The smartphone 
world is buzzing about Mango, the next major release of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. Mango promises 500 new features to make new smartphones more interactive when they debut this fall.
"Much is heard about what Microsoft is not doing right or how far behind it is in mobile ," said Al Hilwa, a program director at IDC. "Behind in the market it is for sure, but what we have seen and are seeing from the Windows Phone team is the kind of stuff needed to win in the big ecosystem battle."
As Hilwa sees it, the smartphone market is moving fast and it appears there is no time to catch up. But, he noted, the industry is entering a decade-long transition in devices that will turn software models around like tumbleweed -- and that makes it important for the players to take their time and think through their strategies.
"Microsoft's biggest weakness appears to be the lack of tablets, but in reality even the fast market responses to tablets from the Android world have so far let the iPad continue to walk unchallenged," Hilwa said. "Microsoft appears to be making its bets in the tablet space with its big guns, namely the full Windows ecosystem. Windows 8 is the opening salvo, which we are likely to hear about in the fall."
Smartphone Ecosystems
Hilwa has been watching smartphones aggressively evolve into a strong ecosystem plan. Take the Microsoft-Nokia deal, for example. Hilwa called it a game changer that puts Windows Phone 7 on the map. With Mango, he said, Microsoft is releasing features that finally begin to pull ahead of the competition.
"Mango doubles down on the signature user-experience differentiation of Windows Phone 7, taking the hub metaphor to a new level. I like the integration of developer apps into many aspects of the phone, such as Hubs and Bing Search in the browser," Hilwa said.
He also likes how Mango brings social networking and e-mail features to new levels. He pointed to new e-mail features like thread grouping, pinnable folders, and server searching. Then there's the multitasking model. Hilwa said it's one of the best thought-through models on a smartphone today, with scenarios like background downloads and powered application modes showing some real differentiation.
Attracting Developers
"We have seen Windows Phone pull ahead of competitors in developer appeal, helped by the Nokia deal and its strategic implications for Symbian and MeeGo," Hilwa said. "The intermixing of XENA and Silverlight is novel and allows highly animated parts of apps to be intermingled with the business parts. I think this will raise the bar for ordinary apps."
In all, Hilwa said Windows Phone 7 offers strong developer tooling, released months ahead of time, which is a key enabler for developers to begin to develop and test apps. Perhaps most impressively, he said, the growth of the app store is a sign of one of the healthiest developer ecosystems.
"Doing some back-of-the-envelop calculations on app-store growth rates, it looks like Windows Phone reached 15,000 apps in six months, roughly on par with the iPhone and faster than any other platform," Hilwa said. "What all this says to me is that while Microsoft may be late to modern smartphones, it is definitely too early to count them out."
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