Today at Mobile World Congress 2009, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Windows phones will feature two new services: My Phone, to sync text messages, photos, video, contacts and more to the Web; and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a new marketplace that will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications and can be accessed from both the phone and the Web.

“Windows phones bring together the best of the Web, the PC and the phone so you can connect instantly to the experiences you care about, no matter where you are,” Ballmer said. “We’re working with partners across the industry to deliver a new generation of Windows® phones that break down the barriers between people, information and applications and provide great end-to-end experiences that span your entire life, at work and at home.”

Windows Mobile 6.5 Delivers New User Experience
The new Windows Mobile 6.5 home screen keeps people up-to-date on important information by providing a dashboard-like experience to items such as new e-mails, texts, missed calls and calendar appointments. It also includes an improved touch-screen interface, making it easy to take action with a finger, and an updated version of the latest Internet Explorer Mobile browser, which in a third-party research study sponsored by Microsoft supported execution of up to 48 percent more assigned tasks than the other browsers and phones studied.

My Phone Service Connects the Phone to the Web
The free My Phone service will enable people to access, manage and back up their personal information on their device to a password-protected Web-based service, making it easier to upgrade phones without the worry of losing important information. With automatic syncing and backup, users can count on their contacts, appointments, text messages and other information being kept up to date and easily restored should they lose or upgrade their phone. Consumers also will be able to automatically upload photos and video from their Windows phone directly to the My Phone service, making it simple to preserve content that, in the past, would have lived and died on the phone. The My Phone service is currently available in a limited invitation-only beta.

Integrated Mobile Marketplace
The new operating system features Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a rich and integrated marketplace for searching, browsing and purchasing mobile applications from Windows phones or from a PC by simply using a Windows Live ID. The new marketplace will be included with all Windows phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5, which will help consumers to easily find, install and experience those applications that fit their needs and make the phone truly personal. Developers, who have already built over 20,000 applications for Windows phones, will be able to offer applications to customers through the marketplace via a simple security and compatibility check from Microsoft.

Microsoft Recite Voice Search Technology
The company also announced Microsoft Recite, a voice search technology for Windows phones version 6.0 or later, which provides users with a fast and simple way to capture, search and retrieve spoken notes and reminders using just their voice without the need to navigate menus or type text. Microsoft Recite efficiently organizes a user’s spoken thoughts based on same or similar terms and phrases, and is available as a free technology preview at http://recite.microsoft.com/.

(via iClarified.com)

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New York Times had reported that the new version of Google’s Mobile App which includes support for voice search will be released on Friday.

However, its Sunday and there is still no sign of the new version. The ever so resourceful and reliable Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has just provided an update based on what they have heard from a source with knowledge of the situation that the new version of Google’s app will likely be available on the App Store on Monday.

Arrington goes on to add:

“Google was under the impression that the application would be live on the App Store on Friday (obviously, since they pushed all significant press attention to it). Sometime Friday they found out Apple wouldn’t be pushing it, despite the fact that Google submitted it for review earlier in the week and got a thumbs up for Friday. One source says they’ve had little direct contact with Apple during the review, instead getting their updates via the standard iPhone developer tool, which has said “in review” for the last few days.”

The positive thing to take away from all this is that Apple seems to be treating Google like any other iPhone Developer even though Google CEO’s Eric Schmidt is on Apple’s board.

But it also highlights the pitfalls of Apple’s approval process. It is quite embarrassing for a company of Google’s stature to get press attention only to find out that the application is not getting released.

iPhone Developers big or small should ideally get a 24 to 48 hours notice informing them about the expected release date of their iPhone app so they can plan accordingly.

Arrington believes:

“If the application is half as good as the demo video shows, Google has done something pretty amazing with voice recognition and mobile platforms. This application will, quite simply, sell iPhones. Lots of them.”

We agree that it would be amazing if the application works half as good as the demo video but don’t think it will be a feature that will sell iPhones, it would definitely be one of the features in iPhone’s rich feature list, but we should soon see the app for other mobile platforms so it will not be a differentiating factor for long.

As we have mentioned before, though we are excited to hear about the voice search feature; we are not too sure if it is going to be more convenient than typing out the search query. It will probably depend on the accuracy of the voice recognition technology.

It is definitely promising as iPhone Hacks readers Justin and cabbit who have used GOOG-411 mobile service (which voice search is based on) have found it to be very accurate for them, but it will be interesting to see how it works in the international markets as the GOOG-411 mobile service is available only in the US and Canada.

(via iPhoneHacks.com)

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