Windows Phone 8 targets everyone but business users

Windows Phone 8 targets everyone but business users

NEW YORK – The most memorable tag line for Windows Phone 8 announced by Microsoft on Monday (Oct. 29) is: "We reinvented smartphones around YOU."

The question is, who exactly among the "YOU" is Microsoft targeting? Judging from a variety of use-case scenarios for the Windows Phone 8 discussed by Microsoft officials, the new smartphone is tailored to the following demographics:

• Baby boomers with failing eyesight who need “large print” smartphones. Microsoft is bringing to the Windows 8 user interface super-sized “live tiles” that show the latest updates on Facebook posts and other available apps.
• Penny-pinching senior citizens who worry about whether their use of certain apps may exceed a data quota. Microsoft is integrating “Data Sense” to optimize a user’s data plan. It compresses every Web page, automatically takes advantage of Wi-Fi and matches data usage to a user’s data plan.
• Permissive parents who can’t say no to kids when they beg to play with their phones. These hypothetical moms and dads will love Microsoft’s “Kid’s Corner," an isolated space created in the Windows Phone 8 that allows them to eat dinner in peace while the kids mess around on the smartphone.
• Grandparents who want to see mash-up pictures of their grandkids posted on Facebook, which automatically shows up when a lock screen appears.
• Busy parents wants to share calendars or a shopping list within the family. The “Family Room” app is cordoned off from the otherwise universal contact list on a parent’s smartphone. Entries made in the “Family Room” can be updated live so that any family member can access the shopping list and volunteer to pick up Mom’s favorite brand of organic bread – pictured onscreen – on the way home.
• So-called “me-generation” members who want to tailor “titles” on their user interface screen to stuff only they care about.
• Photo enthusiasts who want easy access to Facebook and other social networks when they take pictures. Windows Phone 8 will automatically save the photos in the original high resolution using Microsoft’s Sky Drive.
• Cheapskates who want to talk on Skype instead of using cellphone minutes. Skype is now integrated with Windows Phone 8 so that it is always on, but without running code and consuming power.
• Seniors who can’t find their reading glasses. Windows Phone 8 has apps like “Urban Spoon” that allows voice questions, sparing oldsters from pushing a lot of buttons as they search for the local restaurant with the cheapest “early bird special.”

Windows Phone 8 user interface

TAG:Windows Phone 8 Microsoft