Microsoft's Windows Phone update smooth move

NEW YORK — If Microsoft delivers on the major Windows Phone update it showed off Tuesday, the mobile operating system may finally realize the promise of Microsoft itself, bringing together all the company's brands and products in one coherent whole.

A phone that tries to do everything Microsoft does could have ended up feeling like a multipurpose tool that slices, dices and sits unused in the kitchen drawer. Instead, demonstrations Tuesday of an updated Windows Phone code-named Mango seemed to work together like organs in a body.

"It's not just about the app, it's about integration," said Will Stofega, an analyst at Framingham, Mass., research firm IDC. He was intrigued by how the phone breaks down the wall between search and what's inside the apps.

Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Mobile Communications business, said at the Tuesday news event the update to the Windows Phone was designed with the user in mind.

"We set about on a new mission to redefine smartphones to make it smarter, and easier, so that people could do more and have more fun," he said at the event, at the Tribeca Grand Hotel.

The update was designed "to put the consumer at the center, and not the operating system, by delivering a set of complete experiences for what people want to do most on their phones, with a delightful interface that required fewer steps, and that was designed to be easier to use. We wanted to provide the customer with less clutter and more clarity," Lees said.

For a long time, Microsoft has attempted to bring together its major products, such as Windows, Office and Xbox. But integrating Microsoft's software and services sometimes seemed like a mirage, so much so that last year some analysts suggested the company should be broken apart into different businesses.

Now, Windows Phone is managing to combine the experiences of Internet Explorer, Bing, Office and Xbox in a phone.

Windows Mobile, the predecessor to Windows Phone, tried for many years to do the same, but critics said it felt like a PC squished into the hand.

In the Mango update Microsoft described Tuesday, the search engine Bing and Web browser Internet Explorer are meshed together with mobile apps themselves. A Bing search results for a book, for instance, can connect to the phone's Kindle app to download the book to be read on the phone.

The contacts directory in the phone blends together Facebook chats, Twitter, LinkedIn, Windows Live instant messaging, voice mail and email. Grouped contacts can be sent group Facebook messages or group work emails.

Bing searches can be done visually with the phone's camera, by voice or by musical sound.

Nongaming apps can use the same 3-D graphics in Xbox games for the phone.

Even for app developers, the tools stem from ones Microsoft developers already know, based on Silverlight and Xbox.

It also seems like the phone may bridge the divide between consumer and business customers.

Microsoft had said for several months it was focused solely on the consumer market with the phone, but Tuesday it began talking up features that could appeal to business customers, such as an Outlook feature that forbids designated email from being forwarded or printed.

The Mango update will be ready in the fall, Microsoft said Tuesday, on new phones and via a software upgrade.

Some Windows Phone users feel burned by Microsoft's earlier NoDo update this year, a small revision that provided basic features such as copy and paste. Many users complained the update was late.

The Mango update is considerably bigger, with more than 500 new features, Microsoft said, although it talked of only a handful Tuesday.

Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, said: "I would have to think the bigger thing that is hurting them is all this discussion about updating and problems. ... If they can roll out the next incremental improvement — well, if they can do it smoothly — it's the thing people are asking for that could have a driving factor" in sales.

Microsoft General Manager Stephanie Ferguson said phone owners should feel "absolutely" confident that the update will arrive in the fall.

It's not clear how many people have bought Windows Phones, and Microsoft offered no clarity Tuesday.

The last time Microsoft gave a sales report was four months ago, when it said phone makers bought 2 million copies of the Windows Phone software in January. That number is a step removed from how many phones people have bought and are using.

In contrast, Google said last week that 100 million people use smartphones and tablets that run its Android operating system.

The biggest opportunity Microsoft has is through a partnership with Nokia to have Windows Phone as the primary smartphone platform for the world's largest mobile phone maker.

"What's really going to be the big question is how it integrates with Nokia," Stofega said. "Without seeing it and feeling it, it's just a great demo."

Mango will be the release installed on the first Windows Phone devices from Nokia, Microsoft said Tuesday, giving no indication when they'll hit the market.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com