Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5.3 shown off very, very quietly
Say, for a moment, that you're Microsoft and you're on the cusp of releasing a version of the much-maligned Windows Mobile 6.5 that actually made it touch-friendly for once — but like all WinMo versions before it …
Context & Ripple Effects
The quiet 6.5.3 demo lands after a brutal run for its predecessor: Ballmer first confirmed the release back in November 2008, and by launch the verdict was in — Gizmodo's 'There's No Excuse For This' review and Engadget's own ten-reasons-it-misses-the-mark editorial both panned 6.5 as a stylus-era OS dragged unwillingly into the touch era.
Since then Microsoft has been repositioning rather than repairing: the platform was renamed 'Windows Phone' in July 2009 and a next-generation developer strategy followed in March, so a touch-friendly 6.5.3 reads less like a destination and more like a stopgap for OEMs shipping hardware before the real successor arrives.
First-order effects
- OEMs building 2010 handsets get a touch-friendlier 6.5 build they can actually ship, without waiting for Microsoft's unannounced next-generation platform.
- Microsoft buys itself calendar time: 6.5.3 patches the worst of the touch criticism that defined 6.5's reception while the Windows Phone reboot stays in the wings.
Second-order effects
- Carriers and handset makers face a fork — ship 6.5.x hardware now or hold inventory for the promised successor — which shapes their 2010 lineups against Android and iPhone rivals.
- Every point release Microsoft ships narrows its own room to keep charging premium smartphone licensing for an OS reviewers have already written off, pressuring pricing or acceleration of the reboot.
Third-order effects
- If point releases can't close a two-generation touch gap, incumbent mobile platforms get forced into full reboots rather than iteration — the pattern Microsoft's own 'Windows Phone' rename already signals.
- A mobile market consolidating around touch-first ecosystems leaves license-based OS vendors competing for the shrinking tier of hardware partners not yet locked into Apple's or Google's stacks.
The trend: Smartphone platforms are shifting from incremental desktop-derived updates to touch-first reboots, with licensing vendors like Microsoft using stopgap releases to bridge to a rebuilt stack.