Microsoft: Over 30 Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphones launching before year-end
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Sep 23rd 2009 8:01AM
posted Sep 23rd 2009 8:01AM
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Too bad none of them are packing Tegra. I'm so sick of Qualcomm
Snapdragon 1ghz isn't that bad either. But it doesn't allow 30 hours of music playback, barely manages 12...
@WindowsFTW And there you go, just making assumptions in addition to making up more crap. You really think that anyone is going to listen to you after reading the debacle that transpired in the comments above this one? Really?
wtf is this comment doing here?
Yeah Blogsmith is being a vagina to me as well. My comments are all over the damn place...
…and how many of those handsets work on U.S. 3G GSM?… 5.
Nice. Why should I care about WM 6.5 living in the U.S.? Because I can choose from a total of 3 handsets. Give me a f’ing break. This is BS. M$ needs to step in and require HTC, Sammy and whoever to include U.S. 3G bands on their unlocked handsets if they want to use WM 6.5. It’s a freakin U.S. company for crying out loud.
Quantity over quality.
So many phones, so little marketshare. Surely only 3 of these 15 companies can be making a profit on their WinMo phones?
Freedom of choice is only something bad in North Korea - and perhaps Cuptertino.... :)
Right. MS could announce 100 and it means nothing when people no longer buy
WinMo phones. This explains why all WinMo handset makers have announced
Android phones. WinMo is no longer relevant.
They're just trying to stop the hemorrhaging to Android (with Android's 20-ish phones this year).
Actually, the manufacturers are doing well. They sell their phone in bulk to carriers (cheaper price per phone). These phones are making money or they wouldn't be developing so many.
Its not about market share. Its about pricing policy where "budget" means like 3 smartphones based on Symbian OS. Basically, its very expensive, hard to understand, hard to work with so its easy to understand that
average Joe DOES NOT WANT WINDOWS MOBILE 6.5!!! sorry folks couldn't sit quietly any longer
They want WinMo 7 with 16M color support, better multimedia functions, easy to use UI and high stability. Apps will come by themselves.
Thanks for reading :)
Always a hate fest for Windows Mobile, it is a little old now, but 6.5 has turned into a nice upgrade and Windows Mobile has always been very customizable.
Most devices are now shipping with Opera, but the IE in 6.5 is pretty decent also.
The handsets I can think of for this year including the Touch Pro2, Diamond2, HD2/3, Omnia 2 and Monaco are all decent.
The Galaxy is probably the only device so far that is slightly better than these IMO.
Not to people who don't constantly suck Capacitive's cock.
You can down vote me all you like but how many manufacturers actually make a profit out of WinMo? I'm thinking HTC, Samsung and maybe LG. The rest are selling phones in such small quantities (< 100,000 units) that it can't possibly cover the R&D costs.
Do you really think Palm made any money on their WinMo phones? How about Sony Ericsson? How about i-Mate?
I'm not saying that WinMo is a bad OS. I'm just saying that most of the phones that use it are junk.
What's that you were saying about Marketshare again?
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=910112
WinMo phones outsell:
iPhones (in all of their different incarnations)
Android phones
Linux based phones in general
WebOS phone(s)
Palm based phones
They only lose out to RIM and Symbian in terms of marketshare
To be fair WindowsFTW I think that things might have changed in the 2nd half 09 report. Can't confirm though.
@WindowsFTW
Why are you using old data?
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/13/iphone-market-share-grew-375-in-q2/
WinMo is down to 4th place with 9% share in the latest figures.
Xbit
WM != HTC, iDiot.
WM phones are sold on over a dozen different manufacturers handsets.
HTC just represents one of those manufacturers.
Your post is full of iFail.
@WindowsFTW
Huh?
The table has HTC on 6% marketshare. The pie chart has Windows Mobile on 9% marketshare.
I think you're getting confused.
@WindowsFTW
The pie chart shows WINDOWS MOBILE (not HTC) on 9% marketshare.
I think you're getting a little confused.
It's interesting that you get called an iPhone fanboy for criticizing WinMo. I remember the days when you were automatically called a Palm fanboy for doing the same thing. :)
WindowsFTW has and will continue to use old data because thats the data that makes him right, and if you dont like it he has 15 other engadget accounts he can vote you down/report you with.
@WindowsFTW Can you not comprehend a pie chart, are you really as idiotic as i have always thought. There are 2 effing charts on that link you moron. Ill wait here while you log into your other accounts and down rank me.
Tsing Tao @
WindowsFTW aka WinTroll is a scum LIER. He should be outright banned from this site!
@Haha i only know 1 of his other accounts and it was Hamidxa who i think is banned at this point but not sure.
@ WindowsFTW
According to Q2 2009 data, Apple's market share is about 13.7%, as opposed to WinMo's 9%. That just shows what a hammering WinMo's been taking lately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone#Operating_systems
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/21/canalys_iphone_outsold_all_windows_mobile_phones_in_q2_2009.html
Akshat @
The Q2 09 data was collected before a slew of handset makers announcing Android
phones and exclude much of the 3GS sales. I strongly believe WinMo market share
in a quarter or two will be much lower even. Possibly drop to a low single digit.
That's why MS is shitting in their pants and keep posting vaporware.
Q2 2009 != All of 2009 thus far
Q2 2009 is when the 3GS came out, so is it any wonder why Apple's marketshare looks up in Q2 in 09?
Now that the 3GS is out of the picture, and now that all the major carriers are getting phones such as the Touch Pro 2 in their lineups and a slew of other WinMo phones, I guarantee you Apple's marketshare will go back down again before years end.
FYI: Apple's Q1 marketshare was 10.8% whereas WinMo's was slightly above that.
@WindowsFTW And there you go, just making assumptions in addition to making up more crap. You really think that anyone is going to listen to you after reading the debacle that transpired in the comments above this one? Really?
Tsing Tao:
You're the one who's assuming that Q2 of 09 = ALL OF 09 THUS FAR.
iPhone OS held a larger marketshare in Q2, WinMo held a larger marketshare in Q1
3GS has already ridden the hype train and will no longer be selling in the same quantities as it was when first introduced, that's basic common sense, to deny it would be overlooking the obvious.
Or are you one of those who also believes that Movies sell more tickets at the box office after the opening weekend?
Perhaps you also believe that video games sell more copies the week after launch than they do the week of the launch?
Common sense dictates that the iPhone 3GS and other iPhones in general will not be selling in as large of quantities as they were when first introduced and thus marketshare will slip as time progresses.
This is a basic law of demand.
Furthermore, as noted, more and more WM handsets are being released between Q3 and Q4 of this year.
Q2 saw very very few releases of WM handsets, less than a handful at that.
Compare 30+ releases in 3-4 months time versus like 3+ releases in 3-4 months time.
Common sense, apply some.
@Windows FTW
I'm so glad you mentioned common sense. Hopefully you should be able to comprehend the following -
1) The iPhone's market share has been growing at exponential rates since its launch. A small example - according to Gartner's, the iPhones market share in Q2 2008 was 2.8%. In Q2 2009 it was 13.3%. Also, sales are up 500%.
Sure, some of the recent spurt in sales may be due to the newly released iPhone 3GS, which is still unavailable in many regions of the world due to excessive demand (wait time in Singapore is 1 month). But with more people buying the iPhone, that leaves less people to buy WinMo phones.
2) Palm and Android - Palm's been on a sort of reneaissance lately, and Android's got rave reviews. Forget the iPhone, how's WinMo going to compete with these 2? Yea the HTC Touch Pro 2 is coming out soon, but guess what - so is the HTC Hero.
Oh yea - full disclosure - I'm using a HTC Touch. I hate it - and I don't blame HTC.
I think @WindowsFTW is providing viral marketing to Microsoft because of his blind allegiance. Everything is pointing to WinMo 6.xx's declining influence. So contrary arguments appear particularly stupid. However, I do think Microsoft is executing a strategy of plugging a hole with the WinMo 6.5/App store release. We simply won't be talking about 6.5 in 1 year. The big effort they are working on is the Verizon/Pink phone which is a services integrated phone similar to Android/Motorola Blur but more restrictive (think Bing, MS Radio, Virtual Earth, App store - and no cab installs). Since this phone will be completely contradictory to the 'reasons' why WindowsFTW supports WinMo - let's see if he gets behind it.
Yup WM is a dead OS for phones too slow
Winmo 6.5 is plenty fast, even on my pos Epix.
im running 6.1 and it is zippy.
I'm still running Windows Mobile 5, and it's awesome, so...
setmo, paul,
How fast IE runs on WinMo? Pathetic, isn't it? LOL
Only stupid people don't realize that IE sucks across the broad platform of OS'.
and I'm pretty sure everyone in this Reply zone is using Opera, so you fail.
If you are not using the new Opera Mini, then you are missing out.
And as for 6.5 being slow? I'm running it on a PDA that originally ran WM2003. It runs perfectly fine.
Only stupid fanboy like you believe that mainstream users want to deal with third party
add-on browser. If this was the case, IE on desktop PC would have been dead long ago.
Your argument failed.
"Only stupid fanboy like you believe that mainstream users want to deal with third party
add-on browser. If this was the case, IE on desktop PC would have been dead long ago."
Your logic has failed.
@Precious Stone,
Third party add on browser? What are you talking about? Opera has been the default browser on all the WinMo Pro phones I've used in the last year. I didn't even know people use IE mobile?
Even though its low ranked, I have to agree to some degree: its complex, its slow, its limited. And devices are at least twice as expensive as similarly-specced phones. So yeah. If this doesn't change, WinMo is dead to the average customer who doesn't care to pay $600+ for a $300 device.
I'd love to see WinMo 7 but 6.5 is not for me.
Not only slow but it requires a stylus to run most of its applications which is
a big joke in this age.
@jokerwild
Most of these application you refer to are years old before the prominence of finger friendliness. There are apps which are being released that are much better now so just rest your gums (fingers in the case) and sit back.
Then why does WM 6.5 not only look better interface wise than anything Apple has come up with, but also run very snappy too?
http://profile.imageshack.us/user/windowsftw/images/detail/#503/200909211431350001111g.jpg
http://profile.imageshack.us/user/windowsftw/images/detail/#80/200909211431190000111g.jpg
WindowFTW@
MS fanboy like you don't understand the difference between wall paper and UI. You want
wall paper? There are thousands available for iPhone! And they are free! Nice UI
meaning seamless UI integration across ALL APPLICATIONS. That's what iPhone
delivers! Get it?
@Peanut Butter
You obviously don't know what 6.5 is then. This isn't about the wallpaper. In fact, who the fuck cares?. You missed his point in all entirety.
He was referring to the layout of the UI. The pic proves rolling through the main screen tabs, and seeing discreet info on the tabs. Nobody was talking about wallpaper, and "seamless UI integration" happens on damn-near EVERY mobile OS availible.
When all logic fails, you stick to pure ignorance. I hope you get un-stuck from your iRut.
N900@
Wall paper or Home Screen means nothing! How many home screen did HTC
invent for their phones. I bet you won't be able to count. And they do nothing
for the applications that run behind the home screen. Oh yeah the stylus is
required after the home screen. What a joke! Home screen is nothing but
a makeup. And you need to upgrade to 6.5 to get a new home screen?
You're killing me! :)
God you fail. Nobody was referring to the wallpaper TO BEGIN WITH. and yes the homescreen is a big deal to the world outside your home. If you've seen the capacitive integration of the HTC Hero and it's scrolling through the Application list, you wouldn't even contain such stupid logic in the first place! LOL
OK so now capacitive touch is good that winmo has it? You guys need to get your story straight.
I never said capacitive was crap....
N900 @
You keep bringing up your stupid application launcher home screen. What happens
after launching the app? Yeah, a stinky stylus is required to operate the
app after launching from your pretty home screen. So why not come out
and honestly admit it is a stylus integration. You can't fool people with new
home screen or application laucher whatever you want to call.
@N900 sorry not specifically you, but even in this thread there is a comment about some kind of blow job and capacitive yadda. And its been one of the parroting talking points, is winmo is more accurate because of resistive tech etc etc.
Peanut Butter - how about you just keep your trap shut until you actually USE a 6.5 device. Seeing that the final version isn't even released yet it's a little premature on your part to bash it. So sick of people blindly regurgitating drivel they read over in the MacRumors forums.
I have an early build of 6.5 running on 2 different devices (with 2.8" resistive screens). I use my stylus maybe once a week. All of the rest of my work is done with my fingers. There are some functions that need more attention but the core capabilities are all much more finger friendly. Contacts, Email/Text/Messaging, web browsing, all support kinetic scrolling and large buttons for finger use. The biggest area of change is going to come from developers who need to adopt to finger friendly UI's. And they will. But how about we give them some time to make that transition?
@Bjsguess "Seeing that the final version isn't even released yet it's a little premature on your part to bash it" This is the exact opposite argument most of these people are using. All these winmo fanboys want you to go use the pre release cooked roms because they all brag about how super totally mega awesome omg bear is driving they are, and then you come here and ruin their strawman by saying "Gais its too early to judge, its not ready, your being mean to poor unfinished winmo 6.5". So which is it? Is is the best mobile operating system ever concocted until winmo 7 which is just vaporware? Or is it not finished and too early to judge? You guys need to take your stance, you flip flop like a bunch of dying fish in a freshly Mega Maided ocean.
Peanut Butter,
As already noted, THAT IS NOT WALLPAPER.
That is the native WM 6.5 interface.
Everything can be scrolled through kinetically in those screenshots and through WM 6.5 itself.
Every menu item you see in that screenshot can be either tapped on or scrolled through (left to right or vice-versa) for more options.
For example, when a text message comes, i can scroll through them and read parts of them right from within that menu.
When I want to check on stocks, I can flick through the stocks menu (plugin was not installed at time of posting).
When I want to check on weather for any given day or even take a look at a radar, I can scroll through the weather tab.
YOUR VITRIOLIC POST FULL OF ASSUMPTIONS PROVES A VALUABLE POINT:
Most of you guys haven't even touch WM 6.5 yet, let alone seen it in action, or even in screenshots for that matter.
The ignorance is just dumbfounding, especially when its evoked with such conviction.
Peanut Butter,
For the record, the last time I used my stylus was to update a math function within Excel, you know, something that you iPhone toting fanboys don't even have the option of doing in the first place.
Other than that, I haven't had to touch the stylus for anything other than the initial ROM install when it asks you to tap the stylus on all 5 spots to calibrate the screen.
I do love it however when you iFans make such ignorant assumptions that can be easily refuted.
Variety only helps if all of them well designed and realized and different in useful ways.
Variety is evil. Because if all functions you need are put in different devices, you won't have it all. You'll only have the amount you can afford. I prefer all-in-one devices for smallest price possible.
@shin
because that is reality, right? Choice is always better. You may not get all you want but you will surely get close enough rather than just being prescribed what you must have with no choice.
Who cares. If they had any sense at all, they would've scrapped WM6.5 and went straight for the money with WM7. And you damned-well know that not a single 6.5 handset released this year will ever be upgraded to WM7 (officially, anyway.)
You've actually got it backwards. WM7 has been in development a lot longer than 6.5 has. Once it became obvious to them that WM7 was still a couple years away before they would have anything they could release, they decided to cobble together a facelift for WM6.1 so that they'd have something to release in the mean time. I highly doubt that WM7 got pushed back by any significant amount by the development of 6.5, it'll still show up at the same time that it would have even if they hadn't wasted their time with 6.5 at all.
I agree. I remember seeing videos on Windows Mobile 7 a while back, like mid-2007. They've been spending a lot of time on the project (and not too much time or else you'll be getting at shit platform), and they didn't want the customers feeling mad, so they've released 6.5 to hold them over.
It's almost like Microsoft was actually working on Windows 7, but they've been taking too long so they released Windows Vista...ok that's a stupid analogy but not when you think about it. 6.5 will be like Windows Mobile's Vista (I'm talking about the Service Pack 2).
Oh, and I don't think Microsoft WON'T let anyone upgrade to WM7 from 6.5. That's just stupid to do.
@Leindurstit
Remember windows mobile 5's transition to 6? Yeah. I was a victim.
I dont see why phones like the Leo which would likely be able to handle WM7 should be upgradeable - whether by legitimate means or not ;-)
Yours truly
which phone is that?
Touch Diamond 2
I'm just waiting for my HTC Leo!
Windows Mobile is garbage. I WISH it wasnt but it is. They need to take the Zune HD and start with that as a OS and build from that. Days of the windows start button are over. 30 crappy phones before year end, whoopee! I would totally get a Windows OS Phone if they redid it completely, come on windows mobile 7!
Have you even USED 6.5?
I mean come on....
Likely not.
Most of the time you get on of those WinMo is trash posts, they never take a sentence or two to tell you what exactly backs up their diatribe.
You know the "Home" key on iPhone is essentially the "Start" key on WM phones I mean all it does is take to the "Program/Application" screen on either device so really you putting down your own phone?
You do know the latest builds on 6.5 (not the version that is to be release in October) are a far cry to what you guys complaining about WinMo imagine it is. Add on top of that TouchFlo 3D 2.5 and you have and incredible phone.
Dont like IE use Opera or Skyfire. There is even a WebKit browser available. I guess people are lazy and dont want to tune their phone to their needs but rather tune their needs to the phone.
If you just calm down a while and actually look into it the developments into 6.5 are great and give MS a chance to still sell WM on phones of today. Why abandon 6.5 and just release 7 to have people forced to buy tegra and snapdragon phone across all markets?? That would be just stupid.
N900 and Poke,
I doubt these guys even know what 6.5 is, have used it, have even seen a pic of it, or know a damned thing about WinMo since probably using it back in 2006 or something.
I would very very seriously doubt that they've even handled a 6.5 ROM, how could they if they are berating it in the first place, because 6.5 has turned even many critics into believers even though it's not 7 itself.
I mean seriously, what moron out there would argue that this doesn't look pretty?
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1573/200909211431190000111g.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/5787/200909211431350001111g.jpg
Hell, it's practically the Zune HD homescreen, and we all know how everyone went gaga over that.
This year the Windows Mobile fans are coming out to defend their OS against the iPhone as Windows Mobile sales have fallen below the iPhone. Next year, the Windows Mobile fans will be coming out to defend their OS against Android when Windows Mobile sales fall below Android.
So...how connected are we?
Y.E.A.H! You go MS we've got your back covered.
Windows Mobile 6.5 will still be available when Windows Mobile 7 launches however 6.5 devices will be the low to mid range end where as 7 will be the high range kit that will directly compete against the iPhone
The LEO aka Touch HD 2!
Why would you wanna compete with the iPhone...That would lower yourself to using a device that dictates what software you use for music/photos/video/ringtones! I like to think that WM is above the "dumb"smartphone category and will go directly against RIM.
Ethos,
You nailed it.
Competing against the iPhone is like Usain Bolt training for the Special Olympics.
Why lower yourself to the category of dumb smartphone...
But I guess some people out there prefer vacuous "shiny" things over ones with limitless substance.
You guys fanboygasms are so mislead its just hilarious. "THe IPHonE IS not a SMartPhone" even though every tech blog on teh face of the planet agrees that it is. Its just amazing how rabidly stupid and blind you morons are.
Is it just me, or are there too f**king many phones coming out? Seriously, between just WinMo and Android, we have 50 goddamn phones slated to be released in the next few months. 50. One more time. 50 phones in the next few months. I'm all about choice, but have you ever been at the grocery store staring blankly at the shelves wondering which of the 200 kinds of toilet paper is best for your butt-wiping needs? It looks like we're moving away from wanting a certain kind of hardware to just wanting a certain kind of software. It's going to be hard for anyone to carve out a niche in this market. I recently got a MT3G because I wanted an Android phone, and it's only one of 2 out. Now when you want an Android phone, you will have to decide which of the 20 phones with the software (and likely virtually identical hardware/internals) fits you best. Welcome to the free market economy!
I know the windows mobile phone I'm looking forward to. I can't wait for the wm6.5 release so I can get that phone. I'm in the states so I have to import, but that's not too much of a problem. I see a lot of people here are clowning about windows mobile, but the WM crowd knows what we have and knows what we would be sacrificing if we moved to another platform.
I've been using the leaked betta for the WM6.5R2 and I see that msft mobile team are doing a lot of changes, changes that are welcomed.
so all you clowns keep clowning. I believe only an idiot would say WinMo's UI is hard to understand.....
I'm using a 23053 on an old Titan and it's great.
just out of curiousity, which phone?
@ Dr. steve brule
I have the HTC x7501 Athena. I'm on build 23412. the cook over at XDA (Avenger, really good cook by the way) will be going to 23053 pretty soon.
Typical 'more is less' company motto for MSFT.
30 Windows Mobile phones coming out ... not a one will run decently. I have to say that from my experience, MS still hasn't gotten it right in the mobile space. Their OS is just too damn clunky and resource intensive; they need to lower the footprint and feature set IMO.
huh - so the Leo wont run decently despite what has been shown this week?
Have you used 6.5? It runs touchflo, touchwiz, the new one on xperia x2 as a today plugin without making the system feel slow - doesn't sound too clunky to me.
To all the ignorant haters out there (looking right at you iFans, iTrolls, iDiots):
"WinMo is dead"....yeah, good one, you guys hit that one on head.
Just like how you thought Pipin would be a successful console
Just like how you thought Apple TV would be a successful media center box
Just like how you thought people in the real world would give a damn about iWork
Just like how you thought more than 7% of the people around the world would even care enough about Apple to buy a Mac
Fact of the matter is, that WinMo phones have outsold iPhone in 2007, 2008, and thus far in 2009, and just like you lot were so wrong about so much else, you'll continue to be wrong about people not wanting WinMo or thinking it's going anywhere anytime soon.
You realize that YOU are pretty much the ONLY ignorant hater here right? You have copied and pasted that ridiculous statement idk 40 times in the last week. You comment on EVERY apple post, you have no good points, have been proven wrong like 10 times in this thread alone and YOU CANT READ AN EFFING PIE GRAPH. I never report anyone, but you from here on out are being reported every time i see your hate filled fanboy rabid posts. You are an asshole and your attitude is equal to that of a whiney 4th grader at best.
Ill say that again, YOU CANT READ AN EFFING PIE GRAPH!!!!!!!!!!
It was a bit of a fail by WindowsFTW but it doesn't detract from the overall 2009 figures which we won't get until Jan 2010. We can decide who's winning or losing then.
As for fails, since you're the guy who claimed installing a wireless router invoked WGA you probably shouldn't shout quite as loudly.
WTF are you talking about? I have never ever ever said that. Now you are just making shit up.
@Mark i just looked at the last 6 months or so of my posts and doing a search for WGA or anything to do with wireless routers. I think you have me confused with someone else buddy.
Tsing Tao:
Tsing Tao:
Q2 2009 != All of 2009 thus far
Q2 2009 is when the 3GS came out, so is it any wonder why Apple's marketshare looks up in Q2 of 09?
Now that the 3GS is out of the picture, and now that all the major carriers are getting phones such as the Touch Pro 2 in their lineups and a slew of other WinMo phones, I guarantee you Apple's marketshare will go back down again before years end.
FYI: Apple's Q1 marketshare was 10.8% whereas WinMo's was slightly above that.
@WindowsFTW yes i see your copy and pasted whatnot all over. Whoopdee doo. You still are making assumptions and totally ridculous statments. I mean when Mark Anderson says you have failed in a WinMo post, you my friend have failed.
Interesting that you say that you guarantee that the iPhones market share will go down by years end? Have you not seen a trend in ALL of the crap you are posting. Even in the old data you used where winmo had a higher marketshare, it was still the lowest in growth 8% ish compared to what 200%? 100%? Do you think all of a sudden winmo is just going to start busting out into growth after years of downfall and the iphone after 2 solid years of minimum double digit growth is just going to disappear? Do you ever go outside? I dare you to walk anywhere and count phones, you will see more iphones than any other single phone on the planet, and many phones combined, and people are still buying them in the MILLIONS. I could go up to any person in this office of GOB construction contractors and ask them what an iphone is and they would know, i could ask the same people if they can name just a single windows mobile phone, not only will they have no idea wtf im talking about, they dont even know what winmo is.