Will a push at business users save Windows Phone 7 from being in the also ran category or is the death of Windows Mobile inevitable?

Microsoft to Business: You Need Windows Phone 7 – PCWorld Business Center

Citing the strong integration between its upcoming mobile phone software and its popular business-oriented products such as Office, Exchange, and SharePoint, Microsoft is actively pitching Windows Phone 7 to IT pros and developers at its TechEd 2010 conference, which got underway Monday in New Orleans.

With a touch-oriented interface that borrows elements from the Apple iPhone and Microsoft’s own underappreciated Zune HD, Windows Phone 7 clearly has strong consumer appeal. However, its tight hooks into Redmond’s bread-and-butter business apps also make it a smart buy for enterprise customers, Microsoft argues.

The Windows 7 Series Zune Phone will integrate the entire suite of Microsoft applications and services including the basic business and contact services such as Office and Outlook but also Xbox and Zune for the first true all in one device with tight integration of the separate ecosystems on 3 different screens.

It’s a long ways off and the mobile smartphone market is going to get a bit crowded with all the competing systems. Who will Microsoft take from if they want to increase marketing share? Will partnerships with existing handset makers be enough to chip away at Apple or will the Windows Phone make a real challenge to their strong position?

TMCnet | Mobile World Congress News

Microsoft is not about the let Apple enjoy the limelight when it comes to portable media players and smartphones. The company’s highly-rated ZuneHD portable media player is now a phone.

At MWC 2010, Microsoft’s press event, the Zune phone finally took center stage, welcomed by a number of approving nods from audience attendees – according to a review in CNET.

This Windows Phone 7 Series is truly more than simply a Zune HD with a phone added to it. This portable device actually combines some of Microsoft’s most successful products, such as Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox and Microsoft Office – who wouldn’t want this device?

The Windows 7 Series Zune Phone will integrate the entire suite of Microsoft applications and services including the basic business and contact services such as Office and Outlook but also Xbox and Zune for the first true all in one device with tight integration of the separate ecosystems on 3 different screens.

It’s a long ways off and the mobile smartphone market is going to get a bit crowded with all the competing systems. Who will Microsoft take from if they want to increase marketing share? Will partnerships with existing handset makers be enough to chip away at Apple or will the Windows Phone make a real challenge to their strong position?

TMCnet | Mobile World Congress News

Microsoft is not about the let Apple enjoy the limelight when it comes to portable media players and smartphones. The company’s highly-rated ZuneHD portable media player is now a phone.

At MWC 2010, Microsoft’s press event, the Zune phone finally took center stage, welcomed by a number of approving nods from audience attendees – according to a review in CNET.

This Windows Phone 7 Series is truly more than simply a Zune HD with a phone added to it. This portable device actually combines some of Microsoft’s most successful products, such as Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox and Microsoft Office – who wouldn’t want this device?

Microsoft has hired a new firm to manage their content license and music  rights acquisitions and industry insiders claim they are making a wise move if they intend on keeping the music subscription service rolling forward in to the new Windows Mobile Phones programs.

Microsoft hires new firm for Zune Pass | MP3 Insider – CNET Reviews

In what is likely a reaction to recent complaints of disappearing music in the Zune Marketplace, Microsoft has hired an outside firm to help clear music for its Zune Pass subscription service.

In an announcement today, Music Reports Inc. revealed an agreement made with Microsoft to “administer the music publishing licensing and royalty accounting for the Zune Pass subscription service in the United States.”

Microsoft to integrate Windows Mobile, Xbox Live | Electronista

Microsoft has committed itself to developing Windows Mobile as a more substantial gaming platform, according to a pair of freshly discovered job listings. A post for a Principal Program Manager is the most significant and would task the recruit with bringing “Xbox Live enabled games” to Windows Mobile phones. The move wouldn’t result in Xbox-quality games but instead linking them to the social aspects of the service, including avatars, social elements and “multi-screen experiences.”

Simultaneously, a Software Test Engineer position is less specific about Xbox Live integration but does seek help creating the mobile gaming experience at Microsoft and puts a focus on a phone’s “always connected Internet” as a cornerstone of the platform.

The moves would not just address a common complaint of Microsoft’s various platforms being isolated from each other but a significant deficit in gaming for Windows Mobile. Despite having full 3D support and even getting help from companies like NVIDIA in receiving gaming-friendly hardware, the mobile OS has trailed platforms like iPhone and Android not just in the number of games available but also relative quality, as most commercial-level games aren’t developed for Windows Mobile. Microsoft’s strongest commitment to mobile gaming has been the launch of Zune HD games that themselves are only carefully hand-picked titles.

Windows

The push towards Zune mobile services is going to take some time to play out in sales of Zune Pass or Zune video services and this may be the case for another year or more. The Zune mobile devices slated for release soon are not going to boost Zune sales unless Microsoft is able to turn these into subscriptions for their Premium Content Services.

How long this takes or whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen but I expect sales at Zune will remain weak until Holidays 2010.

Microsoft Mobile sales flat

The Entertainment and Devices division – which houses Windows Mobile as well as Xbox/ games, Zune and hardware accessories – saw flat revenue. This was bad for mobile – Xbox 360 and its games enjoyed increased sales, which meant the rest of the products were down. The Microsoft statement said: “Non-gaming revenue decreased $98m or 14%”, though it insisted that the worst performers were not Windows Mobile – whose share of the smartphone market fell from 12% to under 10% in the second calendar quarter – but PC hardware products like mice, Zune and embedded device platforms.

Discuss this in the Zune Message Boards.

I would like to see more Zune ready devices on the market and I think Dell would be a great partner for Zune. Wht Dell lacks in sofware and community they can pickup from Microsoft just by adding the Zune software to whateer device they eventually launch.

A Dell phone with Zune software may be the best of both worlds for each company as Dell is more a hardware firm and Microsof has  awhole heap of software products to stuff on the device. Dell would open up its business modelto more units sold and they chance to tie these to new laptops and PC’s would probably help them as well

Michael Dell hints at smartphones, mobile Internet devices

Michael Dell gave the strongest hint to date that his company is developing a mobile Internet device or smartphone at a speech in Tokyo today.

“It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices,” he said. “We don’t have any announcements to share today, but stay tuned as when we have new news we will share that with you.”

Dell, who is CEO of the company that bears his name, said he is watching the development of ecosystems that have built up around small mobile devices. Apple Inc. has been selling applications to users of its iPhone for some time, and in recent months, Google Inc. joined with its own online store sales of programs that run its Android smartphone operating system. Last month, market leader Nokia Corp. jumped on the bandwagon and said it would also launch an application store.

“For the last three years, we have integrated 3G radios into our notebooks,” said Dell. “We already have agreements with many mobile carriers around netbook devices, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that we would have smaller mobile Internet devices or smartphones in the future.”

So we all know there have been some huge changes coming Zune and to be honest it’s been a great big question mark as to what Microsoft would do to shake things up. I’ve been sitting back and watching this with little to say on the matter since Microsoft released those horrible holiday sales stats which show Zune losing over 100 million of their hard earned dollars

I did not say much when they posted stories about huge layoffs at Xbox and Zune and even though it hurt to see him go, I didn’t have much to say about the departure of our longtime friend Cesar from the Zune team. It got to be a drag trying to keep up so I set back and waited for signs of a direction and now it appears we have one.

The Zune team will be split into two divisions based on hardware and software. The software team will focus on putting Zune on every other device on the market while the hardware team will continue to develop and manufacture Microsoft devices. The Zune lives on and maybe we’ll begin to see all the wonderful features we wanted in the beginning with the new and improved Zune family.

We’re hoping for great big things from the software division and the upcoming release of Windows Mobile 6.5 is the first big step. Screenshots from the latest update to the Microsoft mobile operating system show new links to the Microsoft Marketplace. And today we find out that Microsoft will be opening up retail stores a la Apple and actually retailing their products in their own stores for the first time in company history.

Is the new Microsoft really just the old Apple in disguise? Will the juggernaut of technology be able to become the juggernaut of consumer electronics in America? Will a Microsoft store with Windows, Zune and Xbox for sale make it in a recession or should they have considered a staffed boutique inside Best Buy or even Walmart?

Microsoft readies Zune service for non-Zune devices, Marketplace appears in WinMo 6.5 screenshot – Engadget

We’re just days away from Mobile World Congress where Microsoft is expected to make a few notable annoucements. Until then, we have to settle for all the hints and innuendo we can gather as Redmond attempts to win back the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of consumers infatuated with Android, WebOS, and whatever Apple’s got cookin’. Like these supposed 6.5 screenshots above, this time showing what looks like a Marketplace store a la the Zune.

Discuss this in the Zune Message Boards.

Microsoft’s SkyBox site live, branded My Phone? – Engadget Mobile

It appears that Microsoft may have its SkyBox beta sign-up site up and running in preparation for a Mobile World Congress unveiling — except that it’s not called SkyBox, it’s called “My Phone” (even though the domain is getskybox.com — go figure). The phone-to-cloud syncing service promises to make transferring contacts, appointments, tasks, photos, videos, music, text messages, and documents between Windows Mobile 6 (and above) phones a breeze, and even better, the service is free “at this time.” If the details are accurate here, we can expect 200MB of online storage courtesy of your friends at Microsoft, but don’t bother trying to sign up — it craps out as soon as you try. Soon, friends, soon.