I took a stroll by Nokia’s (NOK) booth at the Consumer Electronics Show, in the Las Vegas convention center, to check out the “Lumia 900” phone that was unveiled during Monday’s keynote presentation by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer.
The phone, running Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 operating system, is a larger version of the same basic industrial design as the Lumia 710 and 800 models introduced last year, with a 4.3-inch display. While the Lumia 710 went on sale today at T-Mobile USA, the 900, which will be available on AT&T (T) “in coming months,” is the first Nokia/Windows phone designed with North America in mind, said Elop. Pricing has not yet been announced.
It’s a handsome phone, with curved edges, and actually thinner than the other two models despite being wider and longer. The cyan-colored polycarbonite finish is elegant. The display is brilliant, featuring very deep blacks, as Microsoft has claimed.
What will prompt people to give Windows Phone, and Nokia, a second look?
Well, here’s what drives me crazy about Microsoft. The company completed its $8.6 billion acquisition of Skype in the fiscal first quarter that ended in September. Now, if I were making a Windows phone that had some nice aspects to it that others don’t have, I would think installing Skype on the thing, for video conferencing, would be high up on the list. A well-known brand, a collection of hundreds of millions of users, etc.
In fact, Microsoft is installing a third-party application for video conferencing, called Tango, which is available on other devices as well. No offense to Tango, but why Microsoft and Nokia didn’t make sure to make a big push with Skype is beyond me. (Yes, closing the deal in September didn’t leave them much time, which is an example of why Microsoft has found CES increasingly inconvenient. But I still think a statement of intent, at least, could have been coordinated for this week.)
Even better would have been if Microsoft had gotten AT&T to agree to Skype video conferencing over cellular connections. I imagine that would be a thorny discussion, but Microsoft’s a big company, they can handle it. Hopefully, Microsoft will get there in time. There are other things about Windows Phone that may appeal to many users. Such as the ability to tap on an agenda item and have a server call your phone to conference you into a meeting. That eliminates the need to type in a passcode.
It’s these kinds of things where Microsoft can have an edge. I don’t know if it will make the difference in the company’s “War of Ecosystems” with Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG). But it’s one of the big cards Microsoft has to play against both of those companies by dint of its long history of owning enterprise infrastructure. Microsoft needs to get its ducks in a row. Lumia 900 is a pretty phone, and there are good things about it. But some of the winning aspects, such as Skype integration, are just not there, and that’s a shame.
A larger question is whether many users will cotton to the “Metro” user interface that is the soul of Windows Phone. The motifs of Metro are not a bad idea. They provide “actionable” information, as they say. But I suspect this is not the final form the design will take. There’s still some refinement to be achieved.