Last night I attended a small private briefing held in San Francisco by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 team. My expectations were very low. I was pleasantly surprised. Microsoft has some work to do and they know it. They had a humble and confident swagger.

This morning it hit me. This is the browser war playing out in mobile but 14 years later. More on that below but back to the meeting last night.

From my perspective Charlie Kindel (@ckindel) delivered three big messages
1) Phone 7 is an absolute consumer product,

2) it’s easy to develop on and will be great platform for developers to “thrive” on

3) Microsoft corporate gave the Windows Phone7 team carte blanche to do whatever it takes to build a great product – which means don’t get hung up on legacy Microsoft stuff in building it.

I Love The Phrase “Carte Blanche”

Microsoft is serious in targeting developers, but they are racing into a market that is being “paced” by Apple and Google. It’s like watching short track speed skating and they are at the end of the pack. They need to make some moves fast.

Charlie Kindel told me that Microsoft gave the Phone 7 team “carte blanche” to bring a winner of a consumer phone to the market.

When I hear words like “carte blanche” I love it because it is a mindset to compete and deliver value. It reminded of the browser wars like when on December 7, 1995, Pearl Harbor Day, Bill Gates declared war — writing an internal memo ordering Microsoft to throw all its resources into launching a “hardcore” attack on the Internet browser market. At the time, Netscape’s share of that market was close to 90%; by early 2000, Netscape’s share had plunged to 20% then died, and Microsoft’s browser won that war.

More recently a few years ago Andy Rubin has been given “carte blanche” at Google to bring Android and the GPhone to market. Look at the results. Finally we all know that Steve Jobs has “carte blanche” at Apple -enough said there.

Microsoft is planning on opening the kimono at MIX. So we’ll see what they brings.

Like Browser Wars, But Now: SmartPhone Wars

This is a flat out Smartphone war for Microsoft. Like the browser war in 1996 when Microsoft came from virtually no market share to killing Netscape, we are seeing Smartphone wars and the big three are: Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

Is Microsoft Going Old School On This Smartphone War?

One outside the box observation and take away for me that was the positive take away is that Charlie Kindel and his boss Joe Belfoire (Joe B as he’s know at Microsoft) are “old school” Microsoft guys.

When I say old school Microsoft I mean they are smart and know how to build products that compete and deliver value. These guys build and fought the browser war and won against Netscape and they are 14 years older.

To quote and “old school” Microsoft saying expect Joe B and Charlie to deliver something “cool and relevant”. These guys are old school hardcore Microsoft. I don’t expect them to be afraid of Google and Apple. It will be interesting to watch.

Details from Engadget:

For some of the details of the meeting see Engadget. They have a good post of some of the content as a preview to Microsoft’s GDC and MIX.

The major points are that Silverlight, XNA, and .NET will figure prominently into the developer story — not a surprise considering that Microsoft is heavily invested in both, gaming is central to the Windows Phone 7 Series story, XNA is a big deal on Zune HD already, and this all lines up with what we’d heard in the past. In fact, Kindel boldly proclaims that “If you are Silverlight or XNA developer today you’re gonna be really happy.” On the flipside, it’s a bit ironic considering that Silverlight spends much of its existence going head-to-head with Flash, and all indications are that we won’t see Flash support on 7 at initial availability (though it’s sounding like a lock post-launch).

One final note at today’s event is that Microsoft has now officially confirmed for the first time that 7 represents a clean break from Windows Mobile as we know it today; existing apps won’t be compatible.

Market Share and Developer Traction Will Be Key

If Microsoft can win over developer by getting them distribution and monetization then it’s will be a winner. This means that Microsoft needs market share immediately. I like the move with XBox in that it’s an immediate addressable market for developers.

Microsoft has had success with developers in the past, but can they change the game coming this far behind? This Windows Phone 7 team has done it before when Netscape had 90% market share. I know the world is different now, but I have to give the team the benefit of the doubt.

Update:  Ina Fried of Cnet has a good post with a great candid video of Charlie Kindel of Micrsooft.  She shows a great demo.