Cheerleading
Like any proud parent, Microsoft can't resist telling everyone about the progress of its offspring, especially when the other kids have been getting better grades recently.
That is the subtext behind Microsoft choosing to issue a press release announcing the launch of the LG GM750 smartphone, which will be exclusive to Vodafone until the end of the year.
It will officially launch on 6th October, which Microsoft recently announced as the launch date for the latest version of its mobile phone operating system - Windows Mobile 6.5. See if you can guess what OS the GM750 has.
On top of Windows Mobile 6.5 the GM750 will sport the LG S-class user interface and a bunch of Vodafone mobile services. It has a three inch touch-screen and built-in GPS, but full specs don't seem to have been published yet.
Windows Mobile has been losing market share recently to a combination of the success of the iPhone and of Blackberry devices and the trend towards Android and proprietary Linux-based operating systems. It needs to keep Windows Mobile in the game until it releases version 7, which is expected to be a complete re-build.
"This new Windows phone benefits from our work with LG to deeply integrate the phone's software and hardware as well as our continued work with Vodafone to make Windows phones broadly available on Vodafone's high-speed network," said Todd Peters, corporate VP at Microsoft.
LG has also issued a press release today announcing it's readying an "assault on the Smartphone market". It's launching a couple of other devices at the same time as the GM750 and expects to have a total of 13 new smartphones - all running Windows Mobile - launched by the end of next year.
