Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Microsoft Provides Free Windows Mobile 6 Upgrades to Licensees

By James Alan Miller

In the past, upgrading the operating system for a Microsoft-based mobile device has proved to be the exception rather than the rule. Redmond appears ready to do its share to change all that with Windows Mobile 6, by giving free licenses to hardware partners who wish to provide platform upgrades for their devices, according to the Download Squad.
By doing this Microsoft gives the vendors an incentive to provide Windows Mobile 6 upgrades for their Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PCs, Pocket PC Phones and Smartphones. Not only does it save these device makers money, this savings could be passed onto the end-user.
While these upgrades might not be free—it still takes a lot of time, energy and money to customize a platform to a device—they could cost a lot less than in the past. Or, perhaps, vendors could charge full price and make a killing.
So what companies are planning to issue Windows Mobile 6 upgrades?
At this point we know HTC plans to release one for the T-Mobile
Dash. It has also been said that Palm will offer an upgrade for the Treo 750 at some point, and it is almost certain that many other vendors will provide Windows Mobile 6 updates for their more recent Pocket PCs and Smartphones. As for the many legacy standard Pocket PCs out there, our feeling is that only the most recent may, and that's a big may, get one.

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