The biggest missing feature of all: a roadmap
Committing to a product roadmap is always a tricky thing. You don't want to portray your future products as being so spectacular that someone would be a fool to buy now. But equally, you don't want people to be scared off from using your platform just because of uncertainty over what the future holds. There's a definite balancing act to perform, but so far, I think Microsoft has tended to lean too far towards "uncertainty over the future".
I like Windows Phone 7 a lot. It's eye-catching, and people seem genuinely impressed when they actually get their hands on it. I hope it has a bright future. But I recognize that it's got a lot of gaps. Gaps that need filling to put the operating system on the same terms as Android and iOS.
I'm sure these gaps will be filled, eventually. But I don't actually know at the moment. Someone buying a Windows Phone 7 device right now is taking a bit of a gamblethey're gambling that the missing or incomplete features are going to get added within a reasonable timeframe. If it turns out that we're going to have to wait 18-24 months for multitasking, say, I think a lot of early buyers are going to feel short-changed. After all, if you have to wait that long, you might as well sit out this generation of devices and stick with Android or iOS in the meantime.
Talking a little more about the future, telling us at the very least what kind of upgrade schedule we're going to see, and giving us a feel for the scope of the upgrades, would do a lot to improve opinions of the platform. It makes picking Windows Phone 7 less of a risk, and more of a certainty. The confidence that the platform will become an equal peer to iOS and Androidand soonis the most significant feature Microsoft can add.
I've been looking but can't seem to do it.
