Achim Berg, Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone, at the launch

The latest version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone, ripened this week. Mango, as it is known, adds more than 500 new features, including threads which switch between text, Facebook and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation; the ability to group contacts into personalized Live Tiles; as well as deeper social network integration.

Andy Lees, president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft, said the smartphone experience is complicated by, “a sea of disconnected apps and accounts as people attempt to keep pace with all the ways they communicate — from calls, texts, email and instant messages (IM) to status updates, Tweets, check-ins, photo posting and tagging.” To this end, Microsoft aims to “challenge the way people think about apps”. Where today their usefulness is measured by what can be done within the app, Microsoft reckons the future of apps is in how they can be integrated directly into the core experiences of the phone and the start screen.

Commenting on the update, Ovum principal analyst Tony Cripps said that, while Mango will provide a worthwhile upgrade for both existing and new users of Windows Phone devices, the firm needs to do better if it is to persuade the market that it has the most user friendly – and desirable – mobile platform in the market today.

“New features such as Groups and Threads look set to deliver a deeper level of integration between different communication apps (and other apps on the device) than users are so far accustomed to. But integration is a tough concept to sell to consumers even if they may benefit enormously once they’ve adopted it. Cracking this conundrum may well be key to Windows Phone’s future success,” Cripps said.

Microsoft also trumpeted growth in the Windows Phone ecosystem, with more than 17,000 apps currently available in the Marketplace and good things expected from the recently announced partnership with Nokia. A beta release of the free Windows Phone Developer tools, which will be used to create the next generation of Mango apps and games, will be posted for public download to Microsoft’s website this week.

Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE have now also joined the fray as Windows Phone licensees, perhaps in a bid to take advantage of the more achievable hardware specs now being touted by Microsoft. “That said, Mango still lacks the potential for customisation and brand differentiation that some manufacturers are looking for. With Nokia likely to dominate Windows Phone shipments once that relationship is fully up and running that may need addressing if other high-end OEMs are to stay on board,” Cripps said.

In related news, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile processor was named as the core to power a new generation of Windows Phone devices.

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Sun warms up Java on Snapdragon

US software firm Sun Microsystems has been making its presence felt in the mobile space of late, most recently announcing the porting of its Java platform to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ARM-based processor.

Sun said that it has been working with Qualcomm for nearly a year to port a complete, optimised, and standard version of the Java SE platform onto Snapdragon, allowing rich internet and media with full web browsing capabilities and longer battery life for Qualcomm’s newly announced ‘smartbook’ form factor.

As the explosive growth in mobile broadband has been partially stimulated by the burgeoning netbook or ultra mobile PC market, vendors are keen to find the next niche and lucrative mobile gadget. And US vendor Qualcomm believes it has hit upon the next big thing by creating a whole new category of device that falls between the high end smartphone and the netbook.

The “smartbook” as senior vice president of marketing and product development at Qualcomm, Luis Pineda, dubbed the device type, promises “the smartphone experience in a larger form factor.”

Telecoms.com is struggling to understand this one, it all sounds a bit too much like Palm’s ill-fated Foleo strategy. There is a wide range of netbooks available for under the £300 mark, many of which boast a full fledged operating system like Linux or Windows XP, integrated wifi and 3G, and a highly portable form factor. As a result, the opportunities for a ‘smartbook’ look doubtful.

Nevertheless, Pineda said that around 15 companies are on board with the concept and there are around 30 such devices in development. The first of these will hit the shelves towards the end of 2009.

The 'smartbook'? Looks suspiciously like a netbook to us...

As the explosive growth in mobile broadband has been partially stimulated by the burgeoning netbook or ultra mobile PC market, vendors are keen to find the next niche and lucrative mobile gadget.

And US chip shop Qualcomm reckons it’s hit upon the next big thing by creating a whole new category of device that falls between the high end smartphone and the netbook.

The “smartbook” as senior vice president of marketing and product development at Qualcomm, Luis Pineda, dubbed the device type, promises “the smartphone experience in a larger form factor.”

Telecoms.com is struggling to understand this one, it all sounds a bit too much like Palm’s ill-fated Foleo strategy. There is a wide range of netbooks available for under the £300 mark, many of which boast a full fledged operating system like Linux or Windows XP, integrated wifi and 3G, and a highly portable form factor. As a result, the opportunities for a ‘smartbook’ look doubtful.

Nevertheless, Pineda said that around 15 companies are on board with the concept and there are around 30 such devices in development. The first of these will hit the shelves towards the end of 2009.

Qualcomm would not name names, but Acer, Compal, Inventec, Samsung, Asus, Foxconn, LG, Toshiba, C-motech, HTC, Quanta and Wistron are all known users of the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, which forms the foundation of the smartbook platform.

“Snapdragon is a key chipset for computing products,” said Pineda, “and we’re now looking at new devices beyond the cellphone, with a larger display, full keyboard, and an enhanced user experience.”

Snapdragon, as a single chip solution combining GPS, multimedia, the processor, wifi and 3G on one chip, promises to make smartbooks lighter, thinner, cheaper and give them a longer battery life. Pineda said voice was likely to be a feature of some of the new devices, and the focus would be on Linux-based operating systems, although the smartbook would be “different from the netbook as it uses the same software setup as smartphones in larger form factor,” he said.

US chip shop Qualcomm is throwing its weight behind Google’s Android platform, demonstrating the OS running on its Snapdragon chipset.

The demonstration runs at WVGA resolution, supporting larger displays for mobile devices.

As we reported at the end of 2008, web giant Google’s foray into the mobile space is picking up significant steam and it looks like 2009 will be the year of the Android.

In December, the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) announced the additional membership of 14 more companies: AKM Semiconductor, ARM, ASUSTek, Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International, Huawei, Omron Software, Softbank Mobile, Sony Ericsson, Teleca, Toshiba and Vodafone.

Depending on their role, the new members will either develop Android-based devices, contribute code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android gadgets.

With one Android device already available, and a second announced for late January, the portfolio of Android-based handsets looks set to swell its ranks. In 2009, we can expect to see Android devices from HTC, Kogan, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, Asus, Garmin, Huawei, LG, Samsung and Toshiba.

With mobile broadband adoption exploding, and big screen handsets becoming popular, Google also tweaked its mobile advertising options to better support the newest breed of mobile phone operating systems at the end of last year.

A new campaign level option allows AdWords advertisers to show desktop text and image ads on the iPhone, the G1 and other mobile devices with full internet browsers.

US chip shop Qualcomm began shipping its Snapdragon platform to device manufacturers on Wednesday. Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC is one of the first companies to sign up for the 3G chipset.

The first two chipsets from the Snapdragon portfolio are the QSD8250 and QSD8650, which combine mobile data processing, multimedia, 3G connectivity and low levels of power consumption, as well as support for both Windows Mobile and Linux operating systems.

The platform supports HSPA data rates of up to 7.2Mbps on the downlink and 5.76Mbps on the uplink, while the dual-mode QSD8650 also supports CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. B.

Snapdragon also boasts support for HD video decode, 12 megapixel cameras, GPS, broadcast TV using MediaFLO, DVBH-H and ISDB-T, wifi and Bluetooth in a small form-factor a reality.

“As we expand from the traditional wireless handset market, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform will be the catalyst for a new era of innovative computing and consumer wireless mobile devices,” said Sanjay Jha, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.  “The enthusiastic reception from leading electronics customers for our versatile gigahertz Snapdragon chipset heralds new possibilities for products blending the mobile phone, 3G wireless connectivity and computing capabilities with unsurpassed battery life.”