HTC announce official Windows Mobile 6 Upgrades for their range

April 20, 2007

Upgrades Will be available from June with the associated lag for operator take up  This via solopalmari (great Italian practice) HTC have announced the official upgrade policy for their range of handhelds  the statement indicates that the following HTC devices will be supported by official Windows Mobile 6  upgrades:

HTC Advantage,

HTC Tytn,  

HTC P3300

HTC P4350. 

HTC S620

Some of our operator-branded devices. that use of the word some worries me …… the official statement is as follows

Windows Mobile 6: upgrade strategy statement

Microsoft recently unveiled Windows Mobile ® 6, which offers improved usability and more PC-like functionality than previously available. Enhancements include the ability to view emails in rich HTML format, and to manage emails quickly and easily through new shortcuts and new calendar views.

The HTC S710 is one of the first Windows Mobile® 6 devices to ship, and will be followed by a range of products based on the new operating system in the coming months.

HTC is also offering WM6 upgrades for the most popular devices in its current range. This includes recently launched “messaging” products, which will enjoy the greatest benefits of Windows Mobile 6, such as the HTC Advantage, the HTC TyTN, the HTC S620, and the HTC P4350.

The upgrade will also be available for the award-winning HTC P3300, plus some of our operator-branded devices. The upgrades will be rolled out from June, in line with our operator partners’ strategies. You’ll be able to find the latest releases as they’re made available at: http://downloads.europe.htc.com

FAQ:

Why have these devices been chosen?

We have chosen devices with a particular focus on “messaging”, where users will enjoy the greatest benefits of Windows Mobile 6 (the HTC Advantage, the HTC TyTN, the HTC S620, and the HTC P4350). The upgrade will also be available for the award-winning HTC P3300. 

Will other devices be added?

Potentially. We’re in constant discussions with our operator partners, and if they’re seeing significant demand from their customers for a specific device then we will always consider it. 

When will the upgrade be available?

The upgrades will be rolled out from April. 

I’ve heard that [operator] is not offering the upgrade. Why is that? Can their customers get the upgrade from HTC direct?

It’s really up to the operators to decide how, or indeed whether, to offer the upgrade, so you’d need to speak to them. HTC is only directly offering upgrades for its own brand devices.

Will consumers have to pay upgrade license fees?

 No – the usual licence upgrade fees are being waived.

How much of a difference will users notice with the new operating system?

Windows Mobile 6 delivers the ability to view e-mails in their original rich HTML format with live links to Web and Sharepoint® sites, which means text and images are displayed as they would be on a PC, and are available from a corporate e-mail server such as Exchange Server 2007, from Web-based accounts such as Windows Live™ Hotmail or from a myriad of other popular service providers. Windows Mobile 6 also includes Windows Live for Windows Mobile, which provides customers with a rich set of Windows Live services. For example, now through Windows Live Messenger, people can chat with more than one person at one time, express themselves through animated figures, quickly send a file or image, or record and send voice notes.  The newest version of the platform offers the most genuine Microsoft Office system experience in the mobile versions of Office Outlook®, Office Word, Office Excel® and Office PowerPoint® by bringing capabilities once available only on the PC versions of these products to the small screen. This allows users to neatly view, navigate and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets in their original formatting, without affecting tables, images or text, and to view PowerPoint presentations on their device. All Windows Mobile 6 powered devices include Direct Push Technology for up-to-date e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars, tasks and contacts through Microsoft Exchange Server. Windows Mobile 6 also offers a set of important device security and management features that include the capability to remotely wipe all data from a device should it be lost or stolen, helping ensure that confidential information remains that way.

as always the adoption of it on any MSP device (like my m3100) is down to the MSP themselves - here’s hoping Orange see sense, it’ll keep me and Rob happy at least

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The official response to Response Point

April 20, 2007

what the Unified Communications team really think ( well officially anyway)

I’ve  blogged ad nauseam about my disappointment with Response Point’s route to Market and the missed opportunity I think it represents ( Premature maybe I know as it’s not even this side of the Atlantic yet) and mused about what the UC teams’s position may be on the whole thing.

Eric Swift Senior Director of the Unified Communications group has made this statement. to summarise the position is that the two products are targeted at different customers:

  • RP to small businesses that want to simplify the voice experience by replacing their existing telephone system or installing a new one based on Microsoft Software - a fairly narrow church I would think
  • OCS is designed to enhance the communications capabilities for larger organizations by working with the telephony and networking infrastructure they have, while using the power of software to provide next-generation communications capabilities to users.

as I’ve made clear the lack of LCS / OCS integration absolutely bamboozles me so I’d hope the statement would shed some light on the roadmap that might lead to integration of RP within the UC portfolio. Unfortunately it doesn’t. the closest we have to a comment comes via Oliver Rist over at Infoworld who has attributed  to Jeff Smith the suggestion that :

Response Point wasn’t going to integrate with Small Business Server 2007 when/if that platform shows up post-Longhorn — even though the Exchange 2007 folks are making a big deal about Exchange’s capability to act as voicemail and call aggregator. Apparently, that’s a Response Point 2.0 goal

Eric Swifts statement does nothing to reduce the confusion:

What about the roadmap for the two products?  Will they come together?  The next steps will be based on the evolution of this dynamic market and the feedback we get from customers.  The teams are working closely together so that both the small and large business customers gain the benefits of software-powered VoIP regardless of the offering built for them.

 

Apparently it’s up to us……. you know my position MICROSOFT RESPONSE POINT MUST INTEGRATE WITH OCS ! ( or LCS or a similar component in the Longhorn SBS variant) and provide unified comm’s on a Microsoft platform to the smaller business.

 

Come on people - get with the program

 

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Orange E650 available to purchase on Orange Consumer website

April 20, 2007

but……. instantly out of stock

the E650 is here - on the orange consumer website true to form for brand new customers only. :(

it’s instantly out of stock so I assume back orders have to be fulfilled (unless it’s a bit of creativity to hit the mid April Launch promised)

oh well I spose all you loyal Orange customers out there with access to the same deals as everyone supposedly will just have to wait.

I hate it when they do this.

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Posted by fanatical