Windows Phone Thoughts: Microsoft Patents Extensible Filtered Lists User Interface

"A new patent application published yesterday and assigned to Microsoft shows a mobile phone interface that bears striking similarities to the iPhone. The patent, filed in July 2007, is entitled Extensible filtered lists for mobile device user interface and discusses how mobile phones are so full of features that they have become extremely complicated to use. A problem that is “exacerbated by the generally limited user interfaces” on modern phones. Interestingly some of the screenshots provided in the patent appear to show a user interface very similar to the way the iPhone handles images and music albums as well as the famous visual voicemail application."



The government document has all of the details, but I want to debunk this Digg-bait article: Microsoft is not copying the iPhone as this article tries to imply. It's silly to think that just because the iPhone has a left/right viewing of album art that it somehow equates to what this patent is discussing. I can't go into details, but I've seen this patent in real-life action, and it's absolutely not the same type user interface or navigation that the iPhone offers. What it is, however, is a radically different way of interacting with a Windows Mobile device that I think is absolutely fantastic based on what I saw in an early form. I've been waiting to see this concept evolve, and if this patent is any indication, it's on it's way...