14 DAY TRIAL // While laboring to produce Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Mobile 7, Microsoft has made a move designed to benefit application developers that are targeting its mobile operating system. In this context, a couple of Windows Mobile 6.1.4 Emulator Images were made available for download on November 11, 2008. The Redmond giant is attempting to provide developers with the tools necessary to build and test applications tailored to version 6.1.4 of Windows Mobile.
“The Windows Mobile 6.1.4 Emulator Images package adds emulator images to Visual Studio 2005, or Visual Studio 2008, that let you test applications for Windows Mobile 6.1.4,” Microsoft explained. “The emulator images can also be used as standalone without Visual Studio. They can be accessed through the Start Menu shortcuts.”
In terms of mobile operating system, Microsoft is facing increasing pressure from rivals, and is becoming a mere witness to Apple grabbing an ever increasing share of the market with the iPhone. A new study delivered by Canalys indicates that, while the overall smartphone market has grown by 28% in the past year, Windows Mobile's increased by no less than 42.9% in the third quarter of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007.
“On some configurations, repairing the emulator image pack may show an error dialog if Visual Studio is not installed. The dialog can be closed and the repair will finish successfully. Removing the emulator image package will remove the Cellular Emulator shortcut from the Start Menu (when other locales or the Windows Mobile 6 SDKs are installed). Refreshing the remaining locales or the SDK will re-install the shortcut. If the install fails with ‘Setup Wizard ended prematurely’ message, install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) and restart the Windows Mobile 6.1.4 Emulator Images package install,” the company added.
Windows Mobile 6.1.4 Emulator Images are available for download here.