14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based company Microsoft is ramping up for the release of the latest iteration of its operating system for mobile phones, which has been referred to as Windows Mobile 6.5 so far, and which will be called Windows Phone from now on. In the process, the software giant has demonstrated some of the goodies that will come along with the OS and which have been caught on video by the people over at The Inquirer, also shading some light on the Windows Mobile / Windows Phone naming strategy the company plans to adopt.
According to Brighthand, the Windows Mobile name will be kept in the future, as Microsoft intends to use it when it comes to the different versions of the platform. However, some changes will be made, including the fact that the company does not plan to refer to the OS as a single part of the equation; it will talk about Windows Phones as a whole. Basically, the handsets running under the platform will be pushed forward, and not the software.
“We introduced the term 'Windows phone' to the industry at Mobile World Congress as a way to make it easy for consumers to identify the set of phones with Windows software and services on them. However, we will still use the term 'Windows Mobile' to identify the operating system releases (e.g. - 6.1, 6.5). But ultimately, we want customers to be able to go into a retail store and say, 'I want a Windows phone!',” Scott D. Rockfeld, group product manager for Windows Mobile, explains.
Microsoft already stated that it planned to offer the same experience on desktop computers running under Windows and on mobile phones based on its mobile operating system, and the naming is expected to reflect exactly this state of facts. Considering the goodies that the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 flavor is set to deliver, including the Zune-like user interface, the new menu icons for fast access to the applications on the handset, as well as the services that cellphone users will benefit from, such as Windows Marketplace for Mobile or the syncing features that come as MyPhone, it seems that the software giant managed to do a good job.
The video below shows the OS demonstrated on the HTC Touch Diamond2. Although the handset comes with touchscreen capabilities, no multi-touch capabilities have been showed. Even so, Microsoft is expected to include them into the OS in the future, so not all is lost. According to The Inquirer, the OS might land on October 22, alongside the Windows 7 platform for desktop / laptop computers, and we should be able to see then what the Windows Phone is actually all about.