Windows Mobile follows iPhone’s lead
A series of leaks and confirmed news about upcoming Windows Mobile changes suggest the platform is following in the footsteps of the iPhone. The new features include an App store and a MobileMe-style synchronization service.
MyPhone doesn’t yet have a launch date but Microsoft has set-up a dedicated website confirming the service is coming soon. As well as synchronizing data, it will give users access to a password-protected website with 200MB of online storage and photo-sharing facilities. Blorge’s Michael Jones wrote more on the scheme yesterday.
Naturally the launch will remind some users of Apple’s own MobileMe service, a similar facility which launched last July, albeit not without some major teething issues.
The Apple flavor doesn’t end there: The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is launching its own applications store. It describes the plan as an “online bazaar for distributing software to cellular phones that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system.”
It was probably inevitable that Microsoft would launch such a feature after the success of similar stores from Apple and Google’s Android. Indeed, even handset manufacturer Nokia is reportedly getting in on the act.
Mobile devices make up one of the few areas where Microsoft’s operating systems are gaining in market share, so copying successful ideas may be more important than originality.
There are also some more details emerging about Windows Mobile 6.5, the next edition of Microsoft’s phone operating system. In this case the most visibly influenced feature takes its lead from Windows Vista rather than a rival firm’s features. A new interface which resembles honeycombs is reportedly very pretty but doesn’t work well on lower-spec hardware: how very Aero.
The main functional change is the apparent replacement of Pocket Outlook with Outbook Live, shifting contact management online and allowing synchronization of multiple e-mail accounts.
Unfortunately for Microsoft these changes don’t seem enough for everyone. Motorola is reportedly unlikely to show much interest in Windows Mobile until version 7, which isn’t due until 2010.
Related Posts:
February 13th, 2009
“Windows [...] follows [...]“.
It’s ironic isn’t it: Microsoft is the “market leader”, and yet all they ever do is follow.