Windows Phone 7—Another Spec on the Wall

If either Bloomberg or CNET is to be believed, U.S. carriers Sprint and Verizon won’t offer Windows Phone 7 handsets before 2011, and none of the quoted spokespeople are saying when next year. Oh yeah? It’s a helluva way for Microsoft to launch the new mobile operating system.

Supposedly, Sprint and Verizon CDMA networks are reason for the, ah, delay, although I’ve got to wonder about “once burned, twice wary.” Verizon did support Microsoft’s KIN smartphone—as exclusive provider. Microsoft was late getting KIN to Verizon, then killed the handset six weeks after launch. Yeah, I bet those Verizon execs are feeling warm and cozy about Windows Phone 7.

I’m blaming Rolling Stone for what comes next. Earlier this week, issue 1114 arrived with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters on the cover. He’s got a new tour of “The Wall” going. The last couple of days, I’ve been humming Pink Floyd classic “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2),” which main lyric I here rewrite for Windows Phone 7’s launch without Verizon or Sprint:

We don’t need no distribution
We don’t need no quality control
No Windows Phones in the stock room
Consumers leave them phones alone
Hey! Consumers! Leave them phones alone
All in all you’re just another spec on the wall
All in all you’re just another spec on the wall

Clearly, I don’t spend enough time at the Rolling Stone Website. When trying to link to the Roger Waters story, I hit a paywall. The magazine put up one in April. Well, frak that! By the way, I’ve written two excellent posts on the value, or lack thereof, of paywalls: “Can You Charge For News? Ask Google” and “The Price You Pay Google for Paywalls.”

Photo Credit: Microsoft

Do you have a mobile phone story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: joewilcox at gmail dot com.