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Feb. 17, 2009

Yesterday, Microsoft outlined its new Windows mobile vision to an audience of about 300, plus a crowd that listened to Steve Ballmer and watched in an overflow area on TV monitors.

The software giant officially announced Windows Mobile 6.5, a Windows Marketplace store for selling mobile applications and a desire to get Windows on more cell phones and MIDs (mobile Internet devices).

The Redmond company has been intimately involved in the wireless business much longer than Apple and Google, and now is garnering more attention as it prioritizes its strategy.

Rumors are also coming out in the industry that Microsoft could be making its own smartphone.

Steve Ballmer pointed to the company’s strong history in the Windows Mobile segment, including 500,000 software development companies and millions of units sold. “But the time has come to do more,” he said.

In an earlier interview, Tim McDonough, senior director for consumer experiences at Microsoft, explained the company is investing in three areas: helping people stay closer to what matters to them; empowering people to act; and letting consumers choose the devices and applications that uniquely apply to them.

In the area of staying closer, “we’ve done a lot of work to make Windows Mobile better looking and more useful at the same time,” he said. For example, end-users are able to customize their home screen with most-used apps.

Windows phones need to come in different shapes and sizes to fit each individual owner, and Microsoft has to make sure that there is a Windows phone that meets each individual’s needs, including in the areas of productivity and social interaction, he said.

Ballmer also added that the software giant is working more and more with Research In Motion, the makers of the BalckBerry smartphone.

The user interface on the new Windows phones is refreshed in version 6.5, which includes Live Messenger and HotMail. In another example of taking a popular desktop feature onto mobile, a high-performance browser allows for zoom, pan and double taps.

Microsoft also confirmed that it will offer a new mobile applications store, called Windows Marketplace, where mobile users can get wireless applications and MIDs which can be downloaded to a phone or a PC.

However, no details were given as to when the marketplace will open for business.

As for personal choice, well the strategy is to get Windows version 6.5 on mobile phones that are high end as well as less expensive. McDonough wouldn't comment on the timing of Windows Mobile 7, which some expect to get here sometime in 2010.

Given that Windows 7 is expected to be a production release next year, how many mobile handset manufacturers might wait? Some are thinking that Microsoft is seeing an enthusiastic response to v. 6.5.

Some mobile handsets already are in the pipeline for 6.5 updates, Microsoft asserted.

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Source: Microsoft.