The Windows Mobile ecosystem doesn’t help consumers
Recounting the story of my brother’s bad experience with his Sprint Mogul upgrade, or lack of one, has me thinking and when that happens it’s bad for everyone. My brother is a non-techie who bought a phone from Sprint and then tried to get the Windows Mobile upgrade from them when it was released, only to be told he couldn’t have it. Savvy readers including Eric Lin of HTC chimed in that HTC provides said upgrade right on the HTC web site, which is a good thing for HTC owners. This is a good thing but it demonstrates why I think the Windows Mobile ecosystem does not work for consumers.
Windows Mobile is an operating system produced by Microsoft. It issold to OEMs like HTC in this case who put it onto their products thatthey sell to carriers in the US (Sprint in this case). That makesthree different entities with a vested interest in making sure WindowsMobile works well on my brother’s phone. Unfortunately as a "regular"consumer without both feet firmly planted in the online tech world mybrother is stymied when he needs something like the Mogul upgrade. Asfar as he’s concerned he bought a phone from Sprint, not Microsoft norHTC so that’s who he turns to for upgrades like this. When Sprinttells the regular customer that they don’t have an upgrade for them thelast thing that crosses their mind is to go search to see if HTC has anupgrade for their "Sprint" phone. And even if this occurs to him andhe goes to the HTC web site and downloads the Windows Mobile upgrade,what if there is a problem in upgrading the firmware of the phone?
Those of us who are true geeks who have upgraded many phones canattest to the possibility of a firmware upgrade gone bad, and we knowwhat we’re doing. If that happens to Joe Public he is left with abrick. A very expensive brick that Sprint, the only company in thiscommon scenario that he has a business relationship with, will tell himthat since he didn’t go through them he is liable for his own "error".No matter how you look at this from the customer’s perspective this isjust flat wrong, and why the Windows Mobile ecosystem is broken for thecustomer. He has a Sprint phone and should get updated by Sprint, notMicrosoft nor HTC. But if that’s the only way to get said update thenSprint should be contractually obligated to take care of any problemsthat arise through said "unauthorized" upgrading. This makes sense tome but it’s easy to see why my brother would be scared to go to the HTCweb site and get the Windows Mobile upgrade, authorized by HTC or not.OEMs like HTC cannot be happy with this whole situation either, atleast deep down.
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It’s an interesting argument. My experience of carriers is that it would be much better for consumers to have a relationship with the manufacturer. But that needs the carriers to loosen up a bit and cede more control – something that they won’t want, but Nokia and HTC etc. would love.
I just reviewed the Touch Diamond
http://www.last100.com/2008/08/04/review-htc-touch-diamond/
And it got me thinking about the merits of Apple’s all-in-one approach. After reading your post, I’m reminded of how revolutionary it was for at&t and the other iPhone carriers to give in to Apple’s demands to have a billing relationship with their customers.
My experience in updating my WM5 Smartphone was a long drawn out experience. Requires a lot of steps, and stress. Not to speak of replacing all the 3rd party programs when you are finished. then all the s/n of those programs. I wounder how smooth it is to update an Iphone with the 500 apps available for it. I assume they make it a lot easier. As for in store tech help. AT&T told me the people in the stores are for sales only. They used to be tech help to. But those days are gone.
This is not exclusive to Windows Mobile. Whenever your mobile phone company modifies the software on a phone you’re unlikely to get an upgrade. The same thing happens with Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones. Apple are in a better position to release software updates to the iPhone because they don’t let anyone customise the OS but I’m willing to bet you a hell of a lot of money that iPhone 1.0 owners will never see another full version upgrade like they did recently. It’s much more likely that the upgrade they received was just to make up for the fact that the first version was so lacking and they wanted to maintain some goodwill – sort of like the free update MS released for original Zune owners.
Microsoft are in the least enviable position as far as OS upgrades are concerned because they allow non-standard hardware and don’t write the drivers themselves. This may need to change but it hasn’t in the long history of Pocket PCs/Windows Mobile so I doubt it will change soon.
I had to void my warranty to update my N95 to the latest firmware because I got the phone on contract. The only way to avoid this sort of thing is to buy direct from the manufacturer and avoid contract phones. If your brother had done that, for instance, he would know to get his ROM upgrade from HTC.
This is not exclusive to Windows Mobile. Whenever your mobile phone company modifies the software on a phone you’re unlikely to get an upgrade. The same thing happens with Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones. Apple are in a better position to release software updates to the iPhone because they don’t let anyone customise the OS but I’m willing to bet you a hell of a lot of money that iPhone 1.0 owners will never see another full version upgrade like they did recently. It’s much more likely that the upgrade they received was just to make up for the fact that the first version was so lacking and they wanted to maintain some goodwill – sort of like the free update MS released for original Zune owners.
Microsoft are in the least enviable position as far as OS upgrades are concerned because they allow non-standard hardware and don’t write the drivers themselves. This may need to change but it hasn’t in the long history of Pocket PCs/Windows Mobile so I doubt it will change soon.
I had to void my warranty to update my N95 to the latest firmware because I got the phone on contract. The only way to avoid this sort of thing is to buy direct from the manufacturer and avoid contract phones. If your brother had done that, for instance, he would know to get his ROM upgrade from HTC.
Whoops, sorry about the double post. Silly Typepad :)
I really think this is more of a problem with carriers than Windows Mobile. I would like to see companies like AT&T get away from rebranding HTC phones as the “AT&T Tilt” because at that point, they are taking ownership saying that they will support the phone. I am getting fed up with waiting for the official WinMo 6.1 update from AT&T, but it has been out in the communities for months. If it were up to HTC, they would have released the Tilt update a while back. Again…this is not a Windows Mobile issue. This is an AT&T issue. They feel the need to muck up the ROM created by HTC to the point that it takes them months, if ever, to get the updated ROM to the general public.
Now the good thing about the Windows Mobile ecosystem, especially with a HTC phone, is the solid community. Go to any number of Windows Mobile sites that have forums or blogs and you can ask your questions there. Go to places like Howard Forums, xda-devs, or MoDaCo and you have some very solid forums and can generally find an answer (with minimal l2search comments). I believe the Windows Mobile community is ready to accept new members and give them the tools to be successful if the carriers would just get out of the way.
Woah, wait a second. Let’s make sure we have the right facts and perspective here…
This came about as a fault of Sprint, not Microsoft and not HTC. A Sprint rep told your brother no such update existed for consumers. This could have been absolutely any phone on any carrier. AT&T doesn’t provide iPhone updates either, you have to go through iTunes from Apple. Same with a Samsung device, you have to go to Samsung’s website.
If there’s any fault of Microsoft / Windows Mobile, it’s that Microsoft isn’t the host of the updates and doesn’t link to the updates.
On the contrary, though, I think the Windows Mobile ecosystem helps consumers a lot more than the iPhone or any other company. The customization options on Windows Mobile allows sites like PPCGeeks and XDA Developers to exist.
Now, I do think that a Microsoft branded “Zune Phone” could be a huge competitor to the iPhone, but I think it will be a vendor like HTC that will partner to develop the hardware with Microsoft branding. Personally, I’d love to see a tight bond with HTC and Microsoft to bring the Touch Pro with the first Windows Mobile 7 update and a genuinely innovative interface.
I very carefully called it a problem with the WM ecosystem and not any one part of that system. The system is broken though because there are too many parties involved. Casting blame on one or the other does no good and not what I did but it doesn’t change the fact that the system doesn’t work. Too many people having too many problems getting support they need. We cannot expect consumers to be tech gurus and determine where they need to go for support. And we certainly don’t need cogs in the system pointing fingers at other cogs saying that support is their responsibility. The customer is always right and they always win in the end by voting with their wallets.
I want to share a personal experience. I downloaded HTC’s last Mogul ROM upgrade and applied it to my phone. It failed halfway through and ‘bricked’ my Mogul. Sprint replaced the phone at no charge. The next day, after a new download of the upgrade turned the replacement Mogul into a brick Sprint not only replaced it, but performed the ROM upgrade for me first. While I have some issues with Sprint, their customer support and their support of HTC upgrades aren’t included.
I know that when I worked for Verizon Online, one of the complaints our customers some times had is that Tech Spt reps would say the issue is with the modem. (Dial-Up days.) And then they would go to the modem vendor and be told it’s the OS, or it was us.
As James says, the customer is always right. It doesn’t (and didn’t) matter if the issue really was the modem (WinModems, the ones that had no chips on board and used system RAM were really bad ideas, but they were cheaper than the others, and some people voted with their wallets), what mattered is they were unhappy with their service.
If the Mogul gets updated by James’ brother, and Sprint detects it, will they continue to support the phone on future tech calls? If HTC assists him in upgrading, do they then own any associated issues that arise?
The answer is that it depends on the nature of the contract between the two. And that means no matter what, James’ brother probably loses in the end. HTC can say it’s Sprint’s issue, and Sprint can say they didn’t support or authorize the upgrade.
If we could pull a module out of the phone and insert a new one in which would be the upgrade, that would make it all the better. But that isn’t how it works, unfortunately.
So it is up to us to manage our own expectations. Ask before you buy and commit to the 2-year contract if the mobile service provider will be providing updates to the firmware. If not, then you go into it knowing that if they provide one, it wasn’t promised.
Tech changes a lot in the course of a year. The hardware used when you bought the phone may not support the next version the maker puts out. But then, they rarely reuse the design from one model to the next any way.
It would be a lot easier if the carriers got out of the mindset that they need to control the device in any way or its UI. They don’t do it well, and only ever for their own purposes. Sell me the voice plan. Sell me the data. And let the device maker build in the hardware and radios (voice, data, wireless, BT, etc.) and the UI. Everyone will be better off in the long run.
Woadan