|
|
 Mobile Windows News |  Podcasts |  Videos | Search | Forums | Site News |
|
Live from CeBIT 2007 : MAIN press conference of Microsoft March 15, 2007 [General] | By Edward J. R. Last year Microsoft's main press conference contained first-ever unveiling of UMPC platform and devices (see our report here). This year Microsoft's press conference at CeBIT didn't bring any new announcement but it covered several mobility related topics. 
(on photo above, all from Microsoft Germany, from left to right: Thomas Mickeleit, Ralph Haupter, Achim Berg) Since Germany is Microsoft's outlet market number 4 in the world, clearly Microsoft treats CeBIT as German only trade show and Microsoft's main press conference at CeBIT was in German (last year it was in English due to the presence of a guy from Microsoft USA, who unveiled UMPC). The moderator of the conference was Thomas Mickeleit, who is public relations director at Microsoft Germany: 
... who was introducing 2 speakers. Since Achim Berg (general manager of Microsoft Germany) was busy in the meeting with chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, the press conferece was started with Ralph Haupter (business and marketing officer): 
... who said that he got this job because he was working at Microsoft in Paris. As you can see above Ralph Haupter was showing Motorola Q q9 and talking about Windows Mobile 6. Interestingly Ralh Haupter was pronuncing "6" in "Windows Mobile 6" in English (although everything else in the conference was said in German), to avoid misunderstanding (in German "Windows Mobile 6" sounds like "Windows Mobile S*x"). In the roadmap of Microsoft products for year 2007, Windows Mobile 6 was placed in the first quareter of year 2007: 
... what is earlier than this what Microsoft was saying previously (i.e. "summer 2007"). Clearly some devices powered by Windows Mobile 6 should be shipping yet in first quarter 2007 (we have heard for example that i-mate JAQ4 should ship in April 2007). However this slide was presenting contradictory information: 
... namely that Windows Mobile 6 is shipping in 2nd quarter 2007 and not first! It looks like somebody has not even checked these slides, particularly because instead of "PDA phones" the term "notebooks" was used above. Windows Mobile is part of mobility in the area of Microsoft's Unified Communications: 
Then Achim Berg, the main boss of Microsoft Germany, arrived: 
... and was talking about notebooks with SideShow (external display that works also when notebooks is switche doff) and UMPC: 
... and he mentioned that Medion UMPC (see above - he is holding it in his hands) is his favorite, but he also mentioned new Vista powered UMPCs from Sony and Samsung. Finally Windows Mobile, all of a sudden, was presented as a part of "Digital Lifestyle" (English-language buzzword particularly popular in Germany): 
... and not enterprise oriented platform. It was underlined that "lifestyle" covers both work and non-work related life, so hopefully Microsoft is now a bit re-positioning Windows Mobile also as a platform for non-professional, non-enteprise customers. Achim Berg said that global policy of Microsoft is not to tell in public their sales numbers, so he declined to say how much of the sold Vista programs were incorporated with new PC and how much were people who were upgrading from Windows XP. Generally while Ralph Haupter was enthusiastic about Windows Mobile, Achim Berg had rather lackluster approach to Windows Mobile what could result from the fact that in his previous job he was working in fixed networks division of German telco Deutsche Telekom. Conclusion: nothing really new was announced at Microsoft's press confernece at CeBIT 2007. It was underlined that Vista is generally selling very well and Microsoft is earning big amounts of money off Vista. Windows Mobile obviously still generates just tiny part of overal Microsoft's revenues but it is good to see that now it is perceived within Microsoft as booster for other Microsoft products and services...  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 3 Comments ]
   |
| ||||||
| Mobile Windows News | Podcasts | Videos | Search | Forums | Site News |
