Microsoft is advertising two new job openings that would be major recruitments for the Windows 10 Mobile Team. The company has posted Senior Program Manager and a Program Manager II positions on its Microsoft Careers page.
The Senior Program Manager will be tasked with helping to “drive the communication experiences to mobile devices, improve the user experience, meet enterprise and operator requirements,” and “work with partners across the company including the hardware team to define the strategy, define the deliver the communication experience.”
As for the Program Manager II position, Microsoft wants somebody to contribute “to a wide range of Mobile platform features, from device management, updatability, security features and drivers to managing quality flights and customer communication.”
I am reading a lot of reports that suggest these postings mean Microsoft is now ramping up towards making mobile hardware again. That is certainly an exciting possibility, and there are plenty of other things that suggest a new Windows phone will launch this year.
However, I am also reluctant to think two new positions (admittedly important ones) are a catalyst for a full return to making smartphones. Let’s not forget Microsoft laid off thousands of workers from its mobile division last year. While it is compelling and likely these positions have significance, the company could just be replacing two people who have left their jobs.
In that respect, it is a case of wait and see.
Since shuttering the Lumia brand last year, Microsoft has been quiet in terms of mobile. While the break from hardware has been disappointing, the company has continued to develop Windows 10 Mobile.
Through several Insider releases and the Anniversary Update, the platform is improving. That said, if a smartphone is in development, possibly the flagship Surface Phone, Microsoft has plenty of work left to do for mobile.
The Creators Update adds little to the Windows 10 Mobile experience above the Anniversary Update. It is a release mostly focused on Windows 10 PC. That means major changes to Windows Mobile may not come until later in the year and Redstone 3.
Windows 10 Mobile Development
While I like Windows 10 as a mobile OS, it is lagging behind in some areas. For example, it is not compatible with in-car systems, an area that is becoming increasingly important. It’s almost pointless getting excited about the game-changing Surface Phone until the platform is ready to deliver a game-changing experience.
Microsoft is clearly chasing enterprise users with software and hardware. A chief concern I have about this ambition is that the company is missing a market trend. Customers are not making movements from PCs to mobile anymore. The mass migration to mobile happened years ago. Instead, people are moving sideways from mobile to mobile, through incremental updates of both hardware and software.
Redmond wants to tap PC users in business and bring them to mobile. They are already there, and have not had a consistently good Windows experience on their devices. There is no sideways movement available from Windows 10 Mobile to a newer build. The market share is miniscule. Instead, Microsoft will need to convince users to jump from iOS or Android.
Microsoft has as much of a chance of bringing Windows Phone/Mobile back to relevance as whoever owns the Amiga tech these days has of making the Commodore Amiga a mainstream PC once more.
Not compatible with in-car systems? My #icon with the latest insider build works just fine in my Hyundai Tucson(voice control and all)
I’m a little confused on that one, too. I’ve had several WP devices over the years and they work fine in all my vehicles.
Hi guys. Thanks for the replies. As Robert suggested, I was
talking specifically about compatibility with Android and Apple systems. I
didn’t really want to expand on it too much in the article, because that was
not the focus. I should have been more clear.
I am sure it’s a concern for Microsoft that someone could
buy a $100 Android device and have more in-car compatibility (again, on an
Android system) than they would if they bought a Windows-based flagship. I can
see the potential for this to become a major problem for Windows 10 Mobile as
in-car systems by Google and Apple become more popular.
Equally, I am sure that Microsoft is working on solving this
and the company is certainly making big strides into vehicle technology
overall.
We have seen how the company has embraced rival mobile
platforms, often to the detriment of Windows 10 Mobile. I would be very
surprised if a future mobile build does not address a lack of in-car compatibility
on systems with rival platforms.
But aside from becoming compatible with rival platforms, I
think Microsoft should go all out and make its own in-car system. Windows 10
has huge potential to deliver some things that rivals cannot.
We could be heading to a stage where consumers choose their
vehicles based on technology, and not traditional things like engine,
performance, fuel economy, or even looks.
It is not that far-fetched. Autonomous vehicles and the idea
of sharing cars will mean tech will be a chief component of what a vehicle is
and does. Of course, this is unrelated to the Windows compatibility
limitations, but I wanted to add something to the discussion.
I’m not sure what you mean when you say it is not compatible with in car systems unless you mean specifically Apple or Android based systems. I own 4 vehicles and we use our Lumia 950 with all of them via Bluetooth for music, messaging and navigation.
Good article but MS mobile strategy involved more than Microsoft Mobile but Android and iOS so conceivably the PMs will be involved in MS solutions on other platforms.
You have it right with users moving sideways and upwards which is where MS made a fatal by discontinuing the low and mid range phones. Flood the market with decent cheap / mid level devices and app developers will follow the money and the users will enjoy the experience and presumably move up in time.
The contract life cycle is 2 years and even with a flood of new MS devices it will take 2-3 years to make a significant impact and win back ex MS customers and news ones.
A few fantastic high end phones like 950, X3, Surface Phone will do nothing for market share and app developers etc.
How on earth can MS ALLOWS eBay, PayPal plus lots if others to leave the platform. They should support these guys or do it themselves as right now there are more reasons for me to leave the platform than stay sadly.
Windows 10 Mobile is the best phone OS ever thought of. Just people being people. We are morons, look at the US prez.
They say the word “mobile”, but never “Windows Mobile”…