Windows Mobile 6.5 coming next year?

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows Mobile, Microsoft

Windows Mobile 6.5 coming next year?

by Brad Linder Oct 30th 2008

Something odd is going on in the world of Windows Mobile development. Last I'd heard Microsoft was working on a new product called Windows Mobile 7 that would be due out in the second half of 2009. But Motorola's CEO of mobile devices Sanjay Jha mentioned something interesting during an earnings call today. He said phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5 will be available during the second half of 2009. He also mentioned that Motorola would have an Android-based phone by next year's holiday season, but that's another story.

So what's this Windows Mobile 6.5? Is it an incremental upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1? Or is it just another name for Windows Mobile 7? Based on leaked screenshots, we know that Microsoft is certainly working on something new in the mobile space. But it's not clear whether Jha's comments mean that Windows Mobile 7 has been pushed back, or if Microsoft will release the next OS on schedule, but call it Windows Mobile 6.5 instead, which would seem to imply that it will be an incremental upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1, not a revolutionary new mobile OS.

[via CoolSmartPhone]

Tags: motorola, windows-mobile, windows-mobile-6.5, windows-mobile-7

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

eric said 2:54PM on 10-30-2008

6.5 will be a "enhancement" upgrade with a few UI tweaks and IE6.

Gustavo Leig said 3:09PM on 10-30-2008

and..

who cares?

David said 3:09PM on 10-30-2008

Does it matter? The iphone and Android will soon take over Microsoft's hold in the mobile OS market. True, they are not yet suited for the business user, but it is absurd to think that developers will not fix that. Those platforms will be worlds ahead of Windows Mobile in a short time. Microsoft should make apps for those phones, and do business that way.

Level 5 said 8:30PM on 10-30-2008

I agree.. Windows Mobile has lost its edge entirely. While WinMo 5 was absolutely lovely, it performed like ass even on (at the time) new devices. WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 have done near NOTHING to optimize the platforms looks or performance, and Blackberry OS, Symbian, and the iPhone have blown it away. Sounds much like the situation people complain about concerning Vista (while I don't agree with that one, WinMo is crap these days).

superrrguy said 7:38AM on 10-31-2008

WinMo 5 totally sucked and everyone I know including myself that used a WinMo device is now using a Blackberry. Let me just say that beside the daily resets WinMo 6.1 is really good. Threaded chats. Easy way to filter emails and chats and hot keys to get thing done really quick. Copy/Paste. I like it better than my Blackberry for features that should have been there long ago.

Unfortunately the Microsft way to copy and borrow. WinMo 7 looks like it going to be a cross between the iPhone, Android, and whatever they're doing with the BlackBerry Storm. My theory is that they pused WinMo 7 back just to see what features the Storm can "inspire". I also heard the code name for WinMo 7 is iPhondriodaberrykick.

MobileSpoon said 8:20AM on 1-22-2009

First screenshots revealed by one of the XDA-Developers hackers.
See them (plus a video) in here:

http://mobilespoon.blogspot.com/2009/01/windows-mobile-65-is-here.html

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