokia’s smartphone transition is still fraught with risks for many reasons, and it’s going to take time for Nokia to hone its skills on a new platform.
Android squeezes at the top and bottom. Clearly, Nokia isn’t competing well in smartphones, given the growth rates shown by devices running iOS and Android. It’s the latter of the two that may have hurt Nokia the most. Why? Google is activating 550,000 Android devices per day — both handsets and tablets, but the vast majority are phones — and that number is composed of devices at both the top and bottom. High-end smartphones are selling well in regions that can afford them. At the same time, cheap Android smartphones are popping up in areas where feature phones once reigned. Think of India and the next 500 million mobile users. Look to China, where Nokia moved 52 percent fewer phones this quarter as compared to the past one. In these areas, inexpensive, low- to mid-tier Android phones are arriving and offering much more functionality for just a little more money over feature phones. We’re even seeing these in the U.S.: This year offered $149 no-contract Androids with expectations of prices dipping below $100 by the end of the year.
How much destruction can one brand take? Among the many negative tangible results for Nokia today, there’s a massive intangible one as well: a tarnished brand. Tomi Ahonen illustrates the global branding Nokia has on his blog today, saying “[M]ore people use a Nokia phone than drink a Coca Cola, than wear Levis’s jeans, than tell time on a Timex watch, than wear Nike running shoes, than smoke Marlboro cigarettes, or write with a Bic pen.” As sales of Nokia devices continue to stumble, the brand itself loses value in terms of consumer and investor confidence. With smartphones, the brand is tied not just to hardware but also to software and services: Consumers are purchasing brand platforms and ecosystems when they buy a handset. Think of it this way: When consumers purchase an iPhone, they equate the full package with Apple, a company that arguably sets a high bar for the entire user experience. What will customers think of when they see a Nokia smartphone after the company’s fall from grace?

I still have the same sympathy for Nokia that I had over my first cup of morning java. It’s never good to see a global leader heading toward “has been” status, especially with all the innovation Nokia has brought to so many people around the globe. But the optimism I had dissolved faster than the sugar in my coffee, faster maybe than Nokia’s overall profits and sales.

Image courtesy of Flickr user ecastro

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