Win 7 phone ditches multitasking/memory cards

[GrahamB]

What idiots Apple were with iPhone App Store, no multitasking/memory cards. Win Phone 7 to the rescue!

http://is.gd/aJ4RI

No, wait!

Win Phone 7 Ditches Multitasking, Memory Cards
Microsoft goes for a much more controlled, consumer experience

LAS VEGAS – The new Windows Phone 7 platform will avoid multitasking third-party apps, nix support for user-replaceable memory cards, and demand that all apps be installed from Windows Phone Marketplace, a Microsoft executive said Monday.

Charlie Kindel, who is in charge of Microsoft's Windows Phone developer strategy, described a much more controlled, iPhone-like experience for formerly freewheeling Microsoft in an interview at the MIX10 conference here.

Microsoft needed to exercise some control to provide a great set of consumer experiences, Kindel said. And notice that word "consumer" – Microsoft isn't offering much to enterprise IT folks with this release of Windows Phone 7. This is a consumer device.

Like the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 won't support third-party apps being able to run in the background. But third parties will get access to a wider range of services than are available on the iPhone. For instance, Pandora could stream in the background using a special background-music service, Kindel said. But VoIP apps will be limited; there won't be a service to allow third-party apps to access telephony in the background.

Microsoft doesn't have anything against background processing – they just need to find a way to do it that doesn't kill responsiveness and battery life. They're still working on the issue, Kindel said.

"Apps that run arbitrarily in the background create an end user experience where battery life and responsiveness of the system becomes … inconsistent," Kindel said. "We focused on getting a set of experiences right where we didn't have to support [multitasking,] but we will over time."

Those third-party apps will all have to be installed from Microsoft's own Marketplace, Kindel said. Initially, there won't even be a way for enterprise customers to deploy apps to their staffs, but Microsoft is working on one. Microsoft may sweeten the deal for developers with lower fees to submit apps to the Marketplace, but the details haven't been worked out.

"We are revamping a lot of the marketplace policies, [and] we have a real desire to make sure that for developers, getting started is cheap and easy," Kindel said.

Windows Phone 7s won't support user-replaceable memory cards, Kindel said. Microsoft will work with OEMs to make sure that phones have enough storage for media and 3D games, but there will be no MicroSD cards for your music. Some phones could have a MicroSD locked under the battery, but it won't be user-replaceable.

Kindel refused to confirm whether or not any future Windows Mobile 6.5 phones would be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7, saying Microsoft was focusing on the new platform, but he said that developers aren't crying over the transition. Rather, they're thrilled with the ease of use and power of the new Windows Phone 7 developer tools, he said.

"When I talk about the fact that we're breaking backwards compatibility, I get applause," he said.

The first Windows Phone 7 devices will come out during "the holidays" of 2010, Kindel confirmed.