Companies HTC Touch Pro2 is one of the new phones that come with Windows Mobile 6.5.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft hopes that the new generation of phones this fall will help the company in its quest to stay relevant in the market of cellular phones.

Producer of software, said on Tuesday that the first phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 for the whole world will begin Oct. 6 and will include work on the phones AT & T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

New generation of phones will also be the first that Microsoft will sell under the “Windows Phone” brand, attempts to use the marketing power of its flagship desktop operating system.

In Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft hopes to convince users that its phones are not only well-done job. Much of the phone Focus Microsoft recently paid to improving the consumer operating system functions, in order to regain the lost ground to rivals.

We want people to know the phone for life, “said Stephanie Ferguson, general manager of the unit Windows Mobile.” They just plain want to do more. That’s why we moved. ”

Although it includes features such as improved Web browsing and e-mail conversation thread, and the new Windows Marketplace App Store, Windows Mobile 6.5 is mainly considered as an interim update of the operating system.

Microsoft has come under criticism for a rather slow pace at which his program has become in competition with the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm-Pre.

AT & T, which is one of the oldest partners of Microsoft in the mobile phone business, said she supports Windows Mobile 6.5, though the carrier acknowledged that Apple and others on the market grew faster.

Even in large corporations, Windows Mobile, does not support the position that he once seemed prepared to inherit.

“Microsoft, will probably not get a share of enterprise space, which we all would have expected three or four years ago,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president of devices for AT & T. “I think, Research In Motion have done even better than expected to get a job that action “.

AT & T did not say which of its phones will support Windows Mobile 6.5, but it will likely be a combination of new phones and the current model, which can be upgraded to the new OS. The company expects to close a gap between Windows Mobile and its competitors. Beginning next month, customers can more freely use their Windows Mobile phones on AT & T Wi-Fi network, the relevant functions are already available on your BlackBerry and iPhone users.

As for Android, AT & T still does not make publicly shipping Android phone, but Bradley said that the company is actively considering whether to do it.

“We will do what is right for customers,” said Bradley. “This is an important event in the industry, we are seeing real carefully to make sure that our customers have choices and better services.”

For its part, Ferguson said she believes that the Windows Mobile 6.5 is a significant step forward, although she declined to predict whether Microsoft will get a share as a result of his release.

“It will be fantastic phones that meet the needs of clients for a lifetime,” said Ferguson. “In the end, that’s how I judge us.”

Oct. 6 launch in connection with “consumer” Open House “event, Microsoft entertainment and devices president Robbie Bach, holds this day in New York.

One of the biggest pushes with the new release Windows Marketplace App Store. Although Microsoft has long offered tens of thousands of applications, they were difficult to find and download, the Marketplace is designed to address. Although the market will start from the Windows Mobile 6.5, Ferguson refused to say how many programs have been submitted or approved yet.

Ferguson also said that among the programs will be Netflix, Facebook, and various games.

“We need adequate Apps, that clients may have some great choices,” said Ferguson. As App Netflix, I checked and allows users to manage their queues, or watch a video preview, but do not actually watch movies, the shape of their turn. (That would be a compelling feature, I think.)

Microsoft will also officially launched its free my phone service, which was in beta. In addition to backup phone book, calendar, text messages, photos and other data, the service will also have a “Find My Phone” function, similar to iPhone Fee-based service that helps users find the lost iPhone.

In a July interview, Brix Todd said that to find my phone can be used to remotely send a message to the phone and call him in the ring, even if it is set to vibrate. If this is not its location, users can look at the map, where the last phone synchronized with the service. Users can also remotely lock the phone and send a message to its call, who has a specific call number. If it does not work, users can remotely wipe the device.

Manufacturer software said little about his plans for Windows Mobile for the current release, although the software maker has been working for more than two years at a substantial renovation of the operating system, and the collection of new consumer-oriented mobile services. Update your operating system, Windows Mobile 7, was originally expected early this year and has hit some delays. It is now not expected until next year.

Microsoft, is expected to work closely with a smaller number of manufacturers of equipment that will be among the first to adopt new products when they debut next year.

AT & T’s, Bradley refused to talk about the Microsoft road map for the future, but said that he saw some encouraging signs that the company will make the device more attractive to consumers.

“I have every reason to think that they are going to do, what happened,” said Bradley. “It is frankly imperative.”

I thought you be in the same room with the Microsoft Zune in HD to make your voice cracks, and your palms sweat? Are you having trouble controlling your Zune enthusiasm around friends and relatives, to the exclusion of those close to you incessantly quoting hardware specifications and battery benchmarks?

In the Zune HD in the 15 September release date may feel like an eternity, but fortunately, the people at Nvidia, and Best Buy offer Zune fans and curious looky-LOOS chance to see the Zune HD in person this weekend.

Note from Nvidia (PDF) shows the schedule of dates and times that the Zune will be HD demo’d to choose Best Buy locations over the weekend. If you plan to go, be sure to check the date, because some of the demo on Saturday 22 th, while others are on Sunday the 23rd.

Microsoft efforts to return the lost ground in the mobile phone business will see the two companies offering different versions of its operating system next year.

The company will continue to widely sell Windows Mobile 6.5 on a large number of phones, working more closely with a number of phones to sell phones built on a new version of Windows Mobile, which for several years, in the process, according to a source familiar with the plans of the company .

While Windows Mobile 6.5 is quite interim update for the mobile operating system, Microsoft was selling, Microsoft is also working on a sweeping effort to overhaul the operating system. Both of their plans for Windows Mobile 7, and his old “pink” the purpose of the project in accordance with the kinds of experiences seen in the iPhone and Android, a more advanced and voice interfaces, and higher end equipment.

A Digitimes report this week called on “dual-platform strategy, although I am not sure I would use this term to describe the two versions of Windows Mobile is sold at the same time.

It is clear that Microsoft needed to do something serious if he hopes to fulfill its mobile ambitions. For many years now, the company made a relatively modest update for the Windows Mobile operating system, which dates back to the time code Powered PDAs, and other organizers, who were neither telephones nor, in some cases, even connected to the Internet.

At the same time, Palm has gone back to the drawing board and reinvented itself with WebOS Pre basis, while the iPhone and Android have entered the market, and even Research In Motion has probably done more to capture consumer interest, than Microsoft.

Inside Redmond was moved a number of people on mobile devices. In addition to the server, a former executive, Andy Lees, who now works the phone business, a former Mac Business Unit chief Roz Ho has been leading one of the most secret of premium mobile experiences “team is responsible for some of the” pink “work. The company has acquired Danger, a well-known to create adolescent-center T-Mobile Sidekick, and Ho, the head of the unit as well.

Software Maker also involved people from his Tellme unit, to help improve speech recognition in Windows Mobile.

Call waiting
Microsoft is working on Windows Mobile 7 that now seems eternity, especially in the mobile world. The product must be in the hands of the phone earlier this year, but has suffered several delays.

Officially, the company will be discussed only in the Windows Mobile 6.5, and it is planned to start using “Windows Phone” brand.

“We are on the way to deliver Windows phone that will run Windows Mobile 6.5 this fall,” said the representative.

But, in a discussion with reporters earlier this year, Microsoft Entertainment division president Robbie Bach stressed the importance of new user interfaces, such as communications, and voice.

“If you have time, we are not in Advanced Windows Mobile as quickly as we like, I think the answer is that the truth. You will see that change.”
- Robbie Bach, Microsoft president of Entertainment unit “Regardless of the specific plans for any specific product, need only assume that over time it becomes part of products that we produce,” Bach said, according to a Seattle Times account. “Do you know the specific dates and all those things, I leave aside, but it is a huge trend. And as soon as you have something like a voice and to interact with you wonder why you did it the old way.”

And even though Microsoft denies it expects to enter the mobile phone business itself, he said that he thinks should partner more closely with several companies to obtain more competitive devices.

“To date, we have not done as good work as I would like to build a relationship and get the right level of integration,” Bach said at the company’s financial analyst meeting last month. “Obviously phone takes time to develop, so that will not happen overnight, but you want to see a drastic improvement of integration between what we are doing software and hardware of our partners do on the hardware side.”

The company also has to have its software to work on multiple devices, as a result of the fact that Lisa and Bach, the so-called “lowest common denominator” experience.

In a July interview with CNET News, Bach acknowledged that Microsoft needed to continue the pace.

“If you have time, we are not in Advanced Windows Mobile as quickly as we like, I think the answer is that the truth,” said Bach. “You’ll see that change.”

However, Bach did not say much more about where to move Microsoft, not to mention that the company has made many changes in the working group on production over the past year.

“My view on these topics is cheap talk,” he said. “The next thing we are going to show people, is the Windows Mobile 6.5. There a lot of innovations in the pipeline.”

Update:: This is not Windows Mobile 7, but I just saw this parody of the video and add Mashable.

In the Microsoft Zune HD portable multimedia player is officially available for preorder now. The outlets of Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon and Microsoft is taking preorders for the black version on the Zune 16GB HD or a silver version of the model with 32 GB. As of Tuesday pricing leak suggested, the players retail for $ 219 (16GB) and $ 289 (32 GB). Preorders for Zune HD, is expected to arrive on September 15, the same day, we hope they will hit stores.

In addition, the sale is now the HD AV Zune Dock, which allows you to connect the player to your TV or home entertainment center, and output video and menu to 720p HD resolution. At the dock retails for $ 89 and includes an HDMI cable, power adapter and remote control.

Microsoft also sent by email (see above), indicating to leave another three colors (blue, green and red) in the Zune HD from 10 designs that will be available from Zune Originals online store will open September 15.

But Microsoft may be shooting itself in the foot, not offering these custom colors and designs for preorder. Do not do this, it is effective to tell customers that they can preorder boring version of Zune in HD now or wait to order cooler version on September 15. With new iPods probably decline in September, I think, Microsoft would put its full weight for the preorders before Apple potentially spoil the enthusiasm.

More information about the Zune HD, check CNET Central Zune.