Microsoft has released a new HTML 5 website that allows iPhone users to get a feel of the Windows Phone 7 also known as Mango 7.5 operating system. You dont have to download anything to try this demo. You need to go to this web page http://aka.ms/wpdemo on your iPhone safari. 9to5Mac earlier shared this info:
While it doesn’t use any of the data on your phone like your contacts, the demo does give you a pretty comprehensive look at all of Windows Phone’s features. Microsoft uses a blue dot to guide you around the operating system, and obviously some features like voice recognition just don’t work in the browser. Drat, that’s something we really wanted to try.
Microsoft tested the next version of Windows Phone codenamed “Mango” at MIX 2011. Interesting observations were made which happened at the Microsoft’s popular annual conference for web and app developers. Joe Belfiore, Director of the Windows Phone program compared the performance of Internet Explorer 9 mobile with Mobile Safari on iPhone 4 and Android browser on Samsung’s Nexus S by running HTML5 speed reading demo. Internet Explorer 9 mobile with hardware acceleration support blows away Mobile Safari and Android browser. Lets have this tested again guys
Pingdom has shared this interesting graph that breaks down the mobile OS marketshare across the world.Nokia’s Symbian rules Africa, Asia and South America whereas the iPhone has taken over North America, Europe and Australia, and Apple’s iOS occupies the 2nd place.
Note, the iOS numbers in this article include the iPhone and iPod Touch, but NOT the iPad.
More from Pingdom on these breakup:
There are a couple of things to note here:
When looking at mobile web usage, the different parts of the world are led by either iOS or Symbian. Apple’s iOS leads mobile web usage in North America, Europe and Oceania, while Nokia’s Symbian leads in Africa, Asia and South America.
Worldwide, Symbian leads the pack. This is not surprising considering Nokia is the world’s largest maker of mobile phones. After Symbian comes iOS, Blackberry, Android, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, in that order.
Symbian’s weakest position by far is in North America.
Blackberry’s strongest region is North America, but it is still behind iOS there.
Android might be growing fast, but it’s still far from dominating any part of the world.
You may also wonder about Palm’s webOS (now owned by HP), but it hardly made a dent in the overall web usage so we didn’t include it. Perhaps the situation will change in the future, but for now it remains very much a niche mobile OS
Windows Phone 7 was lauched sometime back, but there seems no real buzz around it. Even Microsoft has now started downnplaying expectations for the success of this WP 7. Microsoft’s Director of Windows Phone Program Management Joe Belfiore said yesterday that it could be years before Windows Phone 7 catches up to the iPhone and Android. MobileCrunch covered this interview between Walt Mossberg and Joe Belfiore at Dive Into Mobile conference.
Belfiore started out by avoiding talking about actual numbers for Windows Phone 7 sales. When asked how many were sold, he answered “We’re not talking numbers.” When Mossberg pressed him, saying that refusing to give out sales figures implies that sales are weak, he answered, “I don’t think that’s the case here. It’s too soon.”
Mossberg didn’t give up, though. Here’s his follow-up, and Belfiore’s admission that Microsoft doesn’t expect Windows Phone 7 to be a serious competitor to Android and the iPhone for perhaps several years:
“So…how long before you’re back into the market…back up to a good marketshare, up there with Android and Apple?”
“I don’t know.”
“Couple months?”
“Longer than that.”
“Couple years?”
“Maybe.”
There you are.Essentially a less abrupt way of saying “No Comment”, thats not something anyone wants to hear mid-Interview. So Walt comes out swinging, suggesting the same thing many in the room were thinking: by not talking about numbers, it implies that Windows Phone 7 isn’t doing too hot
Pointing at some vague date several years in the hazy future when Windows Phone 7 will beat the competition isn’t particularly convincing. Real numbers would be far more compelling — but for that, we’ll have to wait until market analysts weigh in, because Microsoft doesn’t seem to be talking.
