Sunday, January 11, 2009
Microsoft culling the WinMo herd, fewer phones to be offered
Microsoft's veep of marketing for Windows Mobile (jeebus, that's got to be stressful job right about now) has gone on the record in saying that there'll be a "major announcement" out of his camp at Mobile World Congress next month, which makes sense -- it's the biggest mobile trade show of the year, after all, and we've been expecting WinMo 6.5 for a little while. What's particularly interesting, though, is that the dude says they're looking to cut down on the total number of phones offered by its licensees in an effort to "be more focused" and do a better job tailoring the platform to the devices in the market. Makes sense in a way, but on the flipside, one of Windows Mobile's solid advantages over the competition has always been its endless selection of styles and form factors. Taking that away means that WinMo's got to be better by leaps and bounds to keep going head-to-head with the Palms, Apples, RIMs, and Nokias of the world, so here's hoping MWC turns out to be a watershed event.