Windows Phone 7 Mirrors iPhone with Missing Features

Business professionals anxious for the renewed Microsoft mobile operating system to launch this fall may be disappointed with the news that Windows Phone 7 does not provide a copy and paste function, won't do true multitasking between applications, and will not support Adobe Flash. Sound familiar

The iPhone initially did not include the ability to copy and paste, did not support Adobe Flash (there is support now for Flash-based apps, but still no Flash within the iPhone Web browser), and still doesn't allow true multitasking for third-party apps. However, these were calculated design decisions, not flaws--so Apple has been reluctant to change the iPhone.

Competitors are quick to point out these perceived gaps in iPhone functionality as marketing tools to set their devices apart--essentially drawing a distinction between a consumer gadget, and a business tool. Verizon's marketing campaign for the launch of the Motorola Droid was built around talking about everything "Droid Does"--with the not-so-subtle implication that what Droid does, the iPhone doesn't.

Business users in particular--the true, or at least original, audience for high-end smartphones--have come to expect that the smartphone devices perform as micro computing platforms. The expectation is that anything you can do on a desktop or notebook computer, you can also accomplish on the smartphone--albeit with a virtual or very tiny keyboard, and a much smaller display.

I don't agree that Flash is a necessity. On the contrary, I see the Web's reliance on Flash as a weakness that needs to be addressed by adopting a standards-based approach like HTML5 to deliver the sort of functionality currently being delivered by the proprietary Adobe technology. Until that happens, though, Flash is still a big part of the online experience.