Microsoft Plans Windows Phone 7 Feature Upgrade

Microsoft is preparing to deliver a cut-and-paste feature for Windows Phone 7 within the next few weeks, according to an executive blog posting.

“Critics have commented on the lack of specific features like copy and paste and lack of hundreds of thousands of new applications,” Arpan Shah, Microsoft’s director for SharePoint, wrote in a 4 November posting on his corporate blog. “And while both are true, copy and paste will be available as an update in a matter of weeks (early 2011) and as for applications, it’s just a matter of time.”

Missing features

Shah’s blog posting suggests the timetable for the feature’s addition is still on track. During the smartphone’s 11 October unveiling in New York City, executives indicated that cut-and-paste would arrive in early 2011. While early critics focused on that missing feature, Windows Phone 7’s first iteration will also lack support for tethering, Adobe Flash and full multitasking.

“Microsoft ends up getting a lot of flak for not being quick enough to market, and while that’s fair criticism in certain situations, that doesn’t make it a dying brand,” Shah wrote in his posting. Along with Windows Phone 7, he cited Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 Beta, Bing and Kinect as examples of Microsoft making its presence more felt in the consumer realm.

One of Windows Phone 7’s primary competitors, the Apple iPhone, also lacked cut-and-paste at launch. Microsoft hopes that its new smartphone platform’s user interface – which involves six subject-specific “Hubs” such as “People” and “Games” – will allow it to regain market share from not only the iPhone, but also RIM’s BlackBerry franchise and the growing family of Google Android devices.

Smartphone competition

Nonetheless, Microsoft executives have repeatedly suggested in speeches over the past year that the smartphone arena is a dynamic space, one in which their company can still overcome well-established competitors.

“We’re early; there’s no question we’re early,” Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told an audience during a 28 October speech at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC), according to CNNMoney.com. “I think we kind of nailed it. When you see it, you just go ‘ooh.'”

During PDC, Ballmer also suggested that the company would continue to pour resources into its smartphone endeavors. “Make no mistake about it, we’re all in,” he reportedly told the audience at one point. “I get all kinds of questions about ‘What if you don’t do this or that,’ or blah, blah, blah. Boom, baby, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Windows Phone 7 will make its debut in the US market on 8 November, with two devices – the HTC Surround and Samsung Focus – on AT&T. Meanwhile, reports indicate that Windows Phone 7 sales are off to a solid start in international markets.