14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based software giant Microsoft announced on Monday the launch of a new mobile operating system, the Windows Phone OS 7, which would power a new series of devices, with higher hardware requirements, better services integration and an enhanced user experience. When compared to the older versions of Microsoft's mobile client, this seems to be a game changing approach and should offer the platform all the necessary power to regain its position on the market. However, the story does not end here, as there are still a great deal of devices running under previous iterations of the OS, and some more are being launched these days.
Windows Phone 7 Series devices will arrive on the market before the holiday season 2010, Microsoft said, which means that there are quite a few months before one is able to grab one of the handsets powered by this next-generation mobile OS. And, of course, the question that emerges is what will happen with Windows Mobile 6.x and the phones running under it.
As already pointed out a few months ago, Windows Mobile 6.x (or at least 6.5) will continue to exist along with the new OS and the upcoming devices. Moreover, it seems that the platform might also get a Classic moniker in the name, and that we'll be able to purchase both Windows Phone 7 Series and Windows Phone Classic Series devices soon, at least this is what Long Zheng suggests in a recent blog post.
We already knew that WM 6.x and WM 7 would co-exist, but it seems that there are still some details that have been recently uncovered, such as the fact that Windows Phones Classic Series, if called this way, will represent Microsoft's approach to emerging markets and enterprise solutions, while the just unveiled Windows Phone 7 Series will be aimed at consumers. The latest flavor of WM 6.x was made official only a few days ago, namely Windows Mobile 6.5.3, and various handset vendors around the world already launched devices powered by it, so it makes perfect sense in the end for targeting different market segments with different products. It is still uncertain for how long Windows Mobile 6.5 will live along with Windows Phone 7, but the good news is that it will receive support at least for the foreseeable future.