The killer feature Windows Phone 8 needs to make a dent in the smartphone wars

Android is the brand of choices. They let you pick your carrier, color, and device maker.  Android offers options and flexibility.  Apple iPhone is the brand for a magical ecosystem that works in harmony if you use their phone, apps, and computers.  The user experience is unparalleled.

And Windows Phone plans to make a dent…?

They can indeed.  The answer lies in looking at the past and coming to terms with their core.  Once upon a time, people preferred the old Microsoft Windows Mobile devices over popular BlackBerry and Palm Treo options because of the tight integration Microsoft delivered with business software like Exchange, ActiveSync, Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and other business apps.  Windows Mobile shipped with a fluent user experience (much like Apple today) if you lived within Microsoft’s software, back-end, and phones.

The key to Windows Phone 8 making a dent is to reintroduce tight integration to their own business software suite of Microsoft Office.  It’s surprising (and ridiculous) this even needs to be stated.  Here’s an 86-page(!) and growing thread of frustrated people who just want their old ActiveSync desktop client back for plain old USB sync between a Windows Phone and Microsoft Outlook.  This is yester-year’s technology folks!  No breakthrough needed — just bring it back!

In the push towards cloudifying everything, Microsoft has forgotten their past.  At their core, they are a company focused on the productivity audience.  MS Office is still their breadwinner and still the go-to app for people at work, home, school, fill in the blank…

Just a thought.