Microsoft's Ballmer to push mobile management
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Microsoft on Tuesday will announce new mobile management server for wireless access, management and security, while Palm and others will announce compatible Windows Mobile devices.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft Corp. said it has boosted the security mechanisms built into its newest mobile phone operating system, responding to the needs of business customers who will use the phones to access sensitive corporate data.
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InfoWorld - For business users who want Microsoft Office on their cell phones, Windows Mobile 6, the upcoming version of Redmond's mobile operating system to be unveiled next week, will be a must-have upgrade.
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Microsoft is touting wide acceptance of Windows Mobile 6.0 by device makers.
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The mobile device company responsible for the Sidekick smart phone, and originally co-founded by Andy Rubin -- who now heads up an open source project at Google -- will be joining the Microsoft arsenal in the mobile space.
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Microsoft Corp.'s new Mobile Device Manager faces a shortcoming because it is exclusive to Windows Mobile devices, but that might change, an executive said on Tuesday.
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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 - Mobile phones play an important role in Microsoft's software-plus-services vision, CEO Steve Ballmer said Tuesday.
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Mobile phones play an important role in Microsoft's software-plus-services vision, CEO Steve Ballmer told the CTIA show in San Francisco today.
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Microsoft prepares to release a new application for delivering "snippets" of data to Windows Mobile devices.
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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.
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CEO Steve Ballmer is speaking at the big mobile phone trade show on Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see the tack he takes vis-a-vis Apple.
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Microsoft Corp. is preparing to roll out a portable digital music player later this year, an apparent bid to capture a slice of the market now dominated by the iPod, music industry executives said Thursday.
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Opinion Microsoft has begun to try and win over the hearts, minds and hardware of mobile phone vendors in a bid to dominate the emerging market for music downloads on handsets.
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Microsoft is releasing a new application for delivering &quot;snippets&quot; of data to Windows Mobile devices, one of several announcements planned for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.Microsoft plans to announce that it will offer software for Windows Mobile users based on MSN Direct, a service it developed to deliver data snippets to watches. The new application displays small bits of information like weather, stocks and news on the home screen of the phone. &quot;This is an innovative take on how to get information in a glanceable way on handsets,&quot; said Brian Arbogast, vice president of mobile services at Microsoft.Windows Mobile users can download the application, which will initially be offered as a beta.Microsoft and its competitors Yahoo and Google are jockeying for lead position in the mobile market. Each is working to draw mobile users to their services in hopes of ultimately establishing a revenue stream from mobile advertising. So far, the market is relatively open.Microsoft also said it is offering a new software development kit that will give developers access to additional Microsoft mobile services protocols. With the new tools, Microsoft&#39;s software vendor partners will be able to build richer clients that access additional Windows Live for mobile capabilities. For example, a developer could make an application that lets a user click to record a voice clip and send it to an MSN Messenger buddy, even if the sender is using a Windows Mobile phone and the recipient has a Nokia S60 phone.&quot;These are rich and fun and engaging features in Messenger that we had on some of our top-end platforms that are now opened up through this protocol,&quot; said Arbogast.Microsoft also introduced a new program, Windows Live @mobile, aimed at making it easier for operators to quickly begin offering Windows Live and MSN mobile services across their device portfolios.While Windows Mobile has been seen primarily as a product for business users, Microsoft is increasingly trying to push it into the consumer market. &quot;This is about us really extending our focus to be, instead of predominantly on the work part of life, to be about delivering phones for your entire life,&quot; said Arbogast.Microsoft also recently hired a new marketing executive tasked with positioning Windows Mobile to appeal more to consumers.Still, Microsoft isn&#39;t shifting away from its business customer focus. It is stepping up its efforts to sell mobile products to small businesses. Through a new partnership, Brightstar and TechData will sell Windows Mobile phones to small and medium businesses in Europe. The companies will offer a portfolio of products and services to customers, including servers, devices, services and support.In the U.S., Microsoft said that Cbeyond, a provider of communications services for small businesses, will offer a new hosted Exchange e-mail service that supports mobile devices for small and medium businesses.
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Windows Mobile will continue to power smartphones produced by Microsoft partners, Gates says.
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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.