Microsoft Corp unveiled its Windows Mobile 6.5 yesterday in Taiwan, with local handset makers and telecoms operators backing the latest smartphone operating software.
“In the past, Windows Mobile gave the impression that it was an operating software for business users. But we want to change that and show the software is for both consumers and business users,” Davis Tsai (蔡恩全), Microsoft Taiwan general manager, told a press conference.
With the rollout of Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft is gearing up to reach out to more smartphone users because smartphones are set to drive the future growth of the mobile phone industry. Competition in the smartphone space has heated up with Apple Inc’s iPhone and Google Inc’s Android gaining popularity among general users.
PHOTO: WANG PEI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
Management from local handset makers, such as Acer Inc (宏碁), HTC Corp (宏達電), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), as well as telecoms operators such as Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), were at yesterday’s event in a show of support for the new software.
Acer is set to launch three models of Windows Mobile 6.5-based smartphones in Taiwan by December, while HTC will roll out two models and Asustek one.
Smartphones running on Windows Mobile 6.5 will feature a redesigned Web browser and a free service called “My Phone,” which allows users to back up contacts, messages and photos on a computer or the Internet.
An online applications store — Windows Marketplace for Mobile — was launched alongside Windows Mobile 6.5. Windows Marketplace is similar to Apple’s popular App Store for iPhone or Research in Motion’s recently unveiled Blackberry App World.
Microsoft Taiwan said there are around 300 English applications available for download for free or for a fee in Windows Marketplace. More than 200 Chinese applications will go “live” next month.
“Localized mobile applications are the way to spur demand for smartphones and the operating software,” said Shih Mu-piao (石木標), spokesman of Chunghwa Telecom, which has sold 300,000 smartphones running on Windows Mobile to date.
Local content providers have been quick to tap such growth by introducing applications catering to the Windows Marketplace, but they are not missing out on other software such as Android.
Soyong Corp (曉騰國際), for instance, will work out applications for its English-Mandarin dictionary or English-based learning materials for both Windows Mobile and Android platforms.
“The business potential of these online applications stores is huge and we want to reach out to as many users as possible,” sales director Derrick Tan (譚建祥) said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure