AT&T to carry Windows Mobile 7 flagship?
updated 09:40 am EDT, Tue May 26, 2009
LG Monaco ATT Leak
AT&T may be the home to one of the first headlining devices for Windows Mobile 7, a slide from a leaked presentation shows. The LG Monaco would be a full touchscreen smartphone with a 3.2-inch, 800x480 display and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard underneath. The new Microsoft OS is claimed by Engadget to be the centerpiece, however, and may require that the device support multi-touch, a level of input previously off limits to Microsoft devices that have so far been forced to use single-touch, resistive touchscreens.
A 5-megapixel camera, 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi would also be standard. New to LG phones would be an optional pico projector to blow up the image on a wall.
The slide appears to be old as it claims the Monaco would ship in September, when Windows Mobile 6.5 is due to reach shipping phones. It implies that the slide was published before delays that pushed Windows Mobile 7 back to 2010 became apparent and Microsoft was forced to introduce a Windows Mobile 6.5 stopgap for 2009. Whether or not LG will modify the phone to ship it on time, or else delay it for Windows Mobile 7, isn't clear.
Microsoft has struggled to remain relevant in the current smartphone marketplace and claimed less than half Apple's share of the market through favorite Windows Mobile device maker HTC, which itself is shifting increasingly towards Google's Android platform. Most observers blame the shortfall on Windows Mobile 6's foundations on the increasingly outdated original Windows Mobile platform and its poor support of finger-driven touch controls that have led HTC, Sony and others to create their own, more intuitive interfaces.
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iPhone, sony, industry, gadgets, Microsoft, htc, AT&T, Windows Mobile, LG, mobile phones, Apple
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2008
Shift
I think we're witnessing the beginning of a major shift in power as the focus of electronics moves to portable devices and full-size devices are relegated to secondary importance. Full-size laptops and desktops aren't going away, but most people won't be using them as their primary machine since the average user just uses email and web, with the occasional typed document thrown in (Apple likes to get people doing more, like photo organization and video editing, so expect any netbook like device from them to include it, but a lot of people still won't do that often). Thus, phones with internet and small mobile devices will be the future of connectivity, and Microsoft really isn't doing so hot there at all. It's enough the I predict that Microsoft will cease to be a relevant company in regards to personal electronics within the next 10-15 years if not sooner. It's a bold prediction, but then again, I'm not alone in that belief.
jW