Updated Interface, Services for Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile 6.5, the next version of Microsoft’s platform for smart phones, offers modest improvements over the current iteration, and new online services will provide free backup of users’ data and a phone-accessible marketplace for applications. The updated platform and services, which will be rolled out in the second half of 2009, could help Microsoft maintain Windows Mobile market share in the face of stiff new competition from Apple, Google, and others, as the company works on its next major phone platform, Windows Mobile 7, which is due in 2010.

Holding On to Market Share

Windows Mobile is Microsoft’s platform for smart phones, which are generally defined as mobile phones with a large screen and keyboard (either onscreen or on the device), a graphical user interface, and the capacity to run Internet-connected applications, particularly e-mail and a Web browser.

Windows Mobile is built on Windows CE Embedded, Microsoft’s small-footprint embedded OS for devices with limited power, but is updated on a more frequent schedule and includes graphic elements and bundled applications, such as mobile versions of Internet Explorer (IE) and the Windows Media Player. (For an overview of the Windows Mobile and Windows CE schedules, see “Windows Mobile Roadmap“.) Microsoft does not build hardware for Windows Mobile but rather sells the platform to cell-phone handset makers—Taiwanese company HTC has manufactured approximately 80% of all Windows Mobile devices sold, according to statements by executives at a recent trade show.