(Click here for a larger view of WindowsMobile.com)The evolving site, which now uses Microsoft's
Silverlight as well as Adobe Flash technologies, is apparently part of a $200 million effort codenamed "FTP168" (Free the People). According to
Fortune magazine articles and professional Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft has earmarked an additional $200 million this year to promote the overall Windows brand. Microsoft will focus on Windows Mobile, Windows desktop editions, and Windows Live online services, "to make sure that users know all three of them are Windows in its various guises," in Foley's words.
A slogan featured prominently on WindowsMobile.com's home page reads, "It's a mobile version of Windows, for the mobile version of your life." Meanwhile, copy delivered by an announcer in the accompanying Flash-based video promotes the use of Microsoft's Live Search engine, and stresses that Windows Mobile is the only way to get mobile versions of popular Windows applications.
Other features available from the home page include:
- A chart and FAQ comparing Windows Mobile 6.1 with previous versions
- An introduction to Microsoft's Windows Live for mobile software
- Introductions to Office Mobile, Outlook Mobile, and the mobile Internet Explorer
- "Getting started" introductions to setting up, synchronizing, and emailing from a new phone
- A catalog of third-party Windows Mobile software, with links to online stores where they can be purchased
Notably, the site also offers a database of Windows Mobile phones that lets users select phones by country, carrier, and manufacturer. This is significant because carriers themselves seldom allow prospective buyers to search for phones by operating system.
WindowsMobile.com also lets visitors search for other Windows Mobile devices such as ruggedized PDAs. Apparently, however, the site's device searching pages are still a work in progress. For the United States, for example, the search engine only finds 43 phones in all, and 25 "vertical devices." Similarly, the links for other countries often take users to other web pages that are not yet well-integrated with WindowsMobile.com.
A membership program lets WindowsMobile.com visitors download themes such as "glowing reeds" (left) and "twilight view" (right)Still, the site also offers other useful information for Windows Mobile enthusiasts. For example, it provides access to a free membership-based program called "Windows Mobile Total Access." In addition to "premium" help, tips, and how-tos, the Total Access program offers members free games, ringtones, and themes such as the "glowing reeds" and "twilight view" pictured above.
A prominent link on the new WindowsMobile.com asks users to email Microsoft to provide feedback. Meanwhile, some critical comments have already turned up on the third-party LiveSide.net blog, where user "quikboy" says the "site is much better than the old one," but slams it for not having an integrated applications store. The site should also have an emulator, allowing prospective purchasers to see a device in operation, suggests quikboy.
In addition to the consumer-focused WindowsMobile.com, Microsoft has recently launched new or revamped sites targeting Windows Mobile resellers and developers. The
Windows Mobile Connection, launched in May, is for "anyone who sells mobile phones or works in the mobile industry." The
Windows Mobile Developer Center, relaunched in February, has sections focusing on smart devices, mobile games, mobile web development, and "rich internet applications."
Further informationTo read articles by
Fortune magazine and Mary Jo Foley on "FTP168," go
here and
here, respectively. To read comments about WindowsMobile.com on LiveSide.net, visit the blog,
here.
To access WindowsMobile.com, visit the Microsoft website,
here.
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