Category: Software

Wade Roush wrote:

Progress Software (NASDAQ: PRGS), the Bedford, MA-based maker of systems for integrating enterprise software applications, said this morning that it has acquired Santa Clara, CA-based Savvion for $49 million, net of Savvion’s cash. Savvion makes business process management software, and Progress president and CEO Richard Reidy said the acquisition “enhances our goal to provide unprecedented business visibility, responsiveness and business process improvement, coupled with the highest degree of data integrity and integration.” Progress hasn’t said how many of Savvion’s roughly 200 employees it expects to retain in the merger.

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Its not like we need much more proof, but sceptics would be happy to have more confirmation that Microsoft’s premier online gaming social network is coming to Windows Mobile devices.

The service will be called Xbox LIVE Games, which suggests that it will include much more than simply Gamer cards, but actually involve the delivery of entertainment software to the handsets.

Kotaku, who was tipped to this promotional material, did not have any more detail to add, but we should all find out more at Mobile World Congress soon.

There has been some concern that we will not see Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress on the 15th February, but rather only versions of Windows Mobile 6.5.x.

The full transcript of the Financial Analyst Briefing Bach Mount held at CES on the 7th has now been published, and in fact contains quite a bit of info about Windows Mobile 7.

We have cut out many pages of text related to Xbox and Windows 7, but what’s left over is still many pages long, so sit back, relax and get ready to read. We have also highlighted what we felt was important in italics, but of course left the rest for context.

It starts off with an analyst refusing to accept “Wait for MWC” as an answer, resulting in quite an exposition by Robbie Bach.

QUESTION:  So, I apologize a little up front, because clearly there’s a lot of great things going on and we saw that last night.  But, I want to talk about Windows Mobile, since it falls under your remit, too, and I know you have Barcelona coming up next month, yada, yada, yada.  But, the question is —

ROBBIE BACH:  You already stole my answer. 

QUESTION:  I’m not taking that as an excuse.  So, on Windows Mobile, clearly it seems like that is the area that is lagging most right now, in terms of what’s happening with the operating system, market share and so on.  So, what do you think strategically are the key levers for you to turn that momentum around and can you give us any kind of sense of timing around Windows Mobile 7?  Could that be more like a Windows 7 event for you, et cetera.

ROBBIE BACH:  So, I think the number one thing that we have to do on Windows Mobile going forward is about the experience people had with the phone itself.  I don’t think we have a business model problem, per se.  I don’t think we have some specific challenge outside of the fact that our experience is very skewed towards business users, and it’s not as modern as it needs to be.  And I’ll just be as straightforward as that.

So, the challenge for us as we come into 2010 and we are going to have some new things that will talk about at Mobile World Congress, as we come into that, the first bar people should look at is to say, wow, are they doing a great job with the product.  And when you look at the product, I’m sort of like, I have the luxury of having seen it, to be able to look at it and played with it a little bit, but I’m certainly confident people are going to see it as something that’s differentiated and something that really does move the bar forward, not in an evolutionary way from where we are today, but it’s something that feels, looks, acts and performs completely different.

So, that’s the first going I think we have to do.  The second thing I’d highlight is our go to market approach has been — we haven’t been as engaged in the go to markets as we need to be going forward, let me just say it that way.  Certainly our operator partners will take the majority of the go to market work when they bring a phone to market.  OEMs participate in that, as well.

We have not played as big a role in that in the past.  And what we’re seeing happen, particularly with smart phones, is that whether you’re an Apple, or you’re actually producing the hardware, or whether you’re a Google where you’re sometimes sort of producing the hardware, and sometimes not.  They’re participating more heavily in the go to market that’s driving consumer demand.  And what that means is more volume for the products that are getting the marketing spent.  It’s not a crazy idea.

So, that’s an additional muscle we have to build.  That’s why we launched the Windows Phone brand.  We’ve actually had good success without spending a ton of money.  Raising awareness on Windows Phones in the U.S., and a couple of European markets where we’ve actually spent against it.  Our goal is to enhance that and pick up that momentum.

So, those would be the two big things.  Once you get past those things, then you get the opportunity to do a lot of other things.  I think there are services opportunities, I think there are search opportunities.  I think there are other opportunities we can build on top of that.  But, those are sort of the ante to be a serious competitor and somebody who people can look at and say, wow, I think these guys are going to build a big business here and it may take them a little bit of time, but these guys are serious.

QUESTION:  Thank you very much.  Going back to Windows Mobile for a moment, in comparing actually the Xbox world to the smart phone world, right now there are three major platforms out there.  You’re one of them, and at various times in the past there have been four, generally not many more than that, but somewhere between three and five.  As you look at the smart phone world, clearly iPhone seems to be well established.  Android appears to be establishing itself right now.  And then you have Blackberries is sort of there.  We’re not quite sure where they stand.  Windows Mobile is vying to get in there.  How many platforms do you think the smart phone world, after the whole shake out happens in a year or two years, how many can adequately be supported, and do you see similarities between those two worlds, maybe you can port it back and forth.  And how can you ensure that you’d be one of the final survivors in it?

ROBBIE BACH:  Well, it’s not — the analogy is not quite right, because the way the business model works in the two cases is actually very fundamentally different.  By definition, most consoles tend to be a managed environment where you have a much more vertical structure in the ecosystem.  Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all have their own first party publishing capabilities.  We’ve introduced hardware and software service.  So, it’s much more closer actually to Apple, if you want to think about it that way.

In general, in the mobile space, you have operators and OEMs who have a big say and impact in what goes on in the marketplace.  But, I think it is a little bit different.  With that said, I think everybody would say, there are too many operating systems in the mobile world today.  I’m not talking about the smart phone world necessarily, but if you just look across the million, two million, or billion, two billion, feature phones sold today, I don’t think there’s an operator in the world that wouldn’t tell you that it’s a pain to support all the different operating systems they have, in particular the 17 versions of Linux they have on feature phones, all of which are a little quirky and a little different, require separate network certifications, network product support, and the like that goes along with that.

So, I think there will be inevitably some trimming of that tree.  I think that’s certainly true.  In the smart phone case, I think you’re going to see two types of things developed.  One, I think you’ll see some people put Apple in this category who will say, hey, I’m going to do operating system, phone, et cetera, all myself.  So you can decide to categorize that by OS, you can also categorize that by hardware and be the same categorization.

There will be other people like us, perhaps Android.  They can be some place in-between right now who will say.  No, actually, we’re working with a lot of different hardware manufacturers.  So, there will be a hardware market share number that will be a blend of different operating systems for each hardware vendor.  And then there will be an operating system share.

You know, overall, you look at markets like this, we think over the next three to five years it’s going to be 400 or 500 million smart phones sold a year.  I think there’s a lot of room.  It’s going to quality in term and not capacity.  I think some of the current systems will fall away.  I don’t think that will be because there’s not room for another operating system.  I think it’s because their quality bar won’t stack up.  And they won’t get the scale that they need.  And our job is to make sure we get that scale.  So, I won’t speculate on the number of operating systems you can see.  I certainly think in the feature phone space you’ll see some pruning of the Linux tree, and I don’t think that’s really sustainable.

I think you’ll see some guys who are doing end-to-end things, who obviously control their own destiny and will either be successful or not.  And then you’ll see some folks like us who are supporting multiple hardware manufacturers. I certainly think we’re going to be in that list of companies that are successful and then maybe there will be a few others.

QUESTION:  (Off mike.)

ROBBIE BACH:  That is — that’s beyond a forward-looking statement, don’t you think, Zon?

ZON ELLIS:  A little bit.

ROBBIE BACH:  We’re very focused and confident in the work we’re doing right now and while I don’t think, if you looked across the past two years and what we’ve brought to market, we’ve executed as well as we would like.  I think the market data would bear that out.  I’m quite optimistic with the new team we have.  I’m quite optimistic with the new work we’re doing, and I’ll gladly drive for that two-year period and meet you on the other side and feel comfortable we’re going to be in the right place.

JOHN DIFUCCI:  Hi, Robbie.  John DiFucci from JP Morgan.  I’m sorry to keep going back to mobile and that scenario that you’ve struggled with, but everything else seems to be going so well.

ROBBIE BACH:  I’ve been waiting for you guys who want to talk about the good stuff for five years.

JOHN DIFUCCI:  I have a question on mobile.  Last night Steve used the term PC pretty loosely, more loosely than I’ve heard him use it before in describing a lot of different devices, at least maybe I wasn’t listening before, but it seemed to me anyway, he used it pretty loosely.  When I look at your vision of three screens and a cloud, that one screen seems to be the most dynamic when you think about cell phones, PDAs, Blackberries, iPhones, people are talking about tablet.  Is that coming down from PC or coming up from there.  When I look at all that and I think about your struggles in mobile, and I sort of wonder how is all that driving your strategy in mobile and how does Zune play into all this, because you’ve gotten a lot of critical acclaim with Zune, but your adoption probably has been somewhat disappointing.  I know that’s a broad question, but if you can address that?

ROBBIE BACH:  It’s actually two questions in one, so let me separate out the questions.  Certainly, in terms of the way we think about the segmentation in that marketplace, I think of devices that you put in your pocket and talk on, and I think of devices that you might carry with you as a different class of devices.

I think of devices that you’re going to want to do, where the user experience has enough real estate, where you can have a rich experience with what I’ll call a Windows 7 class UI as one type of device.  The smaller devices can have a great UI and be very interactive.  But, it’s going to be a different form factor and a different UI.

So, broadly, when we say three screens, we’re saying small portable screen, that mid-sized screen, and then there’s the big TV screen.  Now, the truth is, those are all going to blend at some level and, in fact, when I say three screens and a cloud I could just as easily be saying many screens and a cloud, because you have more than one PC screen in your household.  You have more than one TV screen in your household.  And actually in our household we have five mobile phones.  So, it’s actually a many-screen strategy.

Over time the distinction between the screens from the user’s perspective, when am I on my phone versus when am I on my PC, that’s going to blur a little bit.  The service delivery is going to be critical, that’s why our cloud applets are so important.  That’s why I keep talking about cloud delivery, what we’re doing with Windows Live, what we’re doing with Xbox Live, why Azure is so important to us, because it really will enable us to reach all of those different screens.

Now, your other question was about — I’m getting old.  Zune, so Zune has been critically successful.  And the way Zune is going to be successful for us in the future is you should think of that as our media service across multiple screens.  We’ll continue to have the Zune device screen.  But, we now have Zune on Xbox.  We have Zune on the PC.  There are other places where Zune logically could go that we don’t get to talk about yet.  And I think lots of different screens with that capability can go.

So, the reason I’m excited about the critical success.  Do I wish we were selling a few more Zunes?  Of course, we always like to sell more.  The product is doing fine.  But, the reason I love the critical success is because we have a great design. We have a great concept.  Now, I’ve got to help build the brand.  I’ve got to move it to get more leverage out on the screen, and as we do that I think we can really take that to a higher level.

The last thing I’ll say about Zune, you have to decide how you think about Zune.  Is Zune a business of a capability?  In large part, Zune is about delivering video and music.  Video and music has business aspects for us, but the process of being a music distributor is not a fabulous P&L business.  The P&L business is based on selling more phones and more Xboxes, and more PCs, and all those kinds of things.

So, that’s kind of the way, to give you sort of a general way of thinking about Zune and where we’re going.  That was sort of a general answer to kind of a general question, but hopefully it gives you a little bit of the direction.

From the above we can conclude that Windows Mobile 7 is almost certainly being announced at Mobile World Congress, it will look nothing like the Windows Mobile we currently know and love, that Zune will be coming to Windows Mobile 7, and that Microsoft intends to be one of the survivors in any mobile OS shake-up, and have good confidence in their new development team.

Read the full transcript here. (docx)

Steve Davis wrote:

Great technology improvements over the past decade have proven again that innovation serves as the best currency for progress against our greatest challenges. Terrific new tools and applications in information technology have been on display everywhere during the holidays; green tech ideas abound offering great promise; and even in the more prolonged R&D world of biopharma, we have seen important advancements across a wide variety of diseases. Other better-versed contributors undoubtedly will expand on specific achievements, and what is in the pipeline for the exciting decade ahead.

All these areas of technological innovation are unified by the challenges and opportunities arising from their underlying intellectual property framework. With the “innovation economy” serving as the future driver of our economic well-being, and technological solutions central in finding solutions in energy, health, communications and more, IP has become the critical rudder for the 21st century economy. Alongside our focus on the specific innovations that we will see in the coming decade, we need to more transparently and aggressively understand, expand, address and deploy IP models and methods.

IP unfortunately still remains primarily in the domain of lawyers, innovators and funders, often misunderstood, abused or ignored by the general public, sales channels or policy-makers. Over the past 30 years we have witnessed a remarkable change in the amount of professional attention toward the field: law schools across the country now offering specialized IP programs; thousands of dedicated IP legal and consultancy firms around the world; many new laws, policies, cases, books and articles on the topic; and a modest recognition by the general public that that such rights exist based on the IP noise made in the online media world.

We now must build on those advancements to more effectively educate broadly what intellectual property means to both individuals and our society. We now must address some of the toughest great debates troubling the field (and the related technologies), such as the fundamental conflicts over online content, the appropriate role of IP protection in the context of global health and development, or the rights and obligations that arise from supra-sovereign technology solutions arising in energy and climate change. We now must also be more creative in using IP as a tool for further progress, innovation and positive social change, instead of primarily a defensive sword for protection of vested interests.

Some of the world’s biggest challenges will only be solved by more creative thinking in this regard. For instance, we will meet the challenges of climate change not only through massive policy shifts, but through technology innovations in which we must both reward the innovator and ensure the innovations are shared broadly, quickly and effectively, often across national borders. Reliance only on markets and existing IP infrastructures will not be adequate to meet these demands. Similarly, as we address some of the world’s most troubling global health challenges – whether pandemic flu outbreaks, malaria or TB vaccines, or innovations in therapeutics or diagnostics – engaging more private sector players on terms that both allow for their most aggressive participation and yet ensure the global access to the discoveries for the world’s poor, will force us to engage in new and better ways to manage the rights and obligations arising from these innovations. The same might be said for more still-forming world of online and social media, where the rules of the road are so dynamic that the law is simply not keeping pace with the technologies.

How all this will play out in the coming decades remains unclear. But I would place a big bet that at least as much attention, debate, and opportunity for change and innovation exist in how we think about and manage ownership and distribution of technology, as in the technologies themselves. As we commence the second decade of the 21st century, more attention, analysis and education should be paid to this defining characteristic of our times.

[Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of posts from Xconomists and other technology leaders from around the country who are weighing in with the top innovations they’ve seen in their respective fields the past 10 years, or the top disruptive technologies that will impact the next decade.]

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It’s not quite a Parrot AR.Drone, but it’s what I can do in an afternoon with left a bunch of leftovers.

I’m trying to show off what WM can do apart from being a very good mobile email platform.

I’m using the HD2 with its accelerometer to send data about a heading to an Arduino via bluetooth. The Arduino then controls the motor speed, enabling turning and things. Currently, there’s a computer sat between the HD2 and the Arduino because I don’t have a serial bluetooth module. (The computer just takes the bluetooth data and dumps it down a USB cable).

What do you lot think? What can I add?

Pocketnow have published this video showing a detailed overview of the LG eXpo user interface. Interestingly the business-focussed device ships with the default Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface, with LG’s own pretty nice efforts hidden rather deeply.

Once uncovered however the result is quite attractive, and would make the smartphone much more consumer friendly if enabled by default.

Do any of our readers have an Expo yet?  Let us know your experience below.

1800pocketpc.com has noticed this video interview of  Principle Researcher at Microsoft Research (MSR) Bill Buxton, talking about Microsoft’s Natural User Interface research work making its way into actual products.

The 38 minute video is interesting enough, but for Windows Mobile watchers there are a few suggestions that some of the great features suggested may come to the latest version of the OS.

Around 20:30 he talks about seamlessly connecting to the screens around you and then being able to use your phone as a controller for the screen. Around 34:40 he talks about bringing Microsoft Surface features to smartphones.

While he emphasized he was not making product announcements, expectations have been raised that Windows Mobile 7 will contain more than evolutionary features, and Natural User Interface features such as this would certainly bring the Wow factor.

See the video after the break.

Read more at 1800pocketpc here.

The HTC HD2 however beat the iPhone 3GS when it came to accuracy of rendering, scoring a full 100/100 on the Acid 3 test, vs only 97 on the iPhone 3GS, and performed better than the Motorola Droid, Nokia N900, Palm Pre and of course Blackberry Storm 2 with fast loading and fluid scrolling.

Phonescoop have published this video showing the Toshiba TG01 running Windows Mobile 6.5.3.  Of course the correspondent appears to have mistaken Toshiba’s own keyboard for a new Windows Mobile one, reminding us that we still have to see Microsoft’s effort regarding this. 

It is however encouraging to see such a positive response to the changes Microsoft has made, which should bode well for the wider release of devices running the update.

One interesting feature I have not seen before in the drop down notification bar appears to be a search option. Do any of our readers know more about this?  Let us know below.

Press release: Continuing the global expansion of Destinator GPS navigation software across geographic markets, smartphone application stores, and mobile handset makers, Intrinsyc Software International, Inc., a leading provider of software solutions for mobile devices, announced today the expansion of its Windows Mobile applications into the UK, Australia and Western Europe – which are available immediately for download through Destinator NavStore (www.destinatornavstore.com).  From the company that has powered the GPS solutions of the biggest mobile brands and navigated millions of people worldwide on mobile devices, Destinator 9 is the newest and brightest turn-by-turn app for your smartphone. Destinator 9 goes beyond navigation and brings a fresh GPS experience across the hottest mobile platforms across the globe.

Destinator Delivers Beyond Navigation

At its core, Destinator 9 is a solid and reliable turn-by-turn navigation application with the highest quality on board maps and a routing engine that exceeds performance benchmarks. In addition to a host of new features designed to get people to their destinations easily, quickly and safely, Destinator 9 takes the navigation experience to a new level with added functionality to make navigating the application and the road ahead more enjoyable and less stressful.

* More features. Destinator delivers the biggest and best set of features on the market. Here’s a few to highlight – Google Local Search. Real-Time Traffic Updates. StickyPOIs. NavStrip™. NAVTEQ maps. Destinator makes it easier to find what you need and get there with less effort and stress.

* More social. Destinator taps into the new wave of social mapping. What’s better than a feature to send your location or your favorite POI to a friend? It’s the beginning of a social mapping revolution and Destinator is at the leading edge.

* More integrated. Destinator’s secret ingredient is the ability to work better with your phone. Destinator seamlessly blends with your smartphone functions allowing you to simply route right from your existing contacts or your messages.

* More…for free. A first among on board turn-by-turn application providers, you can experience Destinator 9 first-hand courtesy of a free trial. The 14-day trial of the full application will allow users to see the unique features and functionally that make Destinator the best choice for navigation and location based services on their mobile device.

A GPS App that Packs a Punch

Destinator 9 delivers an unmatched navigation experience with a host of exclusive, next-generation features. The intuitive NavStrip™ delivers one-click access to key navigation functions such as address entry, route, and search. This provides the quickest path to navigation with the fewest taps while displaying the map. Users can browse maps in 2D or 3D views. The 3D display includes a horizon display that automatically updates based on weather conditions. Destinator 9’s weather feature provides a 3 day forecast for the user’s current location or destination. Users can navigate to any map location using the TapNGo™ feature by simply using a long press on any point on the map and then tapping “Go” for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. TapNGo also features other actions such as “Call”, “Save” location, and “Add to Trip Planner”.

“We have developed and delivered a navigation app that is both reliable and exciting at the same time. Destinator 9 is a premier GPS app with a fresh set of features that makes your travels easier and less stressful while also delivering an element of fun and usability,” said Souheil Gallouzi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Products Development, Intrinsyc. “Destinator has a heritage of providing exceptional, reliable turn-by-turn navigation solutions and we are proud to bring the latest generation of our application to the hottest mobile platforms around the globe. We are confident that our customer base will continue to appreciate the Destinator Experience.”

Windows Mobile users will now be able to enjoy reliable, true turn-by-turn voice guided navigation that not only works in areas of limited mobile coverage but also takes advantage of the phone’s data connection. This seamless connectivity enables integrated online search powered by Google and weather forecasts as well as the sending of locations with rich map content and easy-to-use interface.

With Destinator, users can also enjoy multi-destination routing by setting multiple trips with various stops to help plan a day’s drive to different locations – all with the fewest clicks possible and an easy-to-use interface. A one-click widget brings up a Google Map view of the current location, when available on a device with a data connection. Destinator’s revolutionary StickyPOI™ feature allows users to quickly display popular Points of Interest (POI) categories with a just a couple of screen taps. Tapping on a category, such as hotels or restaurants, automatically displays the nearby POI on the map. In addition to turn-by-turn navigation, drivers and pedestrians can view a direction list or route summary by a simple tap or two. Destinator delivers voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions with complete visual dashboard information in portrait mode and on the Side Bar in landscape mode. Users can set destinations by browsing a location on a map or entering an address, street, city, intersection, or postcode, keyword search of POI, history, favorites, and SMS. All these features are delivered with a crisp, clear and rich map view in 2D or 3D that can switch automatically to day or night view mode depending on GPS or system time.

Intrinsyc is a 2009 winner of the Microsoft Windows Embedded Excellence Award. Read more at www.intrinsyc.com.

I was lucky enough to get a hands-on peak at iHome’s new iPhone/iPod App which will be free for everybody. The integration into their iA5 and iA100 alarm clock speakers was outstanding. Seriously. The app, iHome+Sleep, is positioned as a beefed up alarm clock with a phenomenal user interface. Before I get to the application I will explain the integration. When iPhone is plugged into the dock of either speaker sets you can adjust their settings. You can change the time (or sync it to your iPhone time), change the display/brightness, and adjust EQ settings. On to the application (which I got pretty excited about)…it is optimized to work with the iA5 and iA100, but it is by no means any less usable without the devices.

The home screen of the application is a large clock and a graphical view of weather. Also there is a small status box of your alarms and schedule. Alarms are extremely customizable. You can set up a variety of rules. Wake up to some loud rock music on Monday at 8am and wake up to some relaxing indy music on Saturday at 10am. You can set iTunes playlists to play directly from the app. There is also a gentle wake alarm that will gradually get louder. If you want to listen to some music before you go to sleep you can easily set a sleep timer. Don’t worry about going to sleep with the volume on low, because you can set the alarm volume to always be loud. iHome+Sleep will log when you go to sleep (you must set this) and when you wake up. It keeps a running log of your sleeping behaviors, logging hours slept per night and per week, average number of snoozes, favorite music to fall asleep to and more. If you’re just waking up, press a button and view all the news you missed while you were sleeping.

If you can’t incorporate social media into your life enough while you’re awake, then try it out while you’re sleeping—share wakeup and bedtime status updates automatically (although if I’m following your feed I would kind of prefer you to not do this). So that is iHome+Sleep wrapped up in a nutshell. Currently the app is mid-approval process so we should be seeing it shortly.

The iA5 had some pretty good audio, it sounded better than a bunch of iPod speakers I’ve heard this week at CES. It will be priced at $99 and should be available relatively soon. The iA100 is the premium model and will be released at a later date. iA100 incorporates Bluetooth which means the iPhone does not need to be docked to play music and wake up to music alarms. Also you can use the iA100 as a Bluetooth speakerphone to make and receive phone calls (phone keypad included). It even has a backup system where it saves your alarm settings. If your iPhone cannot be found via Bluetooth it will still wake you up, but with a generic alarm. iA100 plays AM/FM radio and can be used as an alarm too. I did not get to hear the iA100, but I know it includes their Bongiovi Power Station real-time DSP (Wednesdays acronym-of-the-day: Digital Signal Processing), which scans audio and restores details lost through compression. This was a very impressive feature and made music sound better even to those lacking the audiophile ear. This will be priced at $199 with no word on when. We’re crossing our fingers at Chip Chick that we’ll get to demo one of these products soon!

Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, spoke to Financial Post today about Microsoft’s X-box, Zune and Windows Mobile business.

Speaking about Microsoft’s relationship with Windows Mobile OEMs and the amount of input Microsoft had in quality control of Windows Mobile smartphones, he said:

A You have a dichotomy: choice versus control. When you go out and look at the wall of PCs, part of what makes that wall of PCs is that the [manufacturers] have the freedom to create what they want to create and that choice is tremendously valuable to consumers. The reason it works in the PC space is because early on we did choose to exercise some management of what makes a PC, and there are standards that were developed – largely by us – but with some other people, and so Windows 7 works great on lots of devices. I will tell you if there’s a place where we haven’t done as good work is in the mobile space. We’ve been, in a way, too focused on how many devices we could have and not focused enough on making sure that the base quality of those devices is very strong. So one of the things we are working on with our [manufacturing] partners is ensuring that those experiences are consistent and work great and that the base line that you start with is always rock solid.

Speaking to the Zune part of the business, he once again denied Microsoft was making a Zune phone, but said it was clearly inevitable that the technology would make its way into a phone itself.

But it’s very clear that the portable music and video marketplace will end up being part of the phone. So that creates a new opportunity for everyone to introduce those things into phones, and the thing that has held it back has been battery life. And that’s changing. Screen resolution has also been holding it back a bit and technology is catching up on all those things. Zune HD isn’t that far away from being a phone and no, we’re not doing a phone, so please don’t start those rumours. But from a technology perspective, it’s not far away.

From other rumours we already understand future Windows Mobile 7 devices will have a lot more rigorous quality control and we would certainly be very surprised to see the new OS ship without Zune Marketplace integration.

Read the full interview at Financial Post here.

I have noticed a recent expansion in Marketplace, with many interesting applications suddenly showing up.

One such as is Ivy the Kiwi, an innovative game from the designer of the Sonic the hedgehog.  We have written about it before, and then it was meant to arrive in Marketplace in November.  After a bit of delay it has now finally arrived, and still looks as good as ever.

The game is $11.99 in US and £7.19 in the UK and can be bought directly from marketplace on your device or from the web catalogue.

Have you tried the game?  Let us know below.

Via FuzeMobility.com

Video above shows the technology in action on a big screen

GestureTek announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that it is launching a brand new engine that allows Windows® Mobile publishers and developers to integrate motion and object tracking into their gesture-control games and applications.

GestureTek’s new momo(TM) for Windows Mobile uses a mobile device’s camera to track objects and motion within the camera’s field of view. The engine defines interfaces for two trackers – the Motion tracker which determines interaction by following specific movement and the Mosaic tracker which tracks objects, including faces and hands. They provide developers with a vast array of options when developing gesture control applications.

"Momo makes possible groundbreaking mobile games that can respond to hand motions over menu items and even track the position of the user’s head," says Yoshi Kumagai, GestureTek’s Senior Vice President of Mobile.

GestureTek’s software can be delivered over the air or embedded directly into many camera-enabled devices, with no special hardware or design updates required. It is an easy to implement software solution that makes adding gesture control more cost-effective for manufacturers.

Once the software is enabled, users can shake, rock or roll their phone to play games, answer calls, shuffle playlists, navigate maps, scroll, pan, zoom, turn pages and even browse the web – all without pressing a button or touching the screen.

With Momo users can control the action using specific hand or body gestures – with no movement of the device required.

GestureTek software has widespread applications in many consumer electronics products. Many developers are already using GestureTek software to bring immersive, gesture-based interactivity to a variety of platforms, including PCs, laptops and toys.

"Greater accessibility to GestureTek’s gesture recognition software is significant for developers in the mobile and consumer electronics space," says Vincent John Vincent, President of GestureTek. "Developers now have the ability to create gesture-control games and applications for multiple platforms and to develop for multiple mobile devices, including those with hardware-based gesture control solutions (such as accelerometers) and software-based gesture control solutions."

GestureTek software is available on millions of mobile devices worldwide, including on NTT DoCoMo phones in Japan, and is used in more than 200 mobile applications. Selected handsets enabled with GestureTek’s software include models from Sony Ericsson, Nokia, NEC, HTC, Motorola, Samsung and LG.

Read more at Gesturetek here.

Via Engadget.com

Microsoft has not said much about it, but Windows Mobile 6.5.3 handsets appear to be trickling out despite the official silence surrounding the project.

Neowin spotted two such handsets at Microsoft’s stand at CES, the massive Toshiba TG01 with its 1 Ghz processor and 4.1 inch screen, and the only slightly less demure Pharos Traveler 137.

According to Neowin both devices were running Build 23091.5.3.0.

It is likely we can expect many more handsets running the updated OS being shown of at the upcoming Mobile World Congress.

Read more at Neowin here.

The new Songbird Media Players will be included in the Philips’ GoGear portable audio video players. This will allow users to transfer their music collection to their GoGear portable audio video players, share playlists, find new music, purchase songs over the web, sync videos and photos and discover favorite bands that will be playing in their area. Consumers can add media to Songbird by importing their CD collection and from the music that is already on their PC. The first set of integrated partners for Songbird include the 7Digital and Songkick online stores. 7Digital makes recommendations for new music based on what customers have actually been listening to recently, while Songkick notifies listeners when their favorite bands and artists are coming to town and lets them buy tickets right from Songbird. Available this year. Philips site will have more information soon.

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Samsung has been demonstrating their smart HDTV which comes with its own applications store. In the above video the TV is shown interacting with a Samsung Omnia 2 over WIFI.

Samsung will be releasing the first batch of TV apps in the spring free of charge, while premium apps will be available for purchase via the platform’s transactional interface in the summer of 2010. Consumers, for example, would be able to play Texas Hold ‘em poker with friends where the TV screen shows the table and the phone serves as the controller, while showing cards in your hand like a real poker game.

Read more about Samsung’s connected TV’s at Engadget here.