Following on from his initial thoughts on Windows Phone, Harry McCracken has picked up the keyboard to look at the future for Windows Phone, and the areas he would like to see it focus on. His five factors are great software, hardware that's just as good, lots of applications, carrier support and getting some buzz behind it. Which he's contributing to with this well thought out editorial.

From his conclusions:

I remain cautiously optimistic that Windows Phone will catch on. For one thing, Microsoft can afford to be patient with it--and the world's leading software company really can't afford to abandon the smartphone software market.

More important, Windows Phone 7.5 is a fine operating system that deserves to be successful. Sooner or later, good products usually do okay. If Windows Phone doesn't, it might be a sign that the dynamics of the smartphone business aren't going to let anything that isn't iOS or Android do well anytime soon.