The week marches on and today being Saturday means it is time to recap the recent happenings in the world of Windows Mobile. The biggest news this week had to be the statements that Microsoft Steve Ballmer made to a group of venture capitalists about Windows Mobile. His Steveness (not that Steve) made it clear that Microsoft had screwed up with Windows Mobile and that WM7 should already have launched. Ballmer went on to mention shakeups in the WM team at Microsoft and that new talent had been “pumped” into the team.
The other big news of the week in the WinMo world may not have anything to do with WM phones, for all we know. Gizmodo found some leaked pics of two new phones thought to be the mystery “Pink” project phones that Microsoft is developing internally. The two phones look like a cross between the Palm Pre and the Sidekick. This is not surprising given the Sidekick is the brainchild of Danger, a company Microsoft acquired a few years back. The new phones leaked this week are reported to be co-branded by Microsoft and Sharp, who is making the handsets. Sharp also made the Sidekicks for Danger, so it’s all in the family. It’s not definite if these branded phones will run Windows Mobile, but Microsoft would be digging an early grave for WM if not.
The Oct. 6 launch date for WM 6.5 is drawing near and it’s looking like OEMs are chomping at the bit to get handsets released with the new OS. Microsoft China has indicated that partners will be releasing over 30 handsets running WM 6.5 this year, which is an awfully tight window. These new phones will be released by over 15 OEMs, so this should get fun to watch come October.
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