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Microsoft suggests Windows Phone Live will get more Kin Studio-like features
Microsoft's Kin may have been a failure of spectacular proportions, but it did introduce a few interesting ideas -- namely, the Kin Studio web-backup service. Now it looks like Microsoft may be set to revive at least some elements of the service on Windows Phone 7. Speaking with the Seattle Times, Microsoft's Aaron Woodman said that the company has made "very, very small baby step with Windows Phone Live," and added that it's "definitely part of the road map to have enriched services that make the phone more meaningful, and the Web more meaningful." Woodman also apparently suggested that those services would be one way Windows Phone can "continue to compete" with Android, but unfortunately didn't get very specific about a rollout date for the upgrades.
Windows Phone Live to offer remote wipe, location, and sync for your Windows Phone 7 device
See, Android owners don't ever lose their phones, so that's why they don't need this capability... right? Right? Hot on the heels of yesterday's news that RIM would be delivering a comprehensive remote wipe solution to BlackBerrys this year, Andy Lees is mentioning at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference today that an all-new Windows Phone Live website will figure prominently into the Windows Phone 7 equation when devices launch toward the end of 2010. It looks like the site is divided into two, arguably equally important parts: a sync function, which lets you transfer photos directly from your phone (a la Kin Studio, perhaps?), move OneNote content, synchronize contacts, and so on, and a suite of tools for dealing with a lost or stolen device -- you'll be able to remotely wipe it, locate it, lock it, or just make it ring until you drive the thief out of his gourd. On a related note, Lees is also announcing that we'll be seeing the first volley of Windows Phone 7 devices in five languages -- English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish -- and that Windows Phone Marketplace (the Windows Phone 7 version of it, presumably) will be available in 17 countries out of the gate. That's not what we'd call global domination, of course, but you've got to start somewhere.
