Microsoft today announced the availability of the first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. From now on, every new Windows Mobile phone will simply be referred to as a Windows phone, as the software giant tries to expand its Windows brand to the mobile device. Two accompanying services are also available for the devices: Microsoft My Phone, which allows customers to automatically backup and sync photos, music, contacts, and text messages from their phone to the Web, and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a store for mobile applications that will be accessible from both the Windows phone and the Web. Finally, Microsoft released the Windows phone Custom Theme Creator so that people can create personalized themes for their Windows phone.
We had a chance to speak with Greg Sullivan, Senior Product Manager for Windows Mobile, and he summarized the company's goals by saying these Windows phones were "not just for work, but for life."
Microsoft is highlighting a few new features of Windows Mobile 6.5, including a new, enhanced Windows Live experience that offers more social networking functionality and integration with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Windows Live. There's also improved e-mail support, including the ability to manage multiple accounts right from a user's phone with Outlook Mobile and Exchange Server synchronization. Users can also sync files on the phone via Windows Live Media Manager, as well as open and edit Word and Excel documents using Microsoft Office Mobile. Internet Explorer is also getting a long-overdue rework and now has support for Adobe Flash Lite2.
In September 2009, Microsoft revealed the mobile operators and phone manufacturers that had agreed to support Windows Mobile 6.5. Microsoft expects its partners to deliver more than 30 new phones in more than 20 countries by the end of 2009, confirming reports from two weeks ago. North American users will get to choose from AT&T's HTC Pure (pictured above), the HTC Tilt 2 (also from AT&T), the HTC Imagio from Verizon, and the Samsung Intrepid from Sprint (available next week). HTC, Samsung, Toshiba, and LG will all be shipping Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets in Europe. Another handful, including the HTC Touch Diamond 2, Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20, and Acer beTouch E100 will available in Asia.
Microsoft My Phone
The My Phone service is exiting beta and launching commercially; the next time beta testers sync, they will receive a notification on their mobile phone to update the My Phone software. My Phone is a backup and storage service for your phone that lets you automatically synchronize the specific types of content you choose to a password-protected website.Although My Phone is built-in for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, it is also downloadable for those with versions 6.0 and 6.1. It moves data from your phone up into the cloud so that you can access and manage it from anywhere, allowing you to look up and edit contact information on the Web, share photos and videos with friends, or even move your text messages and calendar appointments to a new phone in the event that you lose or damage your current one. Users can also publish their photos from the My Phone website or their phone directly to Windows Live, Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr. As part of the free service, people can go online and map the last known location of their phone from when it was last synchronized.
Automatic syncing can be set up to run every day at a time of your choosing, or you can force the sync at any time (in a manner similar to Windows Update, say). In this way, calendar items, contacts, tasks, appointments, text messages, and other information is kept up-to-date in the cloud. It also allows the user to store music, photos, documents, and videos at a third location (the first two being your Windows phone and the second being your PC).
Microsoft is also offering a My Phone Premium package that adds more advanced "lost phone" features users can activate as needed. The package includes the ability to immediately locate the phone's current location on a map (US-only), remotely lock a phone and post an "if found" message to its screen, loudly ring the phone even if it is set to vibrate or silent mode, and even completely erase the phone to protect personal data from falling into the wrong hands. These features will be available to My Phone users on Windows Mobile 6.x free of charge until November 30, 2009. After that date, seven-day access to the premium package will be available for purchase for $4.99 in the US.
A major setback is that this service comes with only 200MB of storage (we're still disappointed this doesn't simply use the 25GB that every Windows Live user gets with SkyDrive, but Microsoft claims the average user has about 70MB worth of apps and data). Sullivan shot down rumors we had heard that this space limitation would be expanded this week. Nevertheless, it is available for download now from the Microsoft Download Center (1.27MB).
Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile goes beyond the current Windows Mobile Catalog, as it provides direct-to-phone mobile applications and is accessible from both the Windows phone and the Web (the latter isn't available yet). Users are able to use the marketplace to find and purchase mobile applications with their Windows Live ID. The Marketplace is launching with just 246 mobile applications, though Microsoft insists that more than 753 ISVs worldwide are on board to continue building out the catalog.Although applications on Windows Marketplace for Mobile will undergo a simple security and compatibility check, it looks like they won't be subject to the same kind of arbitrary scrutiny as software on the iTunes store. All purchased applications are certified by Microsoft to run on Windows phones and are backed by a simple return policy. In September 2009, Microsoft clarified that the kill switch and remote application deletion abilities in Windows Marketplace for Mobile will only be used in specific scenarios, and when this happens, the software giant will issue refunds.
For now, the Marketplace is exclusive to Windows Mobile 6.5, though in July 2009 the company confirmed that the store would support Windows Mobile versions 6.0 and 6.1 by the end of 2009. Sullivan, however, refused to give a more detailed timeframe.
"This is just really the beginning of innovation you will see from us in the coming weeks and months," Sullivan told Ars. A lot of that innovation will come in the form of Windows Mobile 7, which is due for release at some undetermined point in 2010. In many ways WinMob 6.5 is a transitional release, meant to tide handset makers and consumers over until the long-awaited overhaul due with version 7.0. With Microsoft having fallen far behind in the smartphone market over the past couple of years, the software giant has its work cut out for it.
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