It’s do or die for Microsoft at Mobile World Congress

February 15, 2010

It’s show time, Microsoft.  At Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest cell phone trade show, Microsoft is widely anticipated to introduce Windows Mobile 7, which needs to knock the mobile world’s socks off.

If it in fact comes to pass, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 7 won’t be the only announcement at the big show, held every year in Barcelona, Spain.  But Windows Mobile 7, if it appears, will be the most important revelation.

Microsoft used to be a big player in PDAs, and they got a pretty good start out of the gate with smartphones. But to some extent, they let their Windows Mobile OS rot, adding features and improving the interface very slowly while competitors like Apple, Google and Palm moved much more quickly. Although Windows Mobile still has some strengths (such as terrific Exchange connectivity), that’s left Windows Mobile 6.5 looking like the lame old man of the mobile OS world. Microsoft has used MWC (and its predecessor, 3GSM) as the launch platform for their new mobile OSes for years; Windows Mobile 6, 6.1 and 6.5 were launched at the shows in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Sure, there are plenty of Windows Mobile phones on the market, but Windows Mobile 6.5 doesn’t have much positive buzz behind it anymore. To reclaim relevance, Microsoft needs to show something radical at their 9 AM ET press conference on Monday, Feb. 15 in Barcelona.

SOURCE: PC World

Posted By Russ · In Industry 

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