If you were like me you would have asked why Microsoft was bothering to build yet another smartphone operating system (aka Windows Phone 7) to compete with blockbuster hits like the iPhone and Android. If you worked on WinMo 6.5 you might be even MORE jaded. But I want to suggest that, in the end, it won’t be the operating system that is relevant it will be the apps. It is ALL about the apps now. If developers embrace a platform and great apps emerge an operating system will succeed. After seeing our own team’s work on the Windows Phone 7 version of ShopSavvy and other developers work I am more and more bullish about the platform. Microsoft really has a shot at making something really great. Check out a video of the USGA app:
Wondering what ShopSavvy will look like with full ‘Metro’ styling? Wonder no more. If you want to get on the wait list for the Beta (or just get notified when it is available) sign up here. See all of the screenshots on Flickr:
Alternative Title: We are serious about Windows Phone 7
We are pretty serious about getting a foothold on Windows Phone 7 with our ShopSavvy app (click here to request a beta version). To that end we were fortunate to be able to recruit Matthias Shapiro for the job. Working alongside our team, Matthias will be responsible for the ShopSavvy user experience on Microsoft’s upcoming mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7.
Matthias is an award winning Silverlight and WPF designer (read more: RNC Award, CNN, O’Reilly) and author of the Designer Silverlight Blog. He has been active as a Silverlight UI designer/developer for years, promoting the use of ‘Expression Blend’ as a design and development tool through tutorials and open projects. Matthias is the perfect example of the ‘interaction designer’ – halfway between designer and developer. His submission on Silverlight and Information Visualization to the MIX2010 conference Open Call was one of the highest voted entrants, earning him a spot as a MIX2010 speaker.
On the Windows Phone 7 front, Matthias was a usability lead and UX designer for the Veracity Solutions “Pillbox“. Pillbox is an open source Windows Phone 7 project demonstrating the use of LOB design and development within the WP7 development enrivonment. It was described by Charlie Kindel, Microsoft Partner Group Program Manager for Windows Phone developer experience as “Flipping brilliant in SO many ways!”
Frankly we are humbled that Matthias would join us in our effort to build the very best mobile shopping app on Windows Phone 7. Check out Matthias live:
We began collecting email addresses from users who were interested in getting ShopSavvy on Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry. In fact, if you like, you can request a notification when either version of ShopSavvy is available (AND request to be included in the Beta period) here:
Since we began accepting requests it has been interesting to note that Windows Phone requests have beaten out Blackberry requests two to one. This is despite the fact that Blackberry devices out number Windows Mobile devices more than two to one. That got me thinking, why don’t Blackberry users make more requests than WinMo users? I began asking every Blackberry user I meet, “What is your favorite app?” More often than not the Blackberry user won’t know what I am talking about. If they do know about Blackberry apps, and again this is a very small minority, they explain to me that they have very little memory capacity – most tell me email takes up all of the space on their phones. When I press the folks who don’t know about apps they have no idea how to get the app store on their phone. As RIM attempts to target a revamped Blackberry at iPhone users it will be interesting to see if our numbers trend differently.
To be notified by email of the release of ShopSavvy on Windows Mobile (or to be a beta tester) complete this form.
When we first began building the Windows Mobile version of ShopSavvy last Fall we were using our legacy barcode scanning library. We struggled to get it to work well enough on most of the Windows Mobile phones capable of running 6.5. With each additional phone we supported the effectiveness of our scanning library degraded. On top of that, our UI was unimpressive and flat. To say that we were dissatisfied with the app would be an understatement, but we were working closely with Microsoft and committed to deliver the app for their new marketplace. At the end of the day there were technical reasons ShopSavvy didn’t get released and we were almost relieved no one got to see ShopSavvy in the state it was at that point.
When we redeveloped our barcode scanning library we specifically sought a solution that would allow for scanning on a wide vareity of mobile phones – everything from low end feature phones to the state-of-the-art Windows Phone 7 devices poised to hit the market. Now that Android has more than 60 different handsets and Windows Phone 7 promises to have even more options we knew the problems associated with different camera types and processors would only get worse. Our scanning technology is now ready to support Windows Phone 7 now we need to build the app (we are scrapping our prior work).
Rylan, our lead developer began working with Windows Mobile back in 2005 and is quite skilled when it comes to Microsoft technology. All of our backend technology is built on .NET and will plug in nicely to the work our (yet to be named) Silverlight/WPF interaction designer will complete. Rylan will be laying down all of the logic and framework code and our interaction designer will be creating the front end (XAML, Sliverlight, Blend) to ensure a phenomenal user experience. Our focus on Expression Blend (the concept of new job role called the interaction designer) will mean that ShopSavvy for Windows Phone 7 could be the best version of the application to date (updates to our UI are forthcoming for iPhone and Android). Our friends at Microsoft are ACTIVELY working with our team to ensure ShopSavvy ROCKS on Windows Phone 7 – we have no doubt that together it will. Also, you might want to learn why Windows Phone 7 might really be a game changer.
So to your question: “When will ShopSavvy be available on Windows Mobile?” We don’t know. Our goal is to have ShopSavvy available prior to the release of Windows Phone 7, but we aren’t going to publish a date – so please quit asking. We will definitely let you know when it is available. If you want to beta test just fill outthis form. Oh, and we will be releasing the SDK for developers who want to include barcode scanning in their own Windows Mobile applications.
We are pretty serious about getting a foothold on Windows Phone 7 with our ShopSavvy app (click here to 
We began collecting email addresses from users who were interested in getting ShopSavvy on Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry. In fact, if you like, you can request a notification when either version of ShopSavvy is available (AND request to be included in the Beta period) here:
When we first began building the Windows Mobile version of ShopSavvy last Fall we were using our legacy barcode scanning library. We struggled to get it to work well enough on most of the Windows Mobile phones capable of running 6.5. With each additional phone we supported the effectiveness of our scanning library degraded. On top of that, our UI was unimpressive and flat. To say that we were dissatisfied with the app would be an understatement, but we were working closely with Microsoft and committed to deliver the app for their new marketplace. At the end of the day there were technical reasons ShopSavvy didn’t get released and we were almost relieved no one got to see ShopSavvy in the state it was at that point.
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