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Feb. 16, 2010

Late yesterday, Microsoft released a new mobile operating system, its latest move to reclaim a leading position against its current rivals in the mobile operating systems.

Those rivals are Apple, Research in Motion (RIM), Google's Android OS, Palm's Web-OS and the Symbian Foundation.

Microsoft's brand new mobile operating system is made up of "live tiles" that are updated in real time. After many months of speculation, the software giant has finally confirmed that Windows Mobile 7 will be a tiles-based interface and will include live access to Facebook.

Microsoft will also add its own X-Box Live feature for gaming and Zune for music and photos. Its BING search engine will also be included, the company said.

In 2008, Microsoft was embedded in about 22 percent of the smartphones sold. It's now in less than 10 percent of all wireless handsets sold, with some major competition coming from Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry.

Google's Android OS has only made a crowded space even more crowded for Microsoft and the other participants in this cut-throat market that dosen't seem to want to ease anytime soon.

The variety of hardware partners will provide wireless customers with a clear choice in a "one size does NOT fit all" mobile world, said Microsoft's senior vice president of mobile communications business Andy Lees.

For example, some phones will be equipped with keyboards, while others will not, said Lees.

But all phones running the new Windows Mobile 7 operating system will include certain features, such as four-point multitouch. Lees said Microsoft will reveal the range of phones closer to the holiday season launch.

The software giant says it looks like nothing on the market and the advantage lies with mobile users gaining instant access to all these great new offerings on their smartphones amd MIDs (mobile Internet devices).

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that this is a major push for the company to get back in the mobile space. He said 7-based smartphones will be manufactured by the likes of Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, HTC, HP, Dell, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Garmin-Asus.

The new handsets will be available on multiple wireless networks, including T-Mobile USA, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless, as well as international mobile carriers such as Telefonica, Vodafone, SFR, Telestra and Telecom.

Lees added that wireless carriers will also be able to enable their own innovations, software and mobile services to work with the new Windows 7 operating system.

Lees also said that Microsoft has "deeply engaged" some specific partnerships with AT&T, which launched the first Windows Mobile smartphone in the U.S. in 2003 and is the exclusive carrier for Apple's iPhone.

He also said that Microsoft has made partnerships with France Telecom Group's Orange as well, which introduced the first Windows-based smartphone phone to Europe more than eight ears ago.

Unlike Google's Android operating system, which is open source and available to manufactures at no cost, Microsoft requires wireless handset makers to purchase operating licenses or the phones simply won't work.

The features of the new operating system are a "step in the right direction," said Todd Day, wireless analyst at Frost & Sullivan in New York.

However, Day also warned that Microsoft's business model could wind up being an obstacle to the success of the Windows Mobile 7 Series, if not handled carefully by Microsoft.

"Overall, Microsoft's revenue model is shifting, and it could be a real catch that the company starts charging licensing fees when everyone else is offering free and open source operating systems," said Day, adding that open source mobile operating systems generate profit through advertising sales and search revenue.

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Source: Microsoft.