AT&T is counting on Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 devices

AT&T is scrambling to find a new partner since its exclusivity contract with Apple for iphone is set to expire this coming January. What better place to look than a rival?

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system will not use the standard user interface of icons that launch applications, this OS will use dynamic tiles which they hope will be intuitive and easy to use. There will be several functionalities that we are used to: a social networking hub and a camera and some that are more advanced than the usual games on the pc like solitaire. This phone has more advanced gaming options, allowing XBox Live owners to access their accounts as an example.

It will also be more integrated with Office but will oddly not have the copy/ paste function.

Although MS is continually trying to update and improve their phone OS, it is unlikely that they will capture the hearts of iphone or blackberry users, especially with the launch of Android phones.

As an owner of a windows phone, I'm delighted that they are scrapping the old OS, because let me tell you, it has left me disappointed.

Facebook Phone, Platform and Social Layer

Here's a recent interview with Mark Zuckerberg that is interesting and relevant for our discussions.   Please review the full interview as it may give insights into what 'social' may mean for your sector.

Some of the highlights from the interview....

Our strategy is very horizontal. We’re trying to build a social layer for everything. Basically we’re trying to make it so that every app everywhere can be social whether it’s on the web, or mobile, or other devices. So inherently our whole approach has to be a breadth-first approach rather than a depth-first one. And we work on all of these different things at the same time, so I’m sure whatever leak you got was probably accurate for whatever the person said. But it was probably just one part of what we are doing. Anyhow. I just wanted to give that context.

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For example, take Instant Personalization. Our goal is to make it so there’s as little friction as possible to having a social experience. So you go to some apps, take Rotten Tomatoes, which we just launched last week. If people had to click this blue button to Connect, then some percent of them would, but it would be the minority because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get before you click it.If you had to put up some modal dialog then that would be crazy from a UX perspective. But the fact that they can do that instant integration for the users that want it means that everyone has a good experience as soon as they get there.

On phones we can actually do something better. We can do a single sign-on if we do a good integration with a phone, rather than just doing something where you go to an app and it’s automatically social or having to sign into each app individually. Those are the two options on the web. Why not for mobile? Just make it so that you log into your phone once, and then everything that you do on your phone is social.

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It also highlights the complex ways in which Facebook competes and connects to Apple, Microsoft and Google.