Windows Mobile 6 On Treo 750: Exclusive First Images!

Yesterday at 3GSM in Barcelona, Microsoft revealed details of its new Windows Mobile 6 operating system which features support for rich HTML e-mail, increased functionality within Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile and Office Mobile programs, and improved security and device management for IT managers. 

I’m delighted to bring you the first pictures [Thanks Ethan] of WM6 running on a Treo 750 clearly showing Palm’s unique Windows Mobile enhancements such as the “Type a name or number” in the Today screen below.  How soon will we have to wait to see these in stores?  Well, Pieter Knook, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Devices division, confirms that “Palm is announcing upgrades to the Treo 750 [with Windows Mobile 6]”.  Palm has yet to make its own official statement about this but I imagine that it will be coming very soon.

According to Microsoft’s press release, Windows Mobile 6 delivers advanced mobile communications, increased mobile productivity and optimized mobile business performance, with a consistent and familiar Microsoft software experience.

Advanced Mobile Communications
Mobile, delivering a more powerful mobile communications experience to the user:

• Genuine Outlook Mobile experience through HTML support.* Windows Mobile 6 allows users to view e-mail messages the way the sender intended: with pictures, tables, links and formatting. It is the only mobile solution available to offer this experience.
• Faster access to contacts and communities of people. Windows Mobile 6 helps users stay connected with their contacts and the communities they care about through improved collaboration with their corporate address book and Windows Live services.
• Searching Exchange Server 2007 for more efficient e-mail management. Windows Mobile 6 allows users to communicate more effectively by automatically “fetching” additional text when users scroll down messages and by implementing new features that can help improve the efficiency with which users can manage their inbox through searching of folders and sent mail.
• Support of Information Rights Management to help increase protection. To help ensure access to protected content and preservation of the security intended by the sender, Windows Mobile 6 provides built-in support for Information Rights Management, to send and receive rights-managed messages and documents.
• Optimized and rich Windows Live experience. Windows Live for Windows Mobile delivers a unique and rich experience, combining online services such as Messenger, Contacts, Windows Live Mail and Search.
• Flexible connections and new e-mail account setup. Windows Mobile 6 improves the new e-mail account setup experience by providing simple and efficient access to new setup wizards.

Increased Mobile Productivity
Windows Mobile 6 provides an increased level of productivity by helping users reach deeper into information available on their devices to places they can’t reach while at their desks:

• Office Mobile suite. A new addition to the operating system is the Office Mobile suite (Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile) for Windows Mobile 6 Standard, helping users manage and review documents on any Windows Mobile 6 powered device.
• Enhanced control and visibility of Outlook Calendar information. Windows Mobile 6 increases users’ ability to manage their day through features such as the calendar bar, out-of-office assistant,* and meeting attendees* and status.*.
• LOB application support. Windows Mobile 6 delivers productivity through one of the largest catalogs of line-of-business (LOB) applications, providing access to existing information and connections to tools.
• Smart filtering to give users more productivity. Windows Mobile 6 gives users a way to find the messages that they want without having to scan through a lengthy list of messages.
• PC connectivity technologies. Synchronization is improved with the new Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) for connectivity of Windows Mobile powered devices and Windows Vista powered PCs.
• Enhancements to Internet Explorer Mobile. Internet Explorer® Mobile enables faster viewing times and better support for many of most popular Web pages browsed with mobile phones.
• Greater collaboration and interoperability. Windows Mobile 6 increases the ability to collaborate and gain access to information stored on Exchange Server, SharePoint and Universal Naming Convention (UNC) file shares.

Optimized Mobile Business Performance
Windows Mobile 6 delivers increased device control and security, and greater operability with Exchange Server and other Microsoft assets so businesses can efficiently deploy, manage and help secure their mobile solutions:

• Collaboration with Exchange Server 2007. Windows Mobile 6 working together with Exchange Server 2007 helps make deploying, administering and monitoring a mobile messaging environment simple and cost-effective.
• Increased device control and security. With new security capabilities and device management policies such as storage card encryption and enhanced PIN strength, Windows Mobile 6 offers users the ability to manage and deploy Windows Mobile powered devices with enhanced security.
• Line-of-business applications. Powerful mobile versions of the Microsoft .NET Framework and SQL Server™ built into Windows Mobile 6 make it even easier to access sales tools, inventory tracking or any other application from a Windows Mobile powered smartphone, previously only possible on PCs.
• Internationalization of Windows Mobile. The addition of language provisioning and spell checker for East Asian versions enables users in those regions to better collaborate within their local markets.

*Requires Exchange Server 2007

Microsoft Reveals New Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone Software [Press Release]

Treonauts are always first…