14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system is getting ready to see some major changes, which will reportedly be affecting about all levels of the platform. The almost-here Windows Mobile 6.5 is the first step in this direction, as it brings along both a series of visual changes to the operating system and a new set of services that users will benefit from, yet future iterations of the client are expected to include even more changes.
According to an article from istartedsamthing, Loke Uei Tan, program manager on the Windows Mobile team, has stated recently that Microsoft is considering bringing more updates to the platform than it did in the past. The update cycle for Windows Mobile is about to speed up, with a series of phases that were previously present with it disappearing. To be more precise, Microsoft intends to deliver over-the-air updates for its mobile platform, which will eliminate the need to come up with new ROMs for handsets, thus removing OEMs from the update cycle.
Windows Mobile 7 has already been rumored to come to the market with this feature, and it seems that Microsoft is indeed making the first steps into implementing it. Basically, users of Windows phones will enjoy the same features that the company included with its desktop client in terms of updates, and which are available with other operating systems on the market, such as Google's Android or Palm's webOS solutions. No exact details on when the feature will come to Windows Mobile, yet we hope that WM7 is the lucky iteration.
In the meantime, we should mention other pieces of information that Loke Uei Tan has unveiled, such as the fact that OEMs pull builds of Windows Mobile from a common repository on-demand. That means that Microsoft does not send the builds to OEMs, and also explains in a way why a large number of Windows Mobile 6.5 builds have emerged into the wild as of late. In addition, the company also plans on raising the bar on handsets that are about to become Windows phones, something that we've heard about before.
The one thing that is certain at the moment is that Microsoft is working hard on bringing a lot of changes to its mobile platform. Compatibility with a wider range of devices is also expected, including optimizations for touch-enabled ones, different screen resolutions and non-touch handsets. A series of different input mechanisms might also be on the list, yet nothing specific has been unveiled. Hopefully, as Windows Mobile 7 will get closer to its market release, more details on all of its new features will also become available.