ON GETTING PUMPED ABOUT WINDOWS MOBILE 6 SMARTPHONES

WIRELESS CORNUCOPIA

I know I should be more excited about the announcement of the next version of Microsoft's Mobile 6 Smartphone platform announced officially today at a major Barcelona wireless conference. 

I mean PC Magazine even gave it an Editor's Choice rating, grudgingly as it were.  Here's how they sum up the pros and cons:

"Windows Mobile 6 is the best mobile operating system out there, but I say that guardedly. It's still clunky, with some memory leaks and seriously unintuitive parts. But the other mobile options fall short in major ways. Palm OS still doesn't multitask, and doesn't work at all on new GSM 3G networks.  It's an OS of the past.

Symbian suffers from a low profile in the US, with relatively few devices available, and it has its own quirky ways of doing things.

Blackberry OS is smooth and stable, but just beginning to develop its potential in terms of media and third-party apps.

We've heard great things about Linux, but nobody's yet managed to convince a major US carrier to pick up a Linux smart phone.

The radically new interfaces of Apple's iPhone could give Microsoft's team a kick in the pants, but that phone isn't out yet.

Windows Mobile is available on a broad range of devices with several form factors. It's enterprise friendly. It has thousands of third-party applications, and it runs on many devices, at many price points, with many form factors. Windows Mobile 6 doesn't rock Microsoft's successful boat. It smoothes the waters towards total mobile domination a bit. And if the real version 6 isn't as amazing as the version 6 we had in our heads, well, there's always Windows Mobile 7."

Well put.  The system should get some respect, because it currently the best of an relatively anemic competitive line-up...for now.

Devices with the new operating system should start to appear soon, supported by most of the major US and global carriers. 

However, even though I know I should be more excited about the Mobile 6 platform, I still find myself waiting for June to come around, so that I can get my hands on an Apple iPhone.

In the meantime, there's always the wider version of the Blackberry Pearl, announced today also by Research in Motion, which I flagged last month.  This one should be available from AT&T Cingular in the next few days, with more carriers to follow, as described by this Wall Street Journal article.

Lots more to choose from...soon.

Comments

[Yaser Anwar]

If you notice- a great HF, Galleon Group, reported a 6% stake in Palm just few days back. And now this, looks like PALM might be in for an acquisition.