Earlier this week, Microsoft consolidated its mobile  -phone initiatives under the Windows phone brand. The company also introduced three phones with the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system and announced an application store.
The upgraded operating system is being used in three phones initially: The HTC Pure from AT&T, the HTC Imagio from Verizon Wireless, and the Samsung Intrepid from Sprint, which will be available on Oct. 11. Microsoft said there may be as many as 30 Windows phones -- i.e., phones driven by Windows Mobile 6.5 -- by the end of this year.
The new operating system is seen by many observers as a stopgap before the release of Windows Mobile 7.0.
With the upgrade from 6.1 to 6.5, the primary features of the Windows Mobile family remain intact, such as the ability to work seamlessly with Windows applications like Microsoft Office and Outlook, according to Sean Westcott, IT administrator for Fairfax, Va.-based construction engineering firm McDonough Bolyard Peck and author of the book Digitally Daunted.
My Phone Adds Remote Capabilities
The question is whether the new features will be enough. Westcott likes the My Phone feature, which provides some semblance of Microsoft Exchange functionality without requiring the investment.
"The most intriguing thing is through the My Phone app you can track the phone," Westcott said. "You can hit a button and log into a Web page and find out where in the world the phone is" -- a very practical feature to have when that phone goes missing. "It also has the ability to blank the phone or to lock it," he said.
While such features may be useful, they aren't likely to make headlines with consumers and enterprises in the age of Apple iPhones and Palm Pres.
Roman Fichman, a technology attorney in New York City, said the new operating system offers only incremental changes from Windows Mobile 6.1, the previous version.
Fichman also pointed out that the increasing ability of other phones to integrate with Exchange is eliminating one of the biggest distinguishing characteristics of the Windows Mobile family. He said he isn't aware of any enterprise currently implementing Windows Mobile. Generally, he said, companies are using the BlackBerry and "some are willing to work with Apple and the iPhone."
Too Little, But Is It Too Late?
Aaron Maxwell, president of Hilomath -- a San Francisco firm that makes web sites more usable by mobile devices -- has mixed feelings about the new operating system. He said the opening of an app store is a positive, but the need to use a stylus to input information is a problem. (continued...)
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