14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS will come on devices delivered by various mobile phone makers on the market, including Toshiba, which has just unveiled plans to launch such a device, the TG03. The company already has a series of smartphones available, including the TG01, which was launched last year with Windows Mobile 6.1 on board, and the TG02 and K01, both unveiled at the Mobile World Congress this year.
It seems that Toshiba is confident on its capabilities to take advantage of the Windows Phone 7 OS, and to deliver a new series of applications that will work both on its mobile computers, including Toshiba notebooks and netbooks, as well as on the upcoming TG03 smartphone. Moreover, the company also believes that users will be attracted by the combination of a netbook and a smartphone delivered by Toshiba with Microsoft Windows operating system on board.
However, other mobile phone makers seem to face a real challenge at the moment. Microsoft has recently announced that Windows Mobile applications won't run on Windows Phone 7 OS, and that none of the existing handsets will be upgradeable to the new platform, something that will turn existing handsets obsolete when the first Windows Phone 7 Series devices will be launched. Vendors like HTC, Samsung and LG, as well as wireless carriers around the world are those to suffer the most from this state of facts, it seems.
According to a recent article on smarthouse.com.au, Rob Wilkinson, the general manager of Toshiba Australia Information Systems Division, stated the following: “Toshiba Australia is seriously looking at what opportunities are out there for us in the Smartphone market. We are talking to retailers and carriers. I have a model in my draw and we will make a decision shortly.”
The announcement regarding the lack of compatibility between Windows Mobile handsets and applications and the new Windows Phone 7 Series devices will represent a problem for software developers too, it seems. All the current Windows Mobile applications will have to be rewritten for the upcoming OS, and carriers will also have to reshape the software solutions they include on such devices.