Over 30 WM 6.5 smartphones due by year's end
updated 09:40 am EDT, Wed September 23, 2009
More than 30 WM 6.5 phones due before 2010
More than 15 phone manufacturers will release over 30 new smartphones running on Microsoft's upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system before the end of 2009, the copmany's GCR Mobile Team Unit senior director Benjamin Tan said recently. Tan was speaking to a group of reports at the time, according to a Wednesday Digitimes report. Among the phone manufacturers slated to introduce models are HTC, Acer, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and HP.
Carriers who will carry the Windows Mobile 6.5-equipped smartphones are comprised of AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Softbank, SKT, and Telstra. In Canada, Bell and Telus are also likely to offer Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets.
The operating system for mobile devices is expected to ship on October 6th, with some devices equipped with the OS shipping on the same day. HTC will be the largest contributor and, among other updates, should launch the Tilt 2 for AT&T next month as a Windows Mobile 6.5 version of the Touch Pro2.
Some existing handsets that use the current Windows Mobile 6.1 OS can be upgraded to the newer OS through a software patch.
WM 6.5 will bring touchscreen support with larger controls, home screen widgets and Internet Explorer web browser with Flash Lite support. Windows Marketplace, an app store, will launch alongside the new OS. The online sync service My Phone will allow users to back up key files to the web.
WM 6.5 is seen as a key release for Microsoft, as it's been losing market share to the relatively new Android operating system from Google. Motorola, for example, announced it would drop Windows Mobile for its phones altogether, committing instead to Android.
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industry, software, Verizon, Microsoft, Google, Orange, htc, sprint, Toshiba, Bell, Telus, AT&T, Windows Mobile, HP, Acer, Android, LG, Samsung, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Softbank, NTT DoCoMo, Sony Ericsson, mobile phones, Telstra, SKT
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2009
Why?
When shopping for a smartphone, if the specs include WM I skip it. Do some consumers really see WM as a selling point?
I'd buy iPhone if it weren't exclusive to AT&T, and if it wasn't single sourced (Apple). WM is also single sourced (Microsoft).
Android is carrier agnostic, is backed by four dozen companies, the phones are available from multiple manufacturers, and it provides an iPhone-like user environment (including an app marketplace).
I'm not interested in single vendor lock-in products anymore. Burned too many times.