Speaks well of Windows Mobile 6.5-based handsets

Oct 23, 2009 08:46 GMT  ·  By
Windows Mobile 7 will sport Zune integration, Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, says
   Windows Mobile 7 will sport Zune integration, Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, says

Windows Mobile 7, the next great version of Microsoft's mobile operating system, has been rumored over and over again to come to the market with a wide range of new features, and some of them have been already confirmed, while others remain to be proven real or false. However, one of the rumored features has been now confirmed by the software giant's CEO, Steve Ballmer, and we're talking here about the Zune integration Windows Mobile 7 was supposed to include.

Steve Ballmer said recently during The Engadget Show that the next version of Windows Mobile would have Zune. This is something that many of you out there might have been already expecting, yet it is still a great thing to learn it from an official source. It still remains to be seen what the Zune integration will actually mean, and how deep the integration will go, but, since there is almost a year left until Windows Mobile 7 will be here, details will certainly emerge.

In the meantime, we should say that Microsoft's CEO seems not to be discouraged by the rather poor performance Windows Mobile 6.5 has had on the market since its launch. One thing that is certain is that the new OS version has seen its share of criticism already, and it is probably bound to see a lot more in the future, yet the company will continue to work on the development of its mobile platform and, hopefully, future releases will be much more appealing and competitive.

When referring to Windows Mobile 6.5, here is what Ballmer said in a recent interview with Gizmodo: “I think Windows Mobile 6.5 enables a new generation of exciting Windows phones. That's what I believe. Reviews aside, that's what I believe.” As for the future of the OS, “Will there be a next release? Sure. And a release after that? Sure. And a release after that? Sure. There will always be new releases.”

Some of you might already be aware of Microsoft's take on having a self-branded handset, and what the company's CEO stated in a previous interview, yet here's what he says this time: “It's kind of a horse race right now. It's not like any one of the phones, at least on a unit volume, ah, perspective, has distinguished itself from the others – except Nokia.” After all, it seems that a company can prove successful even if it controls both the hardware and the software of a mobile phone.