Windows Mobile phones to pack Opera
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InfoWorld - Some of the first Windows Mobile 6.0 phones to hit the market will include Opera Software ASA&#39;s mobile browser, in addition to Microsoft Corp.&#39;s browser.
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Up to now, most analysts have confronted the topic of the viability of the Windows platform on mobile devices from the user's perspective: What applications can she run? Will her documents be portable? Can her contacts and e-mail be synchronized effectively? Beginning in the second quarter of next year, there will be one more connection to be drawn: Windows Mobile devices will become manageable through Windows Server-based networks using group policy tools.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has fixed a problem that made it difficult for users of the most recent Windows Mobile devices to synch with PCs running Vista. Tuesday night, Microsoft launched Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1, an upgraded version of the software that lets Windows Mobile users manage their phones. The Mobile Device Center was designed for Vista users as a replacement for ActiveSync, the software that let's PC users synchronize content like calendar items and transfer content like music between their Windows Mobile phones and PCs. However, early users of Windows Mobile 6.0 devices have complained that the Device Center doesn't synch files at all or in some cases it may lose updates to files. "In the past, some users reported installation and compatibility issues with Windows Mobile Device Center [WMDC]," said John Starkweather, group product manager in Microsoft's mobile communications group, in an e-mail statement. "We have released an update to WMDC intended to improve the overall user experience." Mobile Device Center 6.1 supports file synchronization for all Windows Mobile 6.0 devices including smartphones, according to Mel Sampat, a program manager for Windows Mobile who blogged about the new version. Other new features in Device Center include synching HTML-formatted mail, allowing data connections on the phone when connected to the PC and automatic device authentication. Microsoft also announced that in the third quarter Windows Mobile will be compatible with Office 2007. That means users of Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Standard devices as well as Mobile 5.0 touch screen phones will get a free update that will let them read and edit Office 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. Also in the third quarter, device makers will be able to start shipping Windows Mobile 6 devices with Office Mobile 2007 preinstalled.
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US software giant Microsoft is aiming to get its audio and video software into mobile phones before it is beaten to the 650-million-handsets-a-year market by rivals like Apple.
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Samsung Electronics today introduced its latest Windows Mobile smartphone, a slim and trim handheld designed for mobile professionals needing access to next-generation wireless data networks and support for business communications applications.
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Opera Software on Tuesday released the final version 3.0 of its Opera Mini Web browser, which is designed for mobile phones. The upgrade introduces a number of new social networking features, such as photo sharing and a built-in RSS reader.
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(InfoWorld) - Some of the first Windows Mobile 6.0 phones to hit the market will include Opera Software ASA's mobile browser, in addition to Microsoft Corp.'s browser. Motorola Inc.'s Q as well as phones from High Tech Computer Corp., Asus and Toshiba Corp. will include Opera Mobile, Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder and CEO of Opera, said at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 6.0, the latest version of its mobile phone operating system, this week. Internet Explorer Mobile, Microsoft's browser, comes with the software. A number of handset makers announced this weekÂ plans to release phones running the operating system. Von Tetzchner said the handset makers decided to add the Opera browser because most of the phones come with big screens and may be relatively expensive so they want to offer customers a good browsing experience. "People do want a quality browser when on Windows Mobile," he added. Opera's browser technology renders Web sites to fit inside the area of a mobile phone screen. The browser is also designed to display sites faster than competitors', von Tetzchner said. In addition to Opera Mobile, the company also offers Opera Mini, a free browser that works on most Java-enabled phones. It communicates with a server hosted by Opera or a mobile operator that strips down Web sites for quicker, less data intensive mobile browsing. Mozilla Corp. also offers a mobile browser called Minimo that hasn't gained much traction in the market. Nokia Corp. has used Opera browsers historically but is now primarily using a browser it developed internally. Â
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(InfoWorld) - Opera Software plans to release the third version of the Opera Mini mobile phone browser on Tuesday, adding features that aim to boost its social networking capabilities and improve functionality overall. Opera Mini 3.0 integrates with the camera included in many phones so that users can easily upload photos to social networking sites. The feature works with many services including Flickr and MySpace and takes advantage of the sites' existing methods for uploading photos. Typically, such Web sites include a box where users click to browse through their files for the photo they want to upload. When Opera Mini 3.0 users click on the box, the phone automatically activates the camera. The browser then asks the users if they want to take and upload a photo and confirms the upload after the users take the photo. A couple of other offerings are already available to phone users for uploading photos to sites like Flickr, but they typically involve a separate piece of software that users must download to their phones. For example, Shozu phone software can automatically upload cameraphone photos to Flickr. Also, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications earlier this year said it would start loading software on to three of its phones toÂ enable easy photo uploading to Google's Blogger. Flickr also has its own mobile offering that lets phone users e-mail photos to their Flickr page. Opera Mini 3.0 also includes a couple of other new features. The browser will automatically collapse potentially long lists of menu items on Web sites so that users don't have to scroll through them. Users can click on a plus sign at the top of the page to expand the menu. The new browser also allows users to subscribe to and receive RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, and it now supports encryption, so that phone users can securely access banking information or shop online. The Opera Mini phone software works together with servers, hosted by Opera or a third party like a mobile operator, to improve the mobile browsing experience. When users visit Web sites, the remote servers strip down the size of the sites, making them load quicker and look better on the small screens of mobile phones. Opera Mini is available for free from Opera but some operators are starting to load the software onto phones before they sell them. T-Mobile International includes a self-branded version of Opera Mini on a few phones and Spain's Telefonica recently began working with Opera and handset makers to load a Telefonica-branded version of the browser for phones that are part of its Nevega mobile Web service. Around 8 million unique users have downloaded the Opera Mini client from Opera and Opera's servers are on track to serve out a billion Web pages this year, said Christen Krogh, vice president for engineering at Opera. Opera Mini was designed to work on any Java-enabled phone and Opera has tested and verified 500 compatible handsets, he said.
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A vendor based in Dubai pounced on the enterprise mobility market Tuesday evening with a set of Windows Mobile 6 phones that come with built-in security and management software and will be sold independent of carriers.The company, i-mate, unveiled its Ultimate series of four GSM phones at Showstoppers, a product showcase held alongside the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show happening this week in San Francisco. They will start hitting the market worldwide in the middle of next month.The devices all are about the size of a typical smartphone, run Microsoft&#39;s Windows Mobile 6 operating system, and come with the Office Mobile suite. Two have touchscreens, and two have QWERTY keyboards, one of them using a &quot;slider&quot; design with a larger keyboard and a screen that can be viewed horizontally. They are aimed at markets ranging from small business to larger midsize enterprises.One thing that sets i-mate apart is its business model: It will sell the phones in the U.S. through resellers and retail channels, bypassing mobile operators and the subsidies they typically offer. The i-mate phones will range in price from about $600 to $800, said Nicole Buchanan, vice president of sales and marketing (Americas) at i-mate. The company isn&#39;t averse to carrier distribution if it can make a deal: It will sell devices through Telstra in Australia, Buchanan said.Although carriers dominate the U.S. handset business, a few device makers are starting to take matters into their own hands. Nokia sells phones through its own retail stores and makes some high-end devices available through alternative distributors like Brightpoint, which i-mate will also use. The trend allows businesses to make their handset choices without worrying about what carrier to use or how long the mobile operator will continue offering the device they want.The traditional mobile handset business, in which carriers dictate the timing of handset and service rollouts based on their own business plans, doesn&#39;t match up with typically long enterprise planning cycles, IDC analyst Shiv Bakhshi said Monday at the show. Enterprises often can&#39;t find out what phones will be available when they carry out their mobile strategies or whether their current phone models will still be available in the future. Although hardware makers are starting to gain some autonomy, with the prominent example of Apple and its iPhone, they have a long way to go, Bakhshi said.The i-mate phones come with built-in software for securing and managing the devices. The Secure i-Q software lets users or IT support people lock down a lost or stolen device or wipe the data from it over the air. They can then configure a replacement device with all the appropriate applications over the air, Buchanan said. Custom i-Q allows for customization of each device with applications, e-mail settings, and features over the air.i-mate&#39;s only previous product was a digital picture frame with Wi-Fi. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It developed the i-Q software and designed the Ultimate phones, which are built by contract manufacturers. All the devices use an XScale PXA 520MHz processor and have storage expandable to 2GB. They come with features typical of high-end phones, including Bluetooth and cameras. Three of the models have a front-facing camera that can be used for videoconferencing, according to i-mate. One feature that makes the devices stand out is XGA output, which lets a user plug the handset into a full-size display or projector.The Ultimate 6150 and 8150 touch-screen phones and 8502 QWERTY phone are due to ship worldwide in mid-November. The 9502 slider phone will ship around the end of the year, i-mate said.
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Microsoft is backing a new company that will help enterprises design, deploy, and manage Windows Mobile phones and services.
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Accordo con Microsoft per musica su cellulare
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Alternative browser will be available on portable devices running Microsoft's OS.
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Windows Mobile brand will replace Pocket PC and Smartphone labels.
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Microsoft unveils Windows Mobile 6, an update to its operating system for cell phones and similar devices.
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Flaws within the Windows Mobile operating system could cause phones to crash, security firm Trend Micro said in a pair of advisories. One issue deals with Internet Explorer, while the other involves the Pictures & Videos application.
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Microsoft recently disclosed details about its new Windows Mobile 6 operating system for smartphones, which will be formally introduced at the 3GSM telecommunications conference in Barcelona this coming week. Major advances over earlier versions of Windows Mobile include better security, more accurate search capabilities, and more desktop-like functionality. Enhancements include the ability to edit Office documents, which can be especially important for business users on the go.
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(InfoWorld) - An executive in Microsoft's entertainment and games division Tuesday hinted that Microsoft may be developing its own Windows Mobile OS-based rival to Apple's iPhone. Speaking at Citi's annual Global Technology Conference in New York on Tuesday, Mindy Mount, corporate vice president and CFO for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, said it's not "unreasonable" to think that Microsoft will integrate photo, music, and touchscreen features into a Windows Mobile product in the future, though she declined to comment on the specifics of when or what that might look like. Microsoft's idea with Windows Mobile has been to move everyday business capabilities, such as accessing e-mail, from the PC to the mobile device. However, most people "tend to have one phone for personal as well as work [use]," Mount said. "Being able to do pictures and music is something that consumers are going to want, so it's a natural thing for us to want in our product roadmap." Microsoft is rumored to be evolving its Zune multimedia player -- its rival to the iPod -- with new features out by the holiday time at the end of the year, though Mount declined to confirm this on Tuesday. But a hybrid product melding Zune, which so far has had lackluster response from consumers, with Windows Mobile features is not completely unrealistic for the future. Microsoft has already worked with hardware partners to develop Windows Mobile handsets with touchscreen capabilities that are similar to the iPhone's. For example, the HTC Touch from High Tech Computer is one of the latest Windows Mobile devices to offer users the ability to use a touchscreen to scroll through e-mail and contacts and browse Web pages. But the HTC Touch smartphone, which is available in the U.K., Europe, and Asia and should makes its North American debut later this year, doesn't have the type of multimedia capabilities that give the iPhone an edge over rival smartphones, at least in the short term. Market research firm iSuppli said Tuesday that in July, its first full month of release, the iPhone outsold popular competitors, such as the Research in Motion Blackberry and Palm Treo devices. Regarding RIM, comments Mount made Tuesday also seemed to shoot downÂ speculation last week that Microsoft is in talks to purchase the Canadian maker of mobile hardware and software. "We don't comment on rumors, but what I would ask people is what that really gets you," she said. Much of RIM's success has been with the device portion of its BlackBerry business, whereas Microsoft has been very successful with using third parties to build its Windows Mobile devices, Mount said. The company sold 11 million Windows Mobile licenses last year and expects to do 20 million in the current fiscal year. "We're pretty happy with that roadmap right now," she said. That roadmap so far does not include Microsoft offering hardware for its Windows Mobile OS, which also means if the company did release an iPhone rival based on Windows Mobile, it's unclear whether it would be through a third party or from the company itself. Still, if the Xbox 360, Zune, and Milan table-top computer with touchscreen features the company previewed earlier this year are any indication, Microsoft seems to be warming up to the idea of offering consumer hardware devices alongside its traditional software, so an iPhone rival from the vendor is within the realm of possibility.