microsoft,  rumors,  windows mobile

Rumor: Microsoft Working on Windows Mobile 6.5

Brighthand’s Adama Brown has an interesting article posted on the mobile computing website. Mr. Brown’s article reads, in part:

“The interview focused on the news that Motorola would be dropping both Symbian and its in-house Linux/Java platform in order to focus on devices running Android and Windows Mobile (read more). While commenting on the user experience aspect of smartphones, Jha noted that:

“Windows Mobile 6 has not delivered the experience that I think Apple has been able to deliver, but as you look at the plan that is Windows Mobile 7 and even 6.5, I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform.”

This reference to an upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 is the first such information about its existence made available to the public. Previously the next known upgrade to Microsoft’s mobile platform was Windows Mobile 7, a major overhaul which was has been repeatedly delayed, most recently until the second half of 2009.”

Read the full article on Brighthand.com

Potential Upgrades

Unlike desktop operating system upgrades from Microsoft, or even Apple, smartphone operating systems need to be tweaked for the hardware it will run on. Because of that fact, we won’t be able to obtain any upgrade directly from Microsoft. Rather, mobile device manufacturers like Motorola and Palm will need to obtain the software, modify the code, and then have the new software stack certified by each wireless carrier who will carry the upgraded phone.

Long story short, don’t expect every Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 device to get an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5.