Windows Phone Thoughts: WM6's New Versions: Classic, Standard and Professional

"With today's announcement of Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft also introduced a new naming scheme of its PDA and smartphone device classes. No more Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, no more Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition and no more Windows Mobile for Smartphone but just Windows Mobile 6 xyz where xyz becomes more generic then it was before; in fact it becomes similar to the Windows Vista and Windows Office 2007 naming scheme. The following overview should help you to get a better understanding what your device was in past and what it will be from now (with the official introduction of Windows Mobile 6)..."

In case you haven't heard already, along with the launch of WM6 is the doing-away with the Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone, and Smartphone terms. Apparently convinced that they're not confusing enough, now we have three new terms:

• Pocket PC => WM6 Classic
  
• Pocket PC Phone => WM6 Professional
  
• Smartphone => WM6 Standard

Is it just me, or are these names even worse than the WM5 rebranding? First, there's the fact that WM6 Classic and Professional will be able to run apps (touchscreen-enabled) that won't run on WM6 Standard. Second is the fact that the disconnected Pocket PC looks like it's clearly on its way out. To call something "Classic" suggests that it's on the verge of retirement. I guess it's better that there's some uniform naming scheme now, but I think the choice of terms Microsoft used here is unfortunate.