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Jeremy Kirk at InfoWorld:
Microsoft, which has been carving a larger slice of the mobile device OS market, is developing a new product, code-named “Crossbow,” which will incorporate features such as instant messaging, a Microsoft executive confirmed Monday.
Crossbow will have strong links with Office 2007 and Exchange 12, Microsoft’s pending new office application suite and e-mail server, said Pieter Knook, senior vice president for the mobile devices and telecoms sector. Crossbow would be the successor to Windows Mobile 5.0, released in May 2005.
Crossbow will take aim at the Symbian and BlackBerry operating systems. The OS will contain a new mobile version of Office Communicator, an Office 2007 enterprise communications application, that includes instant messaging on public and private networks, Knook said.
“As the Office [2007] PC versions of those applications improve, we’re tracking that on the Windows Mobile side,” Knook said.
Knook said it’s premature to say when Crossbow would be released, but that the company plans for an annual mobile OS release.
…
Microsoft is gaining ground with Windows Mobile 5.0, but Symbian is dominant, said Nick Spencer, a research analyst with Canalys.com.Near the end of 2005, Microsoft held a 16 percent share in the worldwide mobile OS market compared to 63 percent for Symbian, 10 percent for Access Co.’s PalmSource, 7 percent for Research in Motion’s BlackBerry and 4.5 percent for others, including Linux-based ones.
On the question of dates, Bink.nu points to a Microsoft presentation that gives (apparently inadvertently) more information on Crossbow and its successor, Photon. The net:
Crossbow:
Photon:
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Mar | May » | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | ||||||
October 7th, 2006 at 8:17 AM
[...] Jupiter Research’s Michael Gartenberg got a sneak preview of Crossbow and Photon (the next versions of Windows Mobile previously mentioned here) and he’s impressed: I can’t really tell you all that much about then except that Microsoft is totally changing the way they’re thinking about mobility and it shows. [...]
October 10th, 2006 at 1:04 PM
[...] Back in September, Microsoft released Windows CE 6.0 to manufacturing and shortly thereafter there was a teaser sighting of the next version of Windows Mobile codenamed “Crossbow” which is based on it and is supposed to RTM in 4Q2006. Now there’s another sighting as MS Mobile News provides some Crossbow screenshots in New Windows Mobile OS “Crossbow” shows its face. If you are confused about the distinction between Windows CE and Windows Mobile, Microsoft’s Mike Hall explains it here. [...]
November 21st, 2006 at 9:57 PM
[...] There had been some speculation that Crossbow would end up being Windows Mobile 5.0 Second Edition (or something similar) and Photon would be Windows Mobile 6.0, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. And in case you were wondering, there is Windows Live Mobile integration. Filed under Windows Mobile, Windows Live, Photon, Crossbow, Windows Live Mobile, Microsoft [...]
February 8th, 2007 at 12:32 PM
[...] That’s also why some have called Crossbow Windows Mobile 5 Second Edition. The next big change in Windows Mobile is coming with Photon which is about a year away. [...]