Windows Phone 7 Presented to Croatian Businesspeople

The central theme of the sixth Mobility Day conference, held on Thursday in Zagreb and dedicated to mobile solutions, was the arrival of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) to the market.

The conference, organized by Mobendo and Citus, was opened by Ivan Vidaković, General Director of Microsoft Croatia, while Marko Makovac, Director of Business and Marketing, announced drastic changes related to philosophy, customer approach, and design that led to the new Microsoft product. -Microsoft’s Windows Phone is recognized in the business world, but now with WP7 we have expanded to other users. Additionally, it was also considered for application developers, to enable them to quickly and easily develop new applications and to earn something from it- said Makovac, emphasizing that the focus on the user is evident in the new ‘Metro’ design and functionality.

The conference organizers, Andrej Radinger, Director of Mobendo, and Tomislav Bronzin, Director of Citus, detailed the innovations from Microsoft’s kitchen during the opening lecture and demonstrated the operation of WP7 live. -WP7 integrates data, treating data from social networks and the phone book equally. There are no separate applications- said Radinger, emphasizing that the functionality and appearance of the device will be the same regardless of which manufacturer offers a phone with the WP7 operating system. Currently announced manufacturers that will use the WP7 OS are Samsung, HTC, and LG. There are still no official expectations regarding the market share Microsoft plans to capture with the new candidate in the smartphone market; however, judging by the first positive reviews of WP7 from global media, they are certainly significant. The software solution anticipates six so-called content hubs, or areas of interest based on which tools and programs are grouped, such as music and video, contacts, or games.

Another novelty is that Croatia will not have to wait long for the arrival of the new smartphone, as it is expected, according to announcements from Microsoft, to happen in weeks or days after the phone becomes available abroad. However, Croatia is not one of the 30 countries where the placement and purchase of new applications through the official online sales center ‘Marketplace’ will be enabled. Developers will have to manage, and if they want to place applications on the Marketplace, they will need to do so through a third party from one of the countries where this is allowed. Additionally, each application will undergo Microsoft’s verification and stability and reliability tests, which will last from two to four weeks. Earnings between developers and Microsoft are shared, as is customary with other operating systems, so the developer receives 70 percent of the total earnings from each sale. Access to free applications will be unrestricted. It is worth mentioning that conference attendees could also see Samsung’s seven-inch Galaxy tablet, presented by Belizar Zečević from Samsung Electronics Adria. (Kristina Kardum)