Sony Ericsson Phone Offers Tweaked Windows Mobile 6.5.3
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The new Sony Ericsson Aspen smartphone made its debut on Feb. 2, which is of note because it's running the Windows Mobile 6.5.3 operating system. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 includes the following tweaks: User Interface Browser Other
But if—if—Microsoft actually rolls out Mobile 7 during its scheduled press conference on Feb. 15, what will it do with Mobile 6.5 and its incremental upgrades? The Sony Ericsson Aspen may be the first phone to run Mobile 6.5.3, but it almost certainly won't be the last released this year; even if Mobile 7 doesn't debut on a device until the first half of 2011, that means any number of phones in circulation out there will still be running Mobile 6.5.x. Does that mean Microsoft will support both mobile operating systems on a variety of different phones? How will that play out for end users, not to mention developers? With these updated features to Mobile 6.5, it seems that Microsoft is taking steps in the right direction with regard to better touch functionality and other user-interface features (at the very least, it helps them swim in the same direction as Google Android, the iPhone, etc.), but right now I'm wondering more about Redmond's longer-term mobile strategy. |
Now here's my question: At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, Microsoft is slated to debut something as-yet-unseen, something that various Microsoft executives have described as a sort of paradigm shift. Many in the blogosphere have interpreted this to mean that the company will debut Windows Mobile 7, perhaps running on a Microsoft-branded smartphone.
