Windows Mobile Release Dates According to ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1908' target='_blank'>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1908</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"I've been curious about how Microsoft plans to try to catch up with its mobile-phone competitors given the slow, plodding pace at which it has been rolling out new versions of its Windows Mobile platform. After asking around, it sounds like the Softies are definitely aiming to speed up development. While Windows Mobile officials won't talk about ship-date targets (hmmm... sounds like Windows client), some folks familiar with Microsoft's plans are talking. Here's the latest I'm hearing from my sources..."</em></p><p>According to Mary-Jo Foley, Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will be coming out from device makers in September, Windows Mobile 7 is released to testers (meaning it's basically code complete except for bug-squishing) in November of 2009, and we'll see the first Windows Mobile 7 devices in April 2010.</p>

[Cattle-Dog]

Five months between major releases? That would be very "un-microsoft". I bet 7.0 doesn't street until Q4 2010.

[Rocco Augusto]

Five months between major releases? That would be very "un-microsoft". I bet 7.0 doesn't street until Q4 2010.

Well that is if you are considering Windows Mobile 6.5 a major release. From what information is available on the almighty Interwebs, it looks as if Windows Mobile 6.5 will server a few main purposes:



It will bring Windows Mobile Pro up to par with the Windows Mobile Standard interface
It will include Microsoft's new mobile web browser

[alese]

I think (hope) 6.5 is ready now and I doubt first devices will come as late as fall.
Microsoft should announce/release 6.5 on Mobile World Congress this month in Barcelona and I guess HTC (and others) should have devices ready by end of spring.

That would give them roughly a year until 7.

[JesterMania]

So we are to assume that WM 7, when released sometime mid/late next year, will be as good or better than Android/Symbian/Apple OS X/BB OS after having given them an additional 1.5 years to advance? I don't want to seem pessimistic, especially in a Windows Mobile-forum but come on - I will be very amazed if Microsoft manages to pull this off. Even if the WM7 OS itself is up to par, you still need to give time for software developers to update their software offerings to take advantage of the new OS features/integrate into the new design. This would be another half a year or so after the OS is released!

[kerrins]

The timing just doesn't make sense. OEM's don't always offer the free upgrade (anyone remember HP?) So if my current phone doesn't offer the free upgrade to 6.5, then that ensures I will wait until late 2010 to purchase a new phone. No one is going to buy an OEM phone knowing that in 6 months WM7 will be coming out. Unless 6.5 is released sooner than later there's no advantage to move over to it. No manufacturer will install 6.5 since they know version 7 is coming too. I just don't get it.

[Cattle-Dog]

Well that is if you are considering Windows Mobile 6.5 a major release. From what information is available on the almighty Interwebs, it looks as if Windows Mobile 6.5 will server a few main purposes:



It will bring Windows Mobile Pro up to par with the Windows Mobile Standard interface
It will include Microsoft's new mobile web browser


I see what you are saying. But in my opinion, 6.5 is shaping up to be a bigger release than 6.1 was. Which seems like a considerable effort for a 5 month stop gap. Why not abandon 6.5 and put those resources to releasing 7.0 early?

The only way I can make sense of it, is that 7.0 will be a significant departure from the current hardware. It'll be expensive at first and 6.5 will live side by side with 7.0 for a while as a more modest entry into the Windows Mobile market.

[Pony99CA]

So we are to assume that WM 7, when released sometime mid/late next year, will be as good or better than Android/Symbian/Apple OS X/BB OS after having given them an additional 1.5 years to advance?
If you don't know what WM 7 will have, and don't know what those other operating systems will do in the intervening time, it's hard to predict what will happen.

Even if the WM7 OS itself is up to par, you still need to give time for software developers to update their software offerings to take advantage of the new OS features/integrate into the new design.
Only if you aren't preserving backward compatibility. WM upgrades typically don't break most software, so only a few developers would need to have updates ready at launch time.

Yes, to take full advantage of any new features will take time, but Microsoft probably makes developer versions of Windows Mobile available under NDA well before the formal announcement. I remember Jason had an iPAQ 3600 running WM 2003 back in they day, a configuration that wasn't supported by HP.

Steve

[Rocco Augusto]

I see what you are saying. But in my opinion, 6.5 is shaping up to be a bigger release than 6.1 was. Which seems like a considerable effort for a 5 month stop gap. Why not abandon 6.5 and put those resources to releasing 7.0 early?

I wondered the same thing. The only thing that makes logical sense to me is that we will not see to many new devices come out with Windows Mobile 6.5 and the devices we do see will have updates to WM7 available.

If I was an OEM I wouldn't put my resources, especially in this economy when we're dealing with high-end gadgets, into developing a new product for an interim release unless I could update the software on that handset and continue selling it for more than a few months.

Hopefully Steve will clear everything up at the MWC in a few weeks.

[Pony99CA]

Hopefully Steve will clear everything up at the MWC in a few weeks.
I'm not even going there, so I don't see how I could. :p

Seriously, if the rumors are correct, there are a couple of ways to make sense of them. The first is similar to what cattle-dog said -- maybe WM 7 will just be for "premium" devices and WM 6.5 will be for less-capable devices.

The other way is that they're speeding up the cycle, similar to what happened for Windows 7 and Vista. They're releasing WM 6.5 now to get the services and new browser out (similar to how they released WM 6.1 in response to the iPhone) and working full speed ahead on WM 7. So WM 6.5 could be treading water a bit -- it will catch those people who have a contract ending soon but don't want to wait until 2010 for a new phone and maybe avoid some defections to iPhone/Android/BlackBerry.

If the rumors aren't quite correct, maybe there will be some WM 6.5 devices ready to go (or almost ready) when it's announced. That would give WM 6.5 a 12-14 month life cycle, which is typical of Windows Mobile.

Steve

[JesterMania]

Yes, to take full advantage of any new features will take time, but Microsoft probably makes developer versions of Windows Mobile available under NDA well before the formal announcement. I remember Jason had an iPAQ 3600 running WM 2003 back in they day, a configuration that wasn't supported by HP.

I really hope that's the case. If WM7 can be released with most popular software titles having incorporated whatever new features and interface redesigns it has at the time, then maybe they can pull through.

An example was the introduction of the softkeys starting in WM5, where existing versions of software written for WM2003 had to be updated to use the new WM5 softkeys rather than the classic menus. It would be a real shame if WM7 was all nice and finger-friendly while 3rd-party offerings still had thin scrollbars and miniscule widgets. :D

[Pony99CA]

An example was the introduction of the softkeys starting in WM5, where existing versions of software written for WM2003 had to be updated to use the new WM5 softkeys rather than the classic menus. It would be a real shame if WM7 was all nice and finger-friendly while 3rd-party offerings still had thin scrollbars and miniscule widgets. :D
The important thing, to me, is that the applications work. Sure, they may not look the same, but if they work OK, that's better than being broken.

With WM 5, I believe that Microsoft made the program builder smart, so that if your menu bar only had two menu items, soft keys would be generated instead; if your menu bar had more than two items, you'd get a standard menu bar. That's a helpful feature on Microsoft's part to help some apps get the new look and feel immediately without breaking existing apps.

Also, even if Microsoft doesn't provide developers with new devices, their programming environment includes a software emulator, so if the emulator supports WM 6.5 or 7, developers can get an idea of what it takes to change their apps.

Steve