It is not every day you get a company leader take to the support forums and answer complaints, but this is what happened today, as the head of the Windows Phone team at Microsoft, Joe Belfiore made a rare appearance to post his thoughts on an important issue.
The important issue, in this case, was the lack of new OS features for Windows Phone 8.
Fans of Microsoft’s mobile platform have been rather divided on how things are progressing as far as development is concerned. Few would deny that Microsoft is going at a slow pace when it comes to adding new features to its mobile platform — with quality assurance being a major factor.
If things had gone according to plan, we probably would be talking about the Windows Phone Blue (or more specifically, Windows Phone 8.1) update this November.
All said and done, some people have taken to online forums to complain. One thread in particular generated a lot of votes and comments. And this was, apparently, more than enough to get the senior executive in on the action.
Joe Belfiore assured the people on the forum that Microsoft was indeed listening to their comments. However, he noted that simply adding new features to Windows Phone 8 is not all that simple:
“Keep in mind the trick for us is balancing things that make EXISTING devices better for you, our enthusiast users, versus things that create new devices to sell to a broader audience.
A lot of the work in GDR2 was around enabling new devices– like the Lumia 1020, devices on Sprint, etc. so that we could keep growing the size of the WP ecosystem. We need to grow the number of people using WP so we get ISVs writing the apps, we get better/more accessories built, etc.”
So there, you have it straight from the source. Belfiore, however, concluded that many more new Windows Phone 8 features are planned for this year, even beyond the current GDR2 update.
Speaking of which, Redmond has just begun the process of updating smartphones with the GDR2 firmware, which brings a limited amount of new features like FM radio, for example. A GDR3 update is planned for the end of the year, pushing Windows Phone Blue to 2014.
All Comments
Is that a wig because his response is about as genuine as his hair looks. Considering Microsoft’s track record with initially innovative new hardware, I’d prefer to see some immediate results rather than promises of future amazingness. Foolishly I keep stepping forward with the big bucks (Zune 120, Windows Phone 7, Surface RT), and I’m presently not inclined to spend another dime until MS proves I’m not being abandoned again. You’re a big enough company MS with talent to spare. Sleepy time is over. It’ll be damned difficult to build a user base when the loyal userbase says not to buy.