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Tag Archive: Windows Mobile

Microsoft set to invest $1 billion in Windows Mobile

Posted Mar.03, 2010 under Microsoft

According to Forbes, Microsoft is set to make a $1 billion investment into the mobile market, as its plans to acquire Palm – or Research in Motion (RIM) – are “unlikely” to happen.

Instead, Microsoft will be investing the $1 billion into its very own Windows Mobile operating system, rather than acquiring Research in Motion. Microsoft said it will put the money towards the research and development of Windows Mobile.

Microsoft is well known for putting huge amounts of money towards advertising campaigns, including the Xbox 360 and Windows 7. If the company assigns a large proportion of the $1 billion investment to marketing then this could very well bring Windows Mobile (or Windows Phone 7 Series) out of the single digit marketshare, a mere 8.7% last year. Symbian stole the show with 46.9%, while Research in Motion had 19.9% and the iPhone had 14.4% alone last year.

Microsoft is really aiming for a success with its Windows Phone 7 Series, to compete with the likes of the iPhone and other strong mobile competitors.

Tags: Investment, Series 7, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone

Skype cancels development of Windows Mobile client

Posted Feb.25, 2010 under Microsoft

If you are currently unaware, Skype is an extremely popular VoIP service that allows people to make cheap (or even free) international phone calls, with even the ability to use video chat. It has millions upon millions of members, which means that being able to use the Skype client on your mobile phone is a big deal. Unfortunately, for Windows Mobile users, this big deal is no longer a reality – Skype has canceled development of their WM client, and removed almost all related files from their website, as reported by WMPowerUser.

The official reasoning from Skype is that the Windows Mobile version of their client simply doesn’t live up to the quality of their iPhone and Symbian apps, thus they have decided to discontinue development of the software. Skype noted that it wants to provide as best an experience it can, and Windows Mobile currently doesn’t live up to that expectation – of course, they will no doubt have a client for Windows Mobile 7 in the works, but then, this leaves the whole situation rather confusing. There’s no reason for them to remove the current application because a new version is most likely on the way, and a lot of people are happy with the way the current Skype application is on Windows Mobile. Why, then, would they remove it on the claims of having a less-than-ideal interface? Your guess is as good as ours, though only Skype knows for sure.

If you’ve already installed the Windows Mobile version of Skype or Skype Lite, you can use it all throughout this year, though if you’re a new customer, you’re out of luck… unless of course you peruse the international page for the application, which oddly enough, still has it ready for download (though this will probably be fixed soon enough). Hopefully Windows Mobile users will be able to use Skype once more very soon, but stay wary as the company gave no hints at any new version in development.

Tags: Skype, Windows Mobile

More details emerge about Windows Phone Starter Edition

Posted Feb.25, 2010 under Microsoft

We first broke the news that Microsoft would be offering up a starter edition of its software for mobile phones, as time has passed, a few more bits of details have begun to emerge about what the Starter Edition will truly offer.

Named Windows Mobile Starter Edition, the software will be targeted at OEMs building devices for new and emerging markets. Based on Windows Mobile 6, Starter Edition will come in two versions, one with Office Mobile and one without. Windows Mobile Starter Edition will also support 2G (GSM), 2.5G (EDGE, GPRS) and CDMA (Rev A, EV-DO Revision A) or TD-SCDMA. It’s not yet clear whether 3G (GSM) will be supported.

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley was able to obtain a few more details from a Microsoft spokesperson who shed a little more light on what consumers can expect from the platform.

“Q: Is Mobile Starter available to phone makers via Bsqure only? Or also direct from Microsoft?

A: The Windows Phone 6 Starter Edition SKU is available to all direct partners. It is also available via MediaTek and BSquare.

Q: Which version of Office Mobile is part of one of the two Starter SKUs?

A: The current version of Office Mobile will ship in Windows Phone 6 Starter Edition. Office Mobile 2010 is currently available in beta form for Windows Phone 6.5. When Office Mobile 2010 ships, it will be made available to OEMs and distributors.

Q: Is this a stripped-down version of Windows Mobile 6.5? What’s not there that’s in the full fledged version?

A: The Windows Phone 6 Starter Edition SKU is offered in multi-language versions with and without Microsoft Office Mobile and supports 2G (GSM), 2.5G (CDMA2000 xRTT, EDGE, GPRS), CDMA (Rev A, EV-DO Revision A), and TD-SCDMA radios.

Q: Have any phone makers signed up yet as customers?

A: Yes. OEMs will be launching products built on Windows Phone 6 Starter Edition this year.”

While mostly providing more details to ideas that were currently circulating, it does confirm that this platform will launch this year along side Windows Phone Series 7.

For more QnA answers check out Mary Jo’s post.

Tags: MWC, Starter Edition, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone

Revealed: Original Windows Mobile 7 UI

Posted Feb.20, 2010 under Microsoft

At Mobile World Congress last week, Microsoft revealed that it “reset” the code for Windows Phone 7 approximately two years ago.

Additional screen-shots and a video of Windows Mobile 7 (codenamed Photon at one point) leaked this week after Microsoft revealed the new “Metro” UI inside Windows Phone 7. Leading up to the company’s grand unveiling last week, we’d seen various leaks of the “Photon” UI for over a year.

Alongside the leaks over the past months we had also seen persistent rumours about the delay of what was referred to as Windows Mobile 7 and hints that the company was working on a new UI based on the Zune HD. Some rumours were far-fetched and some screen-shots too, but the interface amongst them was always similar. Microsoft never commented on the leaked screen shots officially but before the “reset” in 2008, Photon was being actively worked on. Publicly, most have only seen blurry and small screen-shots but this week a member of the XDA-Developers forum posted a video of an early build of Photon in action. In the video you can see various new UI elements that Microsoft were testing initially. The company scrapped these plans and moved on to using the “Metro” UI which we have seen implemented in Windows Media Center, Xbox 360, Zune HD and now Windows Phone 7. Metro is a UI vision/guidance across all of Microsoft’s consumer products. The forthcoming “Project Pink” devices will use the foundations of the Metro UI too and Windows Live Messenger 2010 and other Windows Live products will also see parts of the same UI in their products. Look at Windows Media Center, Xbox 360 and the Zune HD and you’ll begin to see the synergy between the products and how Microsoft will implement this across all their consumer products in future.

At Neowin we thought we would round up all the genuine shots of Photon into one place to look at what Windows Mobile 7 may have been. It’s a slice of history and like the Longhorn concepts I’m sure Microsoft officials are glad they scrapped it and went with Metro. Enjoy!