Posted 11/12/09 at 04:50:39 PM by Pulkit Chandna

It took quite a while for Microsoft to be fully convinced that its mobile OS is long due for an overhaul. Last month, although it did not quite deliver an overhaul, it took a small step toward bringing its mobile offering up to speed with the competition. It launched the Windows Marketplace for Mobile app store on October 6th, the very day it released Windows Mobile 6.5.

Now, the company has upgraded its app store to offer enhanced anti-piracy protection, a better developer’s portal for its registered independent software vendors (ISVs), and the ability to make application purchases from the PC.

But the enhancement that should interest WinMo users the most is the ability to “browse and buy applications from the PC.” All applications bought from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile site will be delivered wirelessly to the user’s Windows phone. Microsoft will make the store accessible to Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 customers later this month.

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Posted 11/05/09 at 05:20:48 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Though nobody expected Windows Mobile 6.5 to break any ground, it even failed to fulfill whatever few expectations people may have had. It is hard to imagine Windows Mobile 6.5 spurring handset shipments. However, HTC CEO Peter Chou claims there is strong demand for the company’s Windows Mobile 6.5-based HTC HD2 smartphone.

According to a Digitimes report, Chou is confident that his company’s handset shipments and revenues will both grow sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2009. His confidence stems from the strong demand for the HTC HD2 phone. In fact, the demand is so strong that the handset maker is finding it difficult to keep up with it. Chou said that the HD2 will be available in North America in the first quarter of 2010.

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Posted 11/02/09 at 05:08:13 PM by Bart Salisbury

Bing for Mobile has received a nifty little upgrade from Microsoft. The Bing for Mobile site has been touch-optimized, so it now takes advantage of the touch-screen functionality of many smartphones. The upgrade builds on Windows Mobile 6.5, which makes touch-screen ability part of this smartphone operating system.

Right now it appears that Bing for Mobile, which can be accessed at m.bing.com, will work on a limited number of devices. Justin Jed at the bing community blog reports touch-screen ability is available on the iPhone, T-Mobile G1, VErizon Imagio, Samsung Omnia and the Apple iPhone. It also works with the Zune HD and the iPod Touch. Jed is promising support for new devices “over the next couple months.”

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Posted 10/09/09 at 03:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

Loyd Case joins us again on this week's No BS podcast to talk about unboxing the Windows 7 party pack. We also discuss Nvidia's official statement on their chipset business and legal battle with Intel, Microsoft's release of Windows Mobile 6.5, and share more Google Wave impressions. Norm's Windows Home Server gets a spotlight, and as always, we answer a few listener questions. 

Do you have a tech question? A comment? A tale of technological triumph? Just need to get something off your chest? A secret to share? Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or call our 24-hour No BS Podcast hotline at 877.404.1337 x1337--operators are standing by.

Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337

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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 09/23/09 at 06:41:59 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft had announced last week that Sprint, AT&T and Verizon have all committed themselves to the October 6 launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, now Digitimes’ trusted unnamed sources – the finest in Taiwan - have revealed that Microsoft has secured the backing of many other telecom carriers around the world, including NTT DoCoMO, T-Mobile, Orange, Softbank Mobile, SKT, Telstra and Telus.

According to Benjamin Tan, senior director of Microsoft's GCR Mobile Team Unit in China, there will be more than 30 smartphones running WinMo 6.5 by the end of this year. He told a congregation of reporters in China that the first batch of WinMo 6.5 phones will be supplied by 15 different handset vendors.

Digitimes added that HTC, Acer, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and Hewlett-Packard are among the handset vendors backing the new mobile OS.

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Posted 09/16/09 at 03:04:24 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft is approaching the October 6 launch of its Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system with renewed vigor, even though it is only the first, more humble course of a two-course meal, of which Windows Mobile 7 is the concluding course. With Windows Mobile 6.5, it hopes to change the current perception of WinMo phones and replace it with a nattier, bonnier picture.

The company announced Tuesday that AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon will begin offering phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 on October 6 itself, the very day they will be released globally. “These are going to be fabulous phones that meet the customers' needs for their whole life,” said Stephanie Ferguson, general manager at Microsoft’s Windows Mobile unit. Beginning with the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, all WinMo-toting phones will be sold under the “Windows Phone” brand.

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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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