Back in September I wrote my thoughts on smartphone makers creating their own application stores. So far Google’s Android has one, RIM’s latest Blackberrys have one and even Nokia’s Symbian OS has one. This leaves only Microsoft’s Windows Mobile without one. Over at Mobility Today they have confirmation from CEO Steve Ballmer that WM 6.5 is on the way.
Ironic, maybe or it was actually planned this way. The real question is what are they going to put in this next update before WM7 is released. Will they actually introduce their App Store, or even better, make use of that WM Update utility which to this day has remained dormant. I don’t expect a rewritten OS or anything ground breaking but this would be a good time for them to start transitioning to a newer user-friendlier OS. In essense, just like they did with Pocket PC 2003 SE followed by Windows Mobile 5.
After using WM for a few years I feel that a totally new OS may be the only way for them to introduce an application store and have software developers really make any money from it. I don’t honestly believe or see how developers could make money from a Windows Mobile application store in it’s current incarnation. Windows Mobile has only had internal, under the hood changes; nothing visually to write home about. So if there are any new profits to be made a new UI must emerge by WM7 with possibly WM6.5 being the start. This is all just speculation but I’ll be watching to see what comes of this.
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