First Windows Mobile 6.5 phones arriving on October 6, 2009

Microsoft has announced that the first Windows phones, identified by the fact that they are running Windows Mobile 6.5, will be made available at retail stores worldwide on October 6, 2009. Microsoft is underlining that version 6.5 of its mobile operating system brings an improved user interface and that the Internet Explorer Mobile browser includes a new engine as well as built-in Adobe Flash Lite support. These new phones will also come with two new services: Microsoft My Phone, which allows customers to automatically backup and sync photos, music, contacts, and text messages from their phone to the Web, and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a store for mobile applications that will be accessible from both the Windows phone and the Web.

Stephanie Ferguson, general manager in the Windows Mobile group, confirmed with Ars that the Marketplace for Windows Mobile will be available on the same day and that the next version of Office Mobile, which is slated for release next year, will work with the upcoming phones. This is just the beginning, though. "We have the broadest ecosystem out there and you'll be seeing a lot of announcements from us and our partners in the coming months," Ferguson told Ars.

Here are the partners around the globe that Microsoft says are committed to phones with Windows Mobile 6.5:

* North America
Mobile operators: AT&T, Bell Mobility, Sprint, TELUS, and Verizon Wireless
Phone manufacturers: HP, HTC, LG, Samsung, and Toshiba
* Europe
Mobile operators: Orange, T-Mobile, and Vodafone
Phone manufacturers: Acer, HTC, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Toshiba
* Latin America
Mobile operators: Telecom Italia Mobile Brasil
Phone manufacturers: HTC, LG Electronics, and Samsung
* Asia Pacific
Mobile operators: NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank Mobile, SK Telecom, Telstra, and WILLCOM
Phone manufacturers: Acer, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Toshiba

In February 2009, Microsoft first officially announced Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft My Phone, and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. In March 2009, Microsoft gave developers details on Windows Marketplace for Mobile, in July 2009 the company confirmed that the store would support Windows Mobile versions 6.0 and 6.1 by the end of 2009, and two weeks later the store started accepting application, game, and widget submissions.

Microsoft refused to give any more details on Windows Mobile 7, and so right now, Ballmer's statement from March 2009 about how the Windows Mobile team needs to speed things up remains nothing but an empty statement. With whispers of the RTM slated for April 2010 and talk of the first 7.0 handsets set to arrive in Q4 2010, Redmond needs to work much harder if it wants to keep rumors just rumors and deliver on the big Windows Mobile comeback it keeps talking about.

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