By According to DigiTimes sources – which can’t always be trusted might we add – Microsoft is adopting a dual strategy pitting two different offerings to challenge Android and the iPhone. Windows Mobile 6.5 will compete against Android while Windows Mobile 7 (when it launches in Q4 2009) will attempt to slay the iPhone.
Microsoft plans to adopt a dual platform strategy to promote its Windows Mobile OS (operating system) so as to take aims at both Android- and iPhone-based platforms, according to sources at Taiwan handset makers.
Microsoft is expected to officially launch Windows Mobile 6.5 on October 1, 2009 and add an upgrade version with a touch interface in February 2010, the sources indicated citing Microsoft roadmap.
Microsoft will not phase out Windows Mobile 6.5 from the market but will lower the OS price, when it launches Windows Mobile 7 scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2010, the sources added.
The dual-platform strategy will allow Microsoft to compete with Android-based platform using Windows Mobile 6.5 and also compete with iPhones leveraging Windows Mobile 7, the sources asserted.
What a slap in the face. Like really… are you kidding me? Do you not understand how awesome Android is going to be come the holiday season? How much more awesome will it be by the time Windows Toilet 7 launches during holidays 2010?
This is only a rumor – supposedly from handset makers – but I can see it being true. Microsoft has such a warped sense of reality in terms of their power and the success of Google that they’re simply in denial. They had better wake up. When is the last time anybody said anything good about Windows Mobile? How about Android?
Whenever you hear of an awesome new phone with Windows Mobile the general reply by general tech loving public is, “Unfortunately it runs Windows Mobile and not Android.” Yeah Microsoft… smart thinking… Apple is the one you really need to worry about since Apple is trying so hard to get their OS on HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and other devices instead of Windows Mobile.
Now all we need is a Microsoft Windows Mobile blue screen of death. Total fail.
I honestly laughed out loud to this :D
Microsoft full blown version by end of 2010?
By then, Android will be 60,000 plus apps strong with many more features. Good luck with that MS…What mobile operating system can you buy now?
This is why i want to be CEO of Microsoft. They do stupid things like this. Windows Mobile has the power to be the best mobile operating system, but microsoft is currently too dumb to realize what consumers want out of a smartphone. Not to mention, yes, they should mainly be worried about Android than iPhone. HTC is gradually phasing out Windows Mobile in favor of Android, and Samsung and Motorola are set to release incredible devices running android. If microsoft doesn’t play their cards right, no phone manufacturer will want to use Windows Mobile.
“Windows Toilet 7?” That’s the best you could come up with? Lame…
Apple is trying to get iPhone OS on other phones? O_o
Well… I see your point. But if we just look at it unbiased… Android is simply free of charge. This can (!) make handsets cheaper. Lowering the price of WM 6.5 can (!) also make handsets cheaper (though not as much as a completely free OS – this is where Microsoft’s warped sense of reality comes to mind). So what they’re aiming for is making the phones cheaper. Anyway, I don’t know what I’m saying (it’s late), I guess I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Microsoft really has to get off their butts to catch up with Android, so there ya go. :D
Let Microsoft underestimate Android at its own peril :)
They are like some 500lb guy lying on the ground getting kicked in the head by two gang bangers (google/apple) but still shouting “when I manage to stand up i’ll get you! in 12 months!”
too true. not to mention it wasn’t till android came out and started creating buzz that microsoft decided to get its bald head out of its big behind. and in a couple of years when android has all but dominated the mobile OS market, all balmer will be able to say is, I was wrong about android. and by that time a lot of good it will do them
Mr. Rob Jackson how do you expect me to take seriously anything that you have wrote when you are acting like a little child that is cheering for is favor team!What happen with being objective??? What happen with waiting and finding out what the next OS is about before judging something that you know nothing about! I think collage degree from real university could help! Until than, please try to stay low because when it comes being objective…you got nothing to say!!!
I would point out how you’re such a fan boy with how you present this article… but the site _is_ called phandroid so..
Dude if Apple gets its hands on HTC… dude over kill.
Windows Toilet 7!! Oh, gosh, I was really laughing my ass off!! You made my day!!
*LAUGH*
This sort of reminds me of the cold war … when a little piece of crap 3rd world country would say something like: “The USA sucks, we like the Soviet Union!”, or visa versa … and no one gave a crap, because it’s s crappy little 3rd world country.
Same thing. Exactly.
Woah, I thought WM7 was right around the corner. That OS really have to be some masterpiece software if they want any chance of success. Maybe we’ll be surprised… or maybe not.
i have no idea what’s going on
For me it’s less about the OS than the baggage. MS has demonstrated, basically forever, they’re incapable of making products without big limitations or graceless crap interfaceisms. Sure, occasional exceptions, but not enough. Apple is incapable of leaving things open, and sticking with AT&T seals that option. Android currently looks like the only, come one, come all sandbox in which we can play, and given their size, clout, and patience, they have a great chance of pressuring change in the carrier market. Enough of being stuck with 1990 phone capabilities with text messaging thrown in for ridiculous profits on a simplistic side-channel tech. Oh wait, we can do video, 3×5 web, and find a Pizza shop if we add the $5, $25, and $15 options. The complete lack of innovation and carrier feature lockout makes my head spin. The entire big-carrier feature destruction is a great example of how capitalism at its ultimate ends up in the crapper.
You know, at first I was pretty sure this report was nothing but BS. It couldn’t be true.
But then again, I realized it is Microsoft we are talking about, and in that case, anything’s possible. Weird, but maybe this is really how the MS executives are thinking.
Reminds me of the day when Steve Ballmer underestimated the iphone
I have a Windows Mobile phone and it is absolutely sh1t!
The only reason I have not got rid of it is 6 months to go on an 18 month contract. Believe me I cannot wait!
I have had to endure months of my brother taking the p1ss out of me and my phone. He has an iPhone which is light years ahead of Windows Mobile.
Because he was so impressed with his iPhone he has bought a Macbook Pro 17″ laptop which is simply out of this world.
He will never buy anything Microsoft ever again.
I feel the same way. Microsoft have lost the inititive with their arrogance. Put simply they’re not the best, or the second best, not even the third best. They are just ‘there’ because they have been around for a very long time. Yawn…
I like the idea of Android, it can be developed on Eclipse and programmed with Java that I know well. It also looks a really nice OS.
No one is going to wait for a new Windows Mobile OS because they just know it will be CR4P!
After having used WinMo on phones from version 5 to just recently putting a cooked rom of 6.5 of my HTC Apache, I can honestly say there’s been no improvement, other than to try and copy the iphone interface (or as much as inept microsoft dev’s can stretch their os to do). The sum of “improvements” from winmo5 to 6.5 really lies in “titanium”, their poor facsimile of a finger touch interface, and the settings menu. Other than that, I’ve noticed nothing but the same old settings menus, the same exact old bugs that afflict a number of primary features (wifi, bluetooth, email), and nothing else, meaning all the “improvements” are cosmetic. I can only imagine WinMo7 will be more of the same crap. I will do a happy dance the day Verizon gets Android or Pre hardware, until them im sticking with a dumbphone to simply make calls.
Haveing to use a HTC WM phone at work, I can say for sure you’ll never see a BSOD for WM. I will stop working long before it gets that far. The number of hard resets I’ve had to do to this shitty os is amazing. But then I’ll start to be very good at hard resetting the HTC. The touchscreen keyboard freezes up, sometimes you can’t even manage to get the SP to even start without hard rebooting it. The number of hours I’ve lost makes me yearn for Android to come.
Why MS hasn’t MS championed the Open-Reset Foundation?
“Letting users reset their devices easily, most of the time.”
Okay, now I’m just sniping. Every product has its moments. But really, if you’ve used WM in it’s various incarnations since CE, including ActiveSync, it’s obvious that division is a few smart eggs short of a dozen. Their 10yr track record says clearly that buying into their next product would be wishful thinking at best. It’s a bit like GM cars. I don’t care if one product buried somewhere among your huge, Steven Spielberg warehouse is “improved.” Most of it is still junk.
I usually really enjoy reading your articles, but I must say I was dissapointed with this one. It lacked maturity, objectiveness and class.
@Dani – every once and awhile I feel poked into making a rant post. Unfortunately I can be immature and biased, but I drink champagne with my pinky-finger up so that lack of class comment is insulting ;) Thanks for reading and commenting!
absolute true!
Android is sucks compare iPhoneOS.
I’m a .NET Developer and I just spent the past 8 months building a WinMo version of our desktop app. The WinMo UI sucks, it looks like VB 3. And if there is one thing I have learned in mt 12 years of software development it is this: People are more likely to be interested in an app if it looks good/flashy/nice regardless of what features it has. Microsoft has left the WinMo developer out in the cold. The next version of .NET/Visual Studio will not ship with an updated .NET Compact Framework but instead will be shipped later next year as an add-on. The promised support for Silverlight in WinMo is a fucking pipe dream that was “demoed” in 2008?.
well said brothar
I cannot believe that Ballmer even has a job! People listen to this clown? He thinks the Iphone OS is better! With his track record Android should be a fantastic success!
yes, as reg plain ol winmo it sucks. but running a ui over it is a total transformation. i had the mogul running spb mobile shell 3.5 and it was the best phone ive had yet. I currently have the hero and its decent at best with the sense ui. its somewhat illogical and intrusive though. winmo running spb is a far better os, sorry to say but it really is. But if spb would make a mobile shell for android i think ill cream my pants.
Uh, hate to break it to you guys, but open source android sucks… its sooo clunky….
@aznbl1tzkr13g (3rd poster)
I agree. But MS doesn’t understand what consumers want. They are a company that makes products for enterprise, down to the bone. They should stay out of personal and entertainment. That’s the problem, they have been sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. Which is why people are buying crappy, boring pc’s, not knowing what Mac or Linux is. Then they are miserable and don’t think there are any other options. All because Microsoft is trying to be more than business and they don’t know how!
Forgot to add to my last post that now because MS stuck their nose there, every program is made for Windows. So now when there is a smart person out there who knows how to pick an OS, nothing works with it, so they have to use crappy, bloated Windows, all because MS suck their nose in here.
tech66 – The built-in controls, as they are, suck for CF, I agree. However, have you tried programming a nice UI for iPhone?! Not much is built-in there either. You have guidelines and they refuse your app if it doesn’t look good enough in the appstore. That’s the only reason apps tend to look good. WM has no filter like that. Crap in gives you crap out.
I’ve built several WM apps with compelling UIs comparable to iPhone and it didn’t take much effort. There is help all over the intertubez on how to do it. There are also a multitude of free third party UI layers to choose from (some even use accelerated OpenGL). It’s not ideal, but it rocks hard.
To all the other haters…
I’d never count Google out. But I’d also never count Microsoft out. All you haters remind me of the haters circa XBox (version 1) release. Oh wahh it’s too hot, it’s too heavy, it’s too bulky, the’re too late to the party, it’ll never catch on. Now XBox 360 has been out for some time and it and the Wii are absolutely pwning Sony for market share — the previously unstoppable force!
Competition is good. I wish Android success for that reason. I have used an Android device, and with the exception of the really cool notification system, I don’t see anything special about it that it does better than Windows Mobile 6.1, let alone 6.5 and 7. I’m not saying it sucks. It’s nice. I’m just saying it’s a pretty plain platform, JUST like WM is. Both have some catching up to do on the consumer side. Droid is a step in the right direction, as is the HD2 on the WM side.
On the business side though, shit… Neither Android nor WM are even close to the Blackberry. Nowhere close! Microsoft, having an email/communications server technology they can leverage (Exchange), puts them at second place easy, but it’s still a pretty far second. Android? Oh wow I can sync to gmail! That’s no different than Microsoft bragging they can sync to Hotmail. Who cares? POP/IMAP syncing is not special. Even dumbphones can do that.
If I can’t do things like remotely configure phones, apply security lockout policies, set password policies, set software installation policies, remote wipe, or any of the other things RIM and Microsoft give me with their server technologies, then Android is not a good choice for business phones.
Andriod OS is gonna suck Microsofts cock soon! just like all Linux OS’s sucks Windows 7 cock right now. Andriod is a tool thats it. People want to use shit that is UI friendly an works for everyone. linux never made anything like this an never will. develepors wont give a shit as they always have not cared. the real money is generated by the real products which Microsoft an Apple has been carrying. Linux is old trash an should be erased don’t need that stuff anymore.
@Andriod is Weaksauce look at it – Android rules and why are you even here? This is an Android Fan Blog! Linux has compatibility like Windows (WINE installer) and all the safety of Mac OS X. So I say: Balls to Microsoft, Keep on truckin’ Apple, and Hats off to Android/Linux!
Android sucks…I had the iPhone for 2 years and my company switched to Cellular South and got the HTC Hero to save money. There is so much wrong with this phone that its not even funny. The screen is still dark when you take it away from your face when you obviously need to use touchscreen buttons. The voice mail requires a password and when you start to type one it goes blank. I have dust under my screen. The navigation buttons on the email app do not go up to new emails unless you go down first. it rings on the callers end twice before my cell rings once so they hang up and I have to call back. the battery life sucks. GPS is way off sometimes and I have to reboot to fix it. The iPhone was nearly perfect right outta the box and now I have to deal with this piece of crap.
Oh my god jimmy I could’nt agree with you more man. I been using the g1 since it came out even now I’m typeing from it to make this post as I’m typing the phone is like 3 words behind its so damn slow it drives me mad. I love google and what they do, but the android is so laggy I want to thru it. And I’m not the only one. I used the iphone a couple days ago and its respond time is great and smooth its app work and don’t crash like this g1 shit but I can’t blame htc. Also I’m lisening to music that’s probably why its laging. Idk the iphones system is so refind. Imk an iphone hater and apple hater and after using that phone I don’t know what to say. The app right now are alright mostly shit right now. For god sakes the bestgame on the market right now is pac man wtf that shit sucks. Good clasic in the 80’s maybe but not 25 years later. I’m thinking about the nexus and in general I like android but its so unpolished idk what to say. Any way idk if ill continue usiing android my next phone better react fast and run well I hate to say it but maybe like the iphone. Android rocks in its core essence but in reality has a lot of homes. Iv decided my next buy will have to be an iphone. Even the nexus ios still laggy and buggy and fuck idk peace guys and gals.
@Jimmy & @serge — Get a Droid. Don’t hate on Android because your phones suck.
The iPhone is old compared to droid. I just got the droid HTC and love it. This thing is awesome! IPhone users you are really missing out!
Microsoft ROCKS!!! I feel so bad when people say bad things about microsoft! Apple looks like a toy, and Microsoft is the best!
i just got my backflip but i was disappointed because the browser is really slow… but then i got opera mini 5 beta and is alot faster.. i hate shitty android browser
I agree with Microsoft the iPhone by far beter than the the g1 and mytouch which I own know why
1 you tube app videos look realy bad and even if u use wifi they are not played in full screen that really makes me just want to break my mytouch “can’t use bad words here but I’m thinking them”
2 games available for the droid really?? Have u ever played “real racing” “n.o.v.a” and many more of the 3d gmes available for the iPhone is there anything like that for android? Don’t think so
3 maybe it’s just the my choice of device but the mytouch touch screen does whatever it pleases not what I want it to do, and it gets worst when I’m recharging the phone. By the way thre is a very cheap mytouch for sale in dallas tx. Hate that thing. Would like to trade it for a 3gs
By the way I know my English is not perfect so if you make bad coments about my English it’s only because you know what I said is true. When I bought the my touch I was really thinking than it wad a very good decission since I had hear so many hood things about android phones likE “iphne killer” I on an iPhone and I’m very hapy with it but I hate AT&T so I have tmobile the only reason why I don’t regret buying that piece of toilet food is because I got it kind of cheap and can probably make aprofit by selling it or like I said in my previous post trade it for a 3gs or maybe a windows mobile device if there was a phone that wasn’t so big like all the windows phones that I have seen
My touch bad iPhone good
IF YOU own an iPhone an are thinking about upgrading to an android device DON’T DO IT it’s like downgrading to when the iPhone had just came out it’s like that but even back then the iPhone wa s really good because there was no other choice and today there are choices but the iPhone is been out for longer so it’s much more redefined than any other big screen smart phone “the best so far”
Gentlemen…it’s not Microsoft WM that’s a “tool”, it’s Ballmer.
Prezy by default, because everyone else grew up and left.
All WM needed was what Ballmer lacked…leadership.
He allowed a 2 year lead in the industry to slip to a year behind.
Now he’s doin’ the “departmental flush” in a panic.
I am short MSFT.
I wonder what Gates thinks about his old pal now?
WebOS is a much better OS compared to Android period!
My last two phones (Fuze and Tilt 2) have been WinMo products–with the help of xda developers and some excellent chefs, I have not run an ounce of AT&T crapware that entire time. Try that with an iphone.
WinMo 6.5 has been very good to me, with the main difficulty being the dearth of apps available for it.
The business apps are fantastic–especially Scan2PDF, which I use in the field every single day. My Tilt 2’s camera is worlds better than the iphone’s, and I can quickly, in the field, with nothing more than my PHONE, stitch together a multiple-page PDF of any contract or receipt or other legal document, then email it to my office in a secure manner on the company’s secure net.
Apple does not offer this. I’m sure by now Scan2PDF is available as an Android app as well, and as soon somebody ships an Android phone with a physical keyboard anywhere near as good as the Tilt 2’s, I will switch, as long as I don’t lose essential functionality. I love not carrying a laptop backpack with a portable scanner around, with my phone performing the same function just as well as the old setup did, and far faster.
Since not carrying my notebook was the goal with the Tilt 2, it does a heavy amount of work for me. It is a last-generation phone in speed though, with the same processor the Fuze had.
If HTC would “snapdragon” the Tilt 2/Touch Pro 2, keeping its awesome keyboard, speaker and phone but supercharging the camera and processor–and then make it an Android device–I would pay big money for it. These flatscreen droid phones are pretty toys, able to do entertainment and basic nav/search okay. But when it comes down to the typing, a physical keyboard is a must, even though it makes the device heavier. We power users love our Tilt 2, and are waiting for the next generation. Don’t care if it runs Win7 or Android, as long as it does what we need.
Seriously, why has no one figured out how to dual-boot a smartphone yet? Think about it. You buy a WM7 phone (seems I am the only one who thinks that WM7 will be good) and add Android. You get all of the homebrew apps that are everywhere on the more-established WinMo and all of the flexibility of Android, just like dual-booting Win7 and Ubuntu (like I do.) In the words of Eric Cartman: “Sweet.”
android sucks. Windows mobile is way better.
Development for WM is much more convenient than for crappy Android which is full of bugs and pretty slow…
IPhone OS on any other hardware than Apple? Highly unlikely. Jobs’ totalitarian control over all aspects of his products has served him well, there is no way that he would sacrifice the reputation of his operating system on a competing hardware manufacturer.
Whether you like Windows Mobile or Android is largely a matter of personal preference. The pure and simple fact is that the two big players in this arena will always be Android and iPhone, because they are what is cool, most users don’t care about the nitty gritty specs. Microsoft has tried repeatedly, and failed repeatedly, to muster a cool factor. Therefore, the apps avaliable on the Windows Mobile platform or WebOS will never come close to those on iPhone and Android.
And to those getting legitimately offended and upset on this site, go find something real to get upset about.
u guys are lame. get a job or die fuckos. fuck americans. u guys are going down. ALL HAIL CHINA!
It all about giving freedom to users..tht we find in android, windows already suck at computers why they go for mobile devices…. i feel srry for windows
Wow Microsoft. If
@jesus christ yong chin……..china is a dirtball nation that slaves away its own population in hopes to obtain global domanence which is still does not have……..all china is is america’s workshop were all our things are made…..thats the only thing that country is good for. This is a site about mobile phone OS’s not to spread your communist bullshit……go back into your 5 by 5 living compartments that you spend 3 hours a day in after slaving the other 21 hours of the day assembling my xbox b1tch.
Fuck Android; it is a total piece of shit..all Android is Linux and despite people saying that Linux is stable and virus free; this is a bunch of bull shit, I’ve used Linux for several years and the shit always crashes and half of the apps for it don’t work. With the exception of maybe Ubuntu, Linux fails. Sure there is no blue screens with Linux but when it fails it fails without warning or sometimes without errors to help you fix your issue, you have to search millions of forums for hours like an idiot to fix your issues.