(Click here for a larger view of a Windows Mobile 7 mockup)Citing anonymous sources,
CNet reporter Ina Fried writes that Microsoft recently met with seventeen of the company's largest partners in the cell phone and carrier markets, informing them of the Windows Mobile 7 release schedule. Confirming the meeting but not the "delay," Microsoft Group Product Manager Scott Rockfeld is reported as saying, "They all expressed their excitement of what we are doing in the short term and the long term."
Whatever it might have told carriers and cell phone manufacturers privately, Microsoft has never publicly cited a release date for Windows Mobile 7. Instead, an interim update to Windows Mobile 6.1 --
announced in April, and apparently still on track for release by the end of this year -- will allow its bundled Internet Explorer browser to view web pages full-screen, without menu bars and other "chrome." The update will also provide
Adobe Flash and Microsoft
Silverlight support, as well as compatibility with H.264 video, according to the company.
Hype and leaksUnder heavy fire from Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, however, Microsoft is reportedly "guilty" of hyping Windows Mobile 7 features to insiders at private events, such as its own
Mobius conference. It has also depicted potential user interface changes in various videos. The screen at the top of this story, for example, was captured from a video created to promote the company's
Live Search search engine.
In addition, the software giant is running a job posting recruiting senior product manager candidates for an online applications store, similar to that already offered by Apple for its iPhone. Until it was revised, the posting on site
Computerjobs.com mentioned both Windows Mobile 7 and the online store "Skymarket" by name.
Rumored new features for Windows Mobile 7 have included the following:
- Enhanced input methodologies, including fingers, speech, and use of a camera to sense motion
- A centralized store for OTA (over-the-air) download of applications
- Possible integration with Microsoft's Zune music marketplace
- Addition of the "sliding panels" interface -- already featured on Windows Mobile Standard devices -- to Windows Mobile Professional touchscreen devices
Microsoft's Rockfeld, who regularly
appears promoting Windows Mobile, is quoted by
CNet as saying, "Customers don't have to sit back and wait. There's tons of stuff coming from us and our partners."
Sony's Xperia has a 800 x 480 display and finger-operable custom interfaceIn their attempts to give Windows Mobile devices some of the "wow factor" associated with the iPhone, a number of manufacturers have already created their own custom UI (user interface) enhancements. The most well-known is HTC, many of whose
Windows Mobile phones have included the company's
TouchFLO UI. Other examples include Sony Ericsson, with its
Xperia X1 (above), Samsung, with its
Omnia, and Toshiba, with its
Portege G810.
Microsoft has also
created updated Windows Mobile UIs itself for specific carriers. Examples include T-Mobile's
Shadow and Vodafone's
Treo 500v.
Microsoft's business model, allowing carriers and manufacturers to control the UI of devices themselves, may be more attractive than the one offered by Apple's iPhone or Google's Android, Rockfeld reportedly suggested to
CNet. "They don't want to sit there and just become a dumb pipe," he is reported as saying. "We're happy sharing the limelight."
Further informationTo read Ina Fried's article about the "delay" to Windows Mobile 7, see the
CNet website,
here. To read the
ComputerJobs.com posting mentioned above, see
here.
To read about today's announcement by T-Mobile and HTC of the first Android-based phone, see the coverage on our sister site
LinuxDevices.com,
here.
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