Microsoft Unveils Mobile App Marketplace, My Phone, Windows Mobile 6.5
Microsoft Unveils Mobile App Marketplace, My Phone, Windows Mobile 6.5
When covering search news, the lines are increasingly getting a bit blurred. Google, the search mammoth, does much more than “just” search. Yahoo’s best performing properties are its portal pages. Microsoft started out in software.
Google launched a mobile platform Android, which competes with Microsoft competitor Apple, who of course has seen great success with the iPhone.
The iPhone has truly advanced adoption of the mobile web - and mobile search. But Microsoft was in the game before Apple or Google with Windows Mobile. There have been app markets for Windows Mobile for years, something that is largely unknown, save for the early mobile adopters.
Microsoft, of course, will not just sit by and watch the Google/Apple dominance occur. Instead, they are revamping their game. Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft announced a new marketplace for Windows Mobile apps. There are over 20,000 apps that have beend eveloped over the years. The marketplace will make them easier to find.
Microsoft also introduced the newest version of Windows Mobile, which is 6.5. Last but not least they annouced My Phone, which enables PC/phone syncing.
Incidentally, Google announced its mobile syncing feature last week. They also opened the Android mobile app marketplace to paid apps.
Many mobile apps are all about helping users find what they need or want. You guessed it - SEARCH. And with projections for mobile web traffic showing skyrocketing increases by 2013, new players may appear on the scene. Anyone who has wondered who can catch or beat Google may want to watch this space carefully.
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