Who says that Microsoft always copies from Apple?

With the announcement of iOS 5, the fanboys and other sheeple are going crazy as usual. As for me, I'm not impressed with the new features. We've all heard the old accusation that Microsoft always copies Apple, right? Well, in this case, the tables are turned, where many of the new features Apple is including in the next version of iOS are already present in Windows Phone. Perhaps if I explain myself more, you will see what I mean.

With this new version, Apple is touting the new "independence" from the laptop or desktop. Part of this is with their new iCloud service. Well, Windows Phone already has integration with Windows Live, with full integration with Windows Live coming with Mango. IOS devices can now update only the parts of the os + utilities that have updates instead of the whole thing. From the beginning, Microsoft has implemented a system for Windows Phone 7 which only update the parts which have updates (and analysis shows that parts of this update system were part of the os even as early as Windows Mobile 5, although in an inferior form).

The next one, Apple's new Game Center. Well, with the popularity of Xbox Life on the Xbox, adding Windows Phone to the mix can only make it better, giving you Xbox Live capability on the go. With the Game Center, Apple is trying to copy Xbox Live.

Apple is also touting the ability to sync over wi-fi. Well, you can already do that with Windows Phone 7 and the existing desktop Zune Client.

Apple has finally integrated tabbed browsing into Safari, about time(!). Internet Explorer in Windows Phone 7 has had this capability (standard) from the start (and I believe Android has also had this too).

Integration with Twitter is apparently coming in iOS 5. As for Windows Phone 7, this is coming with Mango, along with full Facebook integration as well.

The iPhone can now see things in year view. Microsoft already had this with made agenda, day, week, month, and year views being part of the calendar in Windows Phone 6.5 (and in versions of Windows Mobile from Pocket PC 2003 (SE?) on). Windows Phone 7 has all of this implemented in the calendar, but year view is very obscure. iCloud will allow you to share calendars with friends and family. I believe Windows Life already lets you do that.

One feature that Apple (I admit) does have that Windows Phone does not is the capability to mirror your media so that you can show it on a television. I do hope that Microsoft includes this capability in the future.

With the latest version of iOS, Apple is touting many new features. What many people don't realize is that a lot of these features aren't as new and "groundbreaking" as Apple (and its fanboys) makes it out to be. What I am doing is merely doing is highlighting some of those differences and showing where some of them can be found in Windows Phone. My hope is that this will dispel some of the hype and make people do their homework to see if this newer version will meet their needs or not (and if it does meet their needs, is getting it really worth it?).

So do you think that Apple's newest version of iOS is worth it? Do you have any other thoughts as to the reality of this update to iOS? Make your thoughts know here (in the comment box) or on Twitter (url for twitter is @rctechgeek).