Big Talk from MS: WinMo 6.5 is Gonna Trump the iPhone’s Web Browsing

Posted on 02 August 2009, at 11:35 am, by Jason Reese

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Sometimes the pot has to be stirred. Sometimes you have to “go big or go home” about your products. Sometimes you just have to rekindle your Hatfield versus McCoy feuding to maintain relevance and spark some excitement. Neither Microsoft nor Apple are known for subtleties — but for MS to say Windows Mobile 6.5 is going to have a “much better experience” than the iPhone? That’s some big talkin’.

The year has not been too kind to Microsoft’s mobile division. Even as MS increased mobile unit shipments in 2009, the company continued to lose market share to their competitors — namely Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry lineup. According to Robbie Bach, President of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, Windows Mobile 6.5 is going to change all of that.

You will have a very rich browsing experience on 6.5 devices that will give you access to more Web sites than you will be able to get to on an iPhone that will work actively and work well…It really is a much better experience [than the iPhone].

Even if WinMo 6.5 provides a stellar mobile web browsing experience that matches the iPhone, the uphill battle can’t be denied. WinMo has a strong presence in business, but not so much with consumers. There is also the app store factor, which will likely hinge on the Windows Marketplace. No doubt there are plenty of WinMo apps available today; but Microsoft — just like RIM — is entering a mobile distribution ecosystem long after their devices were available for businesses and consumers (unlike Apple, who entered the mobile device market only after they had iTunes ready as a consumer storefront).

WinMo 6.5 is slated for release this fall with the official unveiling of Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace for Mobile application storefront.

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Tags | Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows Phone Touchscreen Devices, Mobile Phones

2 Comments For This Post

alex_kac Says:
August 2nd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Microsoft is talking about Flash and in that respect – that sole respect – they are correct.
Carly Z Says:
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 pm
To be fair, there’s already browsers that do very well on WinMob, so I could easily see an iPhone caliber one with good video abilities.

Iris and Opera Mobile both render full websites QUITE nicely, so MS building on that and making a better one still isn’t a stretch.

1 Trackbacks For This Post

More Big Talk That Will Never Walk The Walk | Just Another iPhone Blog Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
[...] from the Roger McNamee book of really terrible trash talking that you can’t back up. Gear Diary has a report up on Robbie Bach’s chest-thumping for a new Windows Mobile browser: According to Robbie Bach, [...]

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