Microsoft redefines mobility: the launch of Windows Mobile 6.0

Microsoft has come a long way in a short space of time when it comes to mobile operating systems, considering it only entered the smartphone industry five years ago, with a single device launched through a single mobile operator.

Well, how things have changed! Currently, there are more than 140 devices worldwide that use the Windows Mobile Platform, and these devices are distributed by over 120 mobile operators.

The launch for the latest generation of Windows Mobile was recently held in Barcelona at the 3GSM World Congress. Windows Mobile 6 brings new features and tools to smartphones and pocket PCs while maintaining the unrivalled flexibility, productivity and customisation users have come to expect from Windows Mobile.

Windows Mobile 6.0, code named "crossbow" has been in development at Microsoft for some time, and shows the substantial investment Microsoft has started to make in mobility. Many of the new features within the operating system focus on integration with other products in the Microsoft portfolio. The company's unique position has allowed it to incorporate levels of integration with its server and office suites, offering many user experiences previously unseen on mobile devices.

There are three versions of Windows Mobile 6.0 - following on from the current Windows Mobile 5.0. There is a smartphone version, renamed "Windows Mobile Standard", and then a pocket PC version which will now be known as "Windows Mobile Classic". The phone edition will be called "Windows Mobile Professional".

Let's examine some of the changes and new features you can expect to see in Microsoft's latest mobile platform.

Windows Mobile has progressively through its life cycle increased in simplicity and power. Mobile 6 is no exception. There are improvements to e-mail, document editing, desktop and server synchronisation, as well as search and contact management.

E-mail is often seen as a 'killer app' for mobile, and with Mobile 6.0 one can see the realisation of this as full e-mail formatting is now supported. HTML and rich text support ensure desktop e-mail formatting is kept intact once delivered to your mobile device. Pictures, tables and all other formatting will display as the e-mail sender intended. So the user experience is virtually the same as using your desktop or laptop. Further improvements are made to simplify your e-mail usage with nine new one-click options, including: reply all, flag setting, moving messages to sub-folders and delete.

Mobile 6.0 also allows out of office reply setup and management on the road. As with Windows Mobile 5.0, full push mail is supported, along with calendar, contacts and task synchronisation. Improvements with synchronisation simplify the backup of your information on your Windows Vista PC, and also take the guesswork out of media management on your device. E-mail is now certainly simpler, better and faster!

One of the major enhancements in Mobile 6.0 is the inclusion of Windows Live support. Two new Windows Live services are included for Mobile 6.0: Live Search for Mobile and Windows Live for Windows Mobile.

These Live Search applications provide fast, easy access to local listings and maps, with context and location specific search results being supported. Satellite imagery, search listings and real-time traffic congestion display (US only at present until local content partners are established) are all part of the in-built capability of the operating system. GPS integration, as well as the ability to send search results to other users is also supported.

Windows Live for Windows mobile will offer one of the first industry examples of a single, integrated presence enabled contact list on a mobile device. A single list of contacts would provide a customer with access to Windows Live contacts, their Outlook contacts as well as other contacts, for example on the SIM card. Windows Live Messenger for mobile provides a corporate grade version of MSN messenger, including support for contact status and availability information, multiparty chat, sending and receiving files as well as the power to send messages via voice mail. This functionality is hugely powerful, giving mobile access to the entire MSN base. MSN has more than 465 million unique users worldwide logging on per month.

Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's global blogging and photo sharing service provide access to online communities while mobile. On Windows Mobile devices, customers will see links to contacts and friends Live Spaces directly through their contact list, and will be able to send photos and videos directly to their contacts Live Space directly from their mobile device.

There are significant improvements to the Mobile Internet Explorer. Drop down boxes for Favourites and History are now provided, and optimisation to the browser gives around 30% improvement in browsing speed.

Mobile 6.0 has built in encryption capability for users data. This includes the ability to encrypt data on an external memory card. Windows Mobile Update brings the now familiar desktop ability to automatically retrieve and install critical security updates, thereby minimizing security risk to your device. IRM (Information Rights Management) is now built in to Mobile 6.0, allowing organisations to control the viewing, storing and distribution of confidential information on their devices.

The Mobile versions of office conserve formatting, and now allow document editing on Smartphones. Another new feature is the Calendar Ribbon, which gives a quick overview of your availability a day or a week ahead, as well as a view of the availability of your co-workers.

There are numerous other improvements, such as having access to call history via contact cards and Microsoft providing a direct link to their Mobile Marketplace. This will allow a user to download and purchase applications directly from the device. Improvements have been made for Internet sharing, allowing 'one-click' simplicity for accessing the Internet through your mobile device on your desktop.

These improvements aim to reinforce the growth that Microsoft has seen with its mobile operating system. The worldwide converged mobile device shipments of devices utilising this operating system grew by 135.3% year on year in 2006 according to the IDC. The IDC expects the largest growth for Windows Mobile over any other mobile operating system, and predicts 75.6% growth through to the year 2010.

Windows Mobile 6.0 will be available on devices locally toward the end of the second quarter 2007 from established Windows Mobile device providers such as i-mate, available through Insyncmobile.