microsoft

Strange, but true. Today at MWC Microsoft has announced the Valencia, an upcoming phone from Samsung. It should be available soon for $365, and will include such features as:

• 3G connectivity;
• GPS navigation;
• 128MB RAM;
• 128MB ROM;
• QVGA display;
• 393MHz processor;
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professi

Microsoft is facing quite a tough competition with such serious contenders on the mobile scene like Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. But the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Mobile 7 could change the situation in its favour. According to some unofficial sources, the Windows Mobile 7 could be released to testers in November 2009, and will be fully available in April 2010.

Several new screenshots of Windows Mobile 6.5 interface have surfaced today. One of them reveals the new Internet Explorer, and I must say Microsoft has been busy working on its browser. It uses a zoom slider, as seen on the pic, which should be rather useful when the OS finally comes out.

More details are yet to follow. We'll keep you up to date.

According to some sources, Microsoft will be announcing 3 new cloud services for Windows Mobile, as well as the new version (6.5) of their mobile platform at the Mobile World Congress show in February. Reportedly, those services will include:

Skybox, which is a similar service to Apple’s MobileMe that syncs PIM data online;
Skyline, which is similar to SkyBox, but for small businesses and includes hosted Exchange;
SkyMarket, which is basically Microsoft’s version of the App Store

Looking forward to MWC 2009.

Microsoft has updated its Windows Live Messenger mobile client to be compatible with Symbian S60 devices. As you can see on the picture above, the new version perfectly fits the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic’s screen, and will also be compatible with other Nokia handsets, including the upcoming N97 model.

Just to remind you, Windows Live Messenger allows you to chat  with your MSN/Windows Live buddies, as well as access your Hotmail account while on-the-go.

Microsoft is not an exception when it comes to making applications for the iPhone. The company is apparently working on a web-based Office app for the handset that will be accessible through Internet Explorer, Firefox and mobile Safari browsers.

While the new Office isn't a native iPhone application, you won't have to jailbreak your handset or install extra add-ons.

Remember the first puplic mentioning of the Windows Mobile 6.5? Well, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has confirmed that rumor.

Speaking at an event in Australia, he said that the upcoming version is part of the company's roadmap toward Windows Mobile 7. He also indicated that Windows Mobile 6.5 will be released sometime in 2009, but refused to give any additional details.

The current global financial crysis leaves no one aside, so it's not surprising that RIM’s shares have dropped from $148 to around $60. Rumor has it that Microsoft is waiting for RIM’s shares to drop to $40 before it starts buying them out. And you know what that means: if Microsoft takes over RIM, we'll be having Windows Mobile powered BlackBerry’s in the near future.

We have some good news and some bad news regarding the Windows Mobile OS. First the bad news: according to multiple sources, we can forget about Windows Mobile 7 until atleast 2010. The good news is that Microsoft is working on their new Windows Mobile 6.2 update, which will add full HTML support, as well as support for flash Flash and JavaScript.

According to some sources, the release of the future Windows Mobile 7 OS has been delayed by Microsoft from early 2009 to the second half of the year.

Actually, we believe it's just a rumor, as the system's official release date hasn't  been announced yet.