Posted 09/28/09 at 07:07:40 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft had originally planned to release Windows Mobile 7 in 2009. But it then pushed the release to 2010. The cutthroat nature of the smartphone market offers very little leeway for such delays. Besides, WinMo 7 is supposed to be a product that will bring Windows phones up to speed with other contemporary smartphones.

The delay left Microsoft with no choice but to plug Windows 6.5, an interim release, in a manner only accorded to a major release. It is clearly a gambit to prevent WinMo loyalists from abandoning the terribly long road to WinMo 7.

Just days before the much hyped global launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, Steve Ballmer could be heard criticizing the company's mobile platform at the Microsoft Venture Capitalist Summit last week. No journalists had been invited to the event.
"Ballmer said they screwed up with Windows Mobile. Wishes they had already launched WM7. They completely revamped the team," tweeted Paul Jozefak, a venture capitalist, from the event floor.

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Posted 08/19/09 at 06:46:47 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft’s share of the mobile OS market has plummeted sharply in the last few years. It needs to  quickly mount a counter-offensive against its more dapper rivals in the smartphone market, if it is to prevent itself from being marginalized even further. According to Taiwanese rumor mill Digitimes, Microsoft does have a strategy to counter its rivals in the smartphone market.

A Digitimes report, based on insider information from sources at Taiwan handset makers, suggests that Microsoft has readied a dual-platform strategy to take on the Android platform and Apple's iPhone. Under this strategy, Microsoft will not withdraw Windows Mobile 6.5 from the market even after Windows 7 Mobile is released during the fourth quarter of 2010.  Instead, it will keep Windows Mobile 6.5 – a minor upgrade – on the market, albeit at a lower price point.

According to the sources, Microsoft plans to pit Windows Mobile 6.5 against Android, while reserving Windows Mobile 7 for the Apple iPhone.

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Posted 02/20/09 at 04:49:54 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Google Mobile App is now available on Windows Mobile. It is basically a search application with an ambiguous name. The Google Mobile App spares lazy mobile users the trouble of opening their browser for initiating an online search.

You might want to know about the amount of time that can be saved with this app. According to Google, it is possible to get "search results for identical queries nearly 50% faster from Google Mobile App than from navigating to google.com in the mobile browser."

The search application can not only be accessed directly from the start menu, but it is also possible to summon it to action while another application is active by pressing a shortcut key assigned to it (assigned by the user).

There are not too many reasons for WM users to overlook this application. Apart from search, the Google Mobile App also provides instant access to many other popular web services, including Google Maps, Gmail and Google News.

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Posted 02/19/09 at 04:12:09 PM by Pulkit Chandna

With Google having opened Android Market to paid apps, users of the fledgling mobile platform are eagerly looking forward to an inevitable rise in the number of apps. Google, on its part, is trying its best to offer more reasons for Android users to exult.

And exult they will on hearing that the Android Market will let users return any application within 24 hours from the time of purchase. Google has stolen a march on Apple’s App Store by espousing an application return policy. 

Also, users will be allowed unlimited reinstalls by Google. If any dispute arises - including billing issues - between a user and a developer, the two parties will have to settle it directly as Google is not interested in playing arbitrator. Another thing Google is not interested in is porn. The Android Market policies expressly prohibit “nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material.”

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Posted 09/15/08 at 07:19:13 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Google’s chief of mobile platforms Andy Rubin seems to believe the cliché ‘first impression is the last impression’. He told Reuters that the success of the Android platform would depend on the reception of its first phone. He believes that there is very little margin for failure as far as the first Android phone goes - first impression. The first Android phone will be T-Mobile’s HTC Dream, and is rumored to be scheduled for release later this month.

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Posted 09/11/08 at 06:59:23 PM by Pulkit Chandna

It is well known that T-Mobile will be launching the maiden Android-based phone, which in all likelihood would be the HTC Dream. Now, Reuters is reporting that the launch of the first Android device could be just a few weeks away. September 23rd might witness an official announcement from T-Mobile and Google – members of the Open Handset Alliance, according to the report, which is based on intel gained from two anonymous persons. After the launch of Android, Cell phone users will be spoilt for choice as far as mobile platforms are concerned.

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