The Watering Can of Enterprise Software Development

[#1]

[Edit 7/29] The bing team has issued apparently issued a statement regarding this issue.

"Starting 7/15, mobile customers using version 4.6 or older of the Bing app for Windows phone, received a notification that the Bing app is no longer available on their device. Bing is committed to delivering a mobile strategy that rapidly evolves to better meet the needs of consumers, and as a result has decided to optimize the Bing app for the higher screen resolution (greater than 96 dpi) Windows phone devices to ensure the best mobile search experience. Customers can continue to access Bing browse on any mobile device through m.bing.com."

Back in May, Mary J. Foley announced that Microsoft was releasing an updated version of bing for Windows Mobile 6.x devices. This application runs on a device and allows a user to get local information based on GPS coordinates (weather, movies, phone numbers, gas prices, etc). It also can interact with a device's GPS to give the user real time locations and directions.

With the release of Windows Phone 7 just around the corner there was some speculation on how long older phones would be supported with this application. I got my answer this month when my bing Mobile application (4.6.9179.1) just stopped working on my Sprint based, HTC Touch Pro without using a workaround¹. I had been using this application almost daily for the past few years and it worked very well. Now when it starts up it connects to Microsoft and tries to update to a new version, which it can't because my device doesn't have a high resolution display and therefore isn't supported. The application then displays the message

Sorry, the bing application isn't supported on this device. Go to m.bing.com in your browser instead?

[Yes] [No]

I thought clicking [No] would allow me to use the unsupported version of the application, but instead I found the application freezes for about 30 seconds and then shuts down completely. This is a shame as I really liked the bing for Windows Mobile and the fact it worked with my built in GPS. Obviously the browser version can't do that, and the application isn't good enough to warrant upgrading to a new phone.

The bing marketing group really hasn't done a good job of marketing this application to begin with. After this experience, I am thinking maybe it was for good reason. If you are deploying enterprise software mobile applications for users to connect to your services be sure you don't alienate them by disabling their working applications. Add another dissatisfied customer that Microsoft/bing just lost to Google Maps for mobile.

¹The application will work as long as the network is disabled (Airplane Mode) on startup and then enabled after the update check is done.

     

[#2]

To add insult to injury, the reasoning given is a flat out lie. The reason stated is that the old devices do not support the resolution required for the new and improved application. My HTC Mogul and my wifes Motorolo Q9c have the same resolutiuon. She upgraded fine, where as Microsoft kicked sand in my face. As a developer, I was anxiouos to learn Windows 7, and was also very concerned reading that applications for WinMob 6.5 and earlier will not run under Win 7. I am reading that Android sales are surpassing iPhones. So, since I feel I am starting from the beginning where should I invest my time and talent, developing for Windows Phone 7, or for Android? A definite customer relations blunder on the part of Microsoft.

[#3]

I've had enough Today's the day they release the Droid2. I've trading out my XV6800 for one.

[#4]

aha very good,  I now have the old LIVE app back!!! woo hoo thanks for the tip I have a motorola Q, I can now simply clcik on the home service on desktop and select off,  then open MS Live app when it initially checks for phone compattablitiy then turn on my phone back on after 30 seconds and it works just fine.  Fricken *#$%^@# at Microsoft, are they intentionaly trying to kill Microsoft?  I recently switche to Chrome I gave up on IE taking forever to load.   thanks

John

[#5]

Thanks so much for the fix.  I use a T-mobile Shadow that does not work with Bing and has no GPS, so Live Search was a great navigation tool for me.  I am thrilled to have it back!!!  Yey! 

[#6]

Trackback from The Watering Can - Mobile HTML5 Applications (WebOS Mojo vs Sencha Touch)

[#7]

Wow - totally unbelievable.  It was a great app, I boasted about it to my friends and now the Bing team has left me high and dry.  I'm an XBOX fanboy and thought I was going with a winmo7 when my verison contract is up - but now this has made my decision  - hello evil Google empire.  Adios windows live.

 - epic fail.

[#8]

I tried the airplane mode trick on the Samsung Intrepid. It seems to work only for a little while. If you click on something else in the app (directions) then it appears to check for the update again and the app quits. This is a really bad move on the part of Microsoft. I understand and applaud them for wanting people to upgrade, but considering this device is less than a year old and most people are in 2-3 year contracts it is unreasonable for them not to support it. Maybe take it out of support when the carriers stop selling the device + 3 years. Seems like a more logical plan.

I think that the old Bing Mobile (v4.xx) was probably the best application out there for windows mobile. The speech recognition actually *WORKED VERY WELL, even on non-standard spellings, pronunciations, etc* (unlike that joke of an app "Tell Me," which doesn't understand anything... I wonder why the two voice recognition engines are so different. it's like going backwards), you could save places to contacts, sms to a friend, etc. It was a handy application that I used DAILY.

This is really too bad.

[#9]

i am having htc touch from sprint with wm 6.1 professional. The windows live search application quit working lately, cannot install bing due to resolution issue. The above fix of turning airplane mode doesnt work for me. Discussed with Sprinnt and HTC and none of them are having any answers. Microsoft call center asking for 35$ to even listen to the problem. I see many of us are having this issues. this is really frustrating and i might end up changing for android. This is forceful upgrade to me. Going to m.bing.com is useless.

At least they should keep the old application running if the newer one is not compatible. Isnt this breach of contract where your phone is failing to deliver what it came in with as part of initial purcahse contract?