I would argue that the e-mail contact form is a thing of the past. In fact, I find it very annoying when I encounter websites – in particular commercial websites – that do not display their e-mail addresses and other contact information properly, but instead rely on a web based e-mail form through which existing and potentially new customers can contact them. And why do I think so?

The e-mail contact form - a thing of the past?

Control

First of all, I like to be in control, and with e-mail forms I seldom feel that I am in control. How can I be sure the e-mail for works as intended? How can I be sure the e-mail was actually received?

When I send my e-mails through my regular e-mail client (Outlook, Gmail, etc.) I have a copy in my “Sent Items” folder – and that leaves me in control. I know what e-mails I have sent, and if necessary, I can refer to them later on. With web forms, e-mails are sent through a “black hole” and often never seen again. Which leaves me to talk about confirmation.

Confirmation

Sending an e-mail through an e-mail form is like shooting a bullet straight up in the air – you’ll never know where it is going to land – and if it ever landed. Some e-mail forms do offer the option to have a copy of the message sent to your own e-mail address – however – it is not a confirmation that the message was ever received by the recipient.

Referring to my previous point – if I send my e-mail from my regular e-mail client, I do not necessarily get a confirmation of every delivered e-mail, but I least I (usually) get an error message if e-mails I send cannot be successfully delivered.

(Lack of) Professionalism

If you as a company do not want to reveal you contact e-mail address to visitors of your website, I start wondering about why you need to be so secret? What do you need to hide from the public? Is spam a problem, and you cannot afford to deal with it, well, in my view that says a lot about you as a company – that you are not professional. Most companies find their way to fight spam – and so should you. Don’t blame your customers and leave them to pay for your lack of professionalism.

My recommendation

I recommend to always display your contact e-mail address in the open, e.g. in the footer of your webpage. E-mail forms are just an annoyance, and I would recommend to have them removed from you website.

Since the February 15th announcement of Microsoft’s next mobile phone operation system Windows Phone 7 Series at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, fans and skeptics alike have had plenty of time to publicize their opinions on this next move from our clever guys in Redmond.

All in all, this next and long awaited “upgrade” from Windows Mobile has been received very well. There is no doubt that the existing Windows Mobile OS as such is no longer any match against iPhone in terms of “coolness” and usability – even on HTC phones with the TouchFLO touch-screen overlay. Windows Mobile as we know it is outdated!

No copy & paste, so it’s already a failure?

One of the biggest criticisms towards Windows Phone 7 Series seems to be the lack of a copy & paste feature. With the release of the iPhone 3GS series, Apple chose to include this feature – by popular demand. So why do Microsoft choose not to include it?

People tend to find this decision particularly hard to swallow since a major proportion of the intended customers and users of this product is business users – and let’s face it, many of them hardly do anything but copy & paste!

Microsoft has stated that the main reason for the removal of this feature is that it “isn’t necessary” any more. A statement reads:

At first, when I heard about this, I couldn’t quite believe it. I consider copy and paste an integral part of just about any device I am using. But then I started thinking – do I really use it?

Working on my computer, of course, I use it all the time. But on my phone? Do I use it? Do I need it? Do I even have that feature on my current phone? No.

And this is exactly what the usability engineers at Microsoft have concluded, the copy & paste use case simply isn’t what users prioritize to have available on a mobile phone. It is not considered to be one of the core use cases, as stated above. I give credit to Microsoft for making this bold decision and for having such a strong focus on usability!

HP iPaq H2210

As mentioned above, my current phone, a Sony Ericsson C905, doesn’t have a copy & paste feature. However, quite a few years ago I had a HP iPaq H2210 device which I used to sync my e-mail, calendar and contacts.

I remember clearly that this device had the copy & paste ability built into it – it was even part of the device setup – you had to practice it by moving an appointment from one day to the next using cut & paste before you could even start using the device!

When I think back, even on this device which had copy & paste built into it, I cannot remember ever using it. Moving an appointment one day forward was rather a matter of opening the appointment in order to change the start and end date. For me at least. Copy & paste was indeed not one of my core use cases!

Windows Phone 7 Series – the iPhone Killer?

From what I’ve written here, my answer to the initial question is clearly no. I do not think Windows Phone 7 Series is a failure based on the fact that it will not have copy & paste abilities.

In fact I think this next release will be a huge success – maybe even the (long awaited) iPhone killer!

1. Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 Series will target both the consumer and the business user – and let’s face it – iPhone has never quite made it into the corporate environment. If Windows Phone becomes “cool” and user friendly like iPhone and popular, compatible, and fast enough for business users, it will be big!
2. Current users of Windows Mobile (6.1 or 6.5) are pissed off! This OS is old fashioned, it’s performance is crap, and compatibility issues are increasing. What users need is a modern, Windows 7′ish OS for their mobile device. Windows Phone 7 Series will give them all of this.
3. Last but not least; Microsoft has a formidable strength in its huge and established development community, and the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace is likely to outgrow Apple’s iPhone Apps. Just think about it, as a web or Win Forms developer, with Windows Phone 7 development you already know the programming language and you are familiar with all the tools. The development tools and the Windows Phone 7 Series emulator is already available. Making the change to the mobile platform is “a small step for man, a giant leap for Windows Phone 7 Series”! Microsoft has even announced that tools and technologies for developing Windows Phone 7 Series applications will be free for all of us to use!

The first batch of phones to use Windows Phone 7 Series are set to launch by the end of 2010. Will I get one? Indeed! I can’t wait! Will you, or do you require copy & paste?