Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Zune + Windows Mobile = Better Together?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 01:45 PM
"What are some ways the Zune player and a Windows Mobile device can work better together? I'm not referring to an imaginary "Zune phone", and I'm certainly not hinting or speculating about a converged device. Instead, I'm wondering if there are any opportunities for us to improve the experience for people who use both devices (a Zune and a Windows Mobile phone). For example, viewing your Zune Social network in IEMobile, converting a Zune playlist into .WMA ringtones, converting Zune's artwork to Windows Mobile themes, showing your Windows Mobile contacts as pictures in Zune etc. If you can think of similar interesting or compelling scenarios, we'd love to hear them."
I know Mel, and I know he's completely sincere about his request for input, but I can't help but be a little bitter in seeing this request. Why? Going back a few years, likely 2004, I was in a conference room with some Microsoft people who had worked on the now-defunct Portable Media Center devices. The UI was one of the strongest aspects of that product, and a certain product manager asked me if I thought they should port that UI to Windows Mobile. There was no hesitation as I immediately replied "Yes". Windows Media Player Mobile was largely abandoned at that point (it still is as far as I'm concerned), and the PMC user interface was designed for fast media access. It was a no brainer and absolutely needed to happen.
So what happened? Nothing. Windows Mobile never got a re-worked Windows Media Player based on the Portable Media Center UI. If it had happened, it would have been the best media UI on a mobile phone - keep in mind this is a couple of years before the iPhone. Now here we are in 2008, and Microsoft is still thinking about how to make the Zune (which is really an evolved PMC) work with Windows Mobile. There are lots of interesting synergies between the products, but there should really be a Zune-type user interface on Windows Mobile for media. Windows Media Player 10 Mobile needs to sleep with the fishes...
I know Mel, and I know he's completely sincere about his request for input, but I can't help but be a little bitter in seeing this request. Why? Going back a few years, likely 2004, I was in a conference room with some Microsoft people who had worked on the now-defunct Portable Media Center devices. The UI was one of the strongest aspects of that product, and a certain product manager asked me if I thought they should port that UI to Windows Mobile. There was no hesitation as I immediately replied "Yes". Windows Media Player Mobile was largely abandoned at that point (it still is as far as I'm concerned), and the PMC user interface was designed for fast media access. It was a no brainer and absolutely needed to happen.
So what happened? Nothing. Windows Mobile never got a re-worked Windows Media Player based on the Portable Media Center UI. If it had happened, it would have been the best media UI on a mobile phone - keep in mind this is a couple of years before the iPhone. Now here we are in 2008, and Microsoft is still thinking about how to make the Zune (which is really an evolved PMC) work with Windows Mobile. There are lots of interesting synergies between the products, but there should really be a Zune-type user interface on Windows Mobile for media. Windows Media Player 10 Mobile needs to sleep with the fishes...
