Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Love it or hate it, today was April Fools' Day, and we hope you enjoyed our attempt at spicing things up this morning. We've tagged our April Fools' posts, and will ensure that today's remaining posts are the real deal, so there should be no confusion. Although, if you just can't get enough of the pranks, Google certainly has no shortage of them.

In unprecedented news, Apple has announced a new virtual app allowing users to seamlessly run the iPhone OS and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series side-by-side (without soft-resetting)! Details are still surfacing, but no official word yet on how copy and paste will work between the two UI's, but I'm sure there will be an app for that. The virtualization app will cost $89 and require a WP7S license key. We'll keep you posted over the coming days as soon as we get more info!

Die-hard Pocket PC fans, rejoice! Microsoft has just announced that come launch day, all Windows Phone 7 Series devices will be able to download Classic Mode from the Windows Phone Marketplace, an app that will allow you to run older apps designed for Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and earlier. The company has stated that it's primarily a virtualization layer, much like what the Windows XP Mode and Virtual PC combo is on Windows 7. So, if you've been lamenting the thought of your favourite app not making it on to Windows Phone 7 Series, lament no longer!

Wireless controllers out of battery? Too lazy to untangle that wired controller? Enter Xbox 360 Connect for Windows Phone 7 Series. Microsoft's latest innovation will allow you to connect your Windows Phone to your Xbox 360 over Wi-Fi (you'll need that pesky Wi-Fi adapter, of course) and use it as a wireless controller. Its touchscreen controls are sized appropriately for your digits and have been optimized to support multi-touch. In addition, it uses your phone's vibration feature, so the next time you get caught in the crossfire in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, you'll feel it. Microsoft has stated that Xbox 360 Connect will be available as soon as the first Windows Phone 7 Series device hits the market. Hooray!

"Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) has announced late yesterday that Windows Mobile will be officially retired effective June 1, 2008. In a surprising twist, Microsoft is recommending that users switch to rival Apple's iPhone, confirming rumors that versions of Microsoft Office applications may be ported to the iPhone platform. Enterprises everywhere should be relieved to know that the next version of the iPhone will support Microsoft's Activesync server-side synchronization standard, which will allow them to continue to provide email to their users..."

In what can only be described as a shocking twist of mobile electronics fate, Microsoft has abruptly abandoned its Windows Mobile operating system and decided to jump on the Apple bandwagon as far as mobile devices go. My only wonder is what will happen to the Windows Mobile team?? Such nice people seemingly out of a job - unless they learn to love all things lower-case i.

"CUPERTINO, California—April 1, 2008—Apple® today announced additional enhancements to its iPhone™ 2.0 software. The upcoming iPhone 2.0 software release will contain Boot Camp for iPhone. Similar to Boot Camp for the desktop version of OSX, Boot Camp for iPhone allows users the freedom to choose between a variety of operating systems for their iPhone. This opens up the iPhone to developers wanting to create software in the operating system they prefer, and allows users the freedom to select the environment they feel comfortable with on a day-to-day basis, while still allowing Apple to supply the top-notch iPhone platform. 'We’re excited to give our users and developers the freedom to select the best environment for their needs,' said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. 'The iPhone’s hardware is the best mobile platform available, and combined with its revolutionary Multi-Touch interface, we believe this will create a surge in software development for the iPhone."


This is a pretty amazing announcement from Apple! Typically Apple likes to retain total control over their platforms and user interfaces, but Boot Camp for iPhone potentially means we could see Windows Mobile on the iPhone platform. I'm not sure that's the best OS for the hardware, but it at least gives people more options, which is always a good thing, right? So which OS will you choose to run on your iPhone?