At the conference, Microsoft is introducing enhancements to its Windows Mobile platform that the company says will increase flexibility for application developers and extend the functionality of the .NET Compact Framework.
Microsoft reports that 37 hardware manufacturers and more than 50 mobile operators are currently delivering Windows Mobile-based devices and services globally. In addition, over 7,000 mobility partners are now part of the Microsoft Mobile Solutions Partner Program (MSPP), and more than 12,000 applications are commercially available for Windows Mobile-based devices.
Among the key announcements associated with the European Tech-Ed / Mobile Devcon conference are . . .
- Microsoft says that KONE, a leading company in the global elevator and escalator business, is deploying Windows Mobile based devices to 11,000 employees in 17 countries over the next two years. According to Microsoft, this represents one of the widest deployments of Windows Mobile based devices to date. Along with the benefits of real-time communication, KONE can now offer valuable new services to its customers, such as real-time progress updates from field workers, enabling more efficient customer service and significant cost savings, Microsoft says.
- Microsoft and mobile operators O2 and TeliaSonera have announced plans to deliver real-time location-based services for MapPoint Location Server (MLS). According to Microsoft, MLS enables a broader range of businesses to significantly improve the way they locate, track and manage their mobile assets and mobile work force. MLS is said to support industry standards and enables developers, independent software vendors and system integrators to more efficiently create and deploy location-aware business applications. Users will obtain real-time location data from the O2 and TeliaSonera networks using the mapping and location capabilities of Microsoft's MapPoint Web Service.
- Microsoft announced that .NET Compact Framework Version 2.0 is included in the beta release of Visual Studio 2005, the next major version of Visual Studio being released at the conference. The company says that .NET Compact Framework 2.0 provides a "richer application development environment for mobile developers through dramatically increased productivity, performance and extensibility." Feedback from smart device application builders and customers indicates that they have benefited from the combination of the familiar Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Compact Framework, Microsoft says.
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