| Editors' retrospective -- Windows-powered Devices in 2007 |
Dec. 31, 2007
 2007 was a banner year in the continuing proliferation of "Windows Embedded" software within "smart" devices. Numerous new Windows-powered devices reached market, including smartphones, set-top boxes, portable media players, thin clients, GPS gadgets -- even cars from Fiat and Ford.
Many events, announcements, and trends stand out from among all the year's Windows Embedded news:- Microsoft seemingly worked overtime in 2007 to get new products out. At the beginning of the year, it released Windows Vista and announced it would add IPTV functionality to the Xbox 360. In February, it released Windows Mobile 6 and the .NET Micro Framework. In March, the "Response Point" VoIP platform. By the end of the year, it had launched Windows CE 6.0 R2, and started discussing a new release of Windows XP Embedded and even Windows Vista Embedded.
- Other vendors hardly sat still. AMD added new CPUs to its embedded program and launched chipsets with embedded graphics processors, while Intel boasted of fundamental advances in transistor design with its 45nm (nanometer) technology, tipped its plans for X86 SoCs, and launched new mobile device processors. For its part, Via launched a new ultra-low voltage processor, the 500MHz Via Eden ULV, and released its first motherboard based on the tiny pico-ITX form-factor.
- Windows Mobile smartphones and handhelds continued to make inroads, especially following the above-mentioned launch of Windows Mobile 6. Selling its phones under its own name as well as a host of other brands, HTC moved into the ultra-mobile PC field and got the industry's attention with its Touch, a Windows Mobile phone that offers an "intuitive" finger-driven TouchFlo interface. I-Mate released high-end phones that are capable of driving external XGA displays. And HP surprised by releasing not only new smartphones but also new PDAs, even if analysts said the market for unconnected handhelds was fading.
- Whether or not devices were specifically designed to be mobile, they just kept getting smaller during 2007. New or revised ultra-mobile PCs made their debut from Data Evolution, FlipStart, Fujitsu, Samsung, and others. The "Eee" mini-laptop from Asus also made a big splash, even if it came in at twice the originally estimated $190 price. Meantime, complete PCs based on the Via pico-ITX board mentioned above started to ship, including Sharp and Tappin's picoPC in a polished billet aluminum case.
- Windows Embedded operating systems showed up more than ever in devices that wouldn't strike the casual observer as a computer. For instance, a handheld translation device, a video projector, and an electronic Michelin guide. Or would you believe an automated bartender?
- Analysts duly charted all this activity, noting in one case that the market for embedded systems is expected to grow 64 percent from 2005 to 2010, and in another case that Windows XP Embedded shipments had grown in 2006 by more than 240 percent. Indeed, while Linux continued to pressure competitive embedded operating systems and cut their suppliers' profit margins, that apparently didn't stop sales from being up across the board.
To help our readers see the past year in perspective, we've culled through nearly 1,000 stories published by WindowsForDevices.com during 2007, and selected about 150 that we feel had the most impact. Brief summaries and links to the complete stories are provided in the five categories listed below.
Most Significant Stories for 2007
(Click here for further information)
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