MWC 2009: Preview of Windows Mobile 6.5

When I asked about how administrators could stop this from occurring, I didn’t get the sense this was a high priority for Microsoft at this time. Administrators could probably bar the user from replicating documents to My Phone altogether via policy, but perhaps not limit the synchronization to only certain stores or storage devices.

Let’s just say I have some fear that in its zeal to replicate and expand beyond some of the appealing features that draw users to Apple or Google devices, Microsoft is giving short shrift to one of the largest segments of its existing customer base: large-scale corporations. While Windows Mobile 6.1 was all about enhancing the mobile OS for corporate use and management, the newest version has swung back the other way to attract consumers and business end users, apparently without expanding the administrator’s control over or visibility into how these new features behave.

Since my preview, we’ve now seen the official presentation of Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Congress being held this week in Barcelona. Here’s a quick video of Steve Ballmer’s presentation:

Steve Ballmer’s presentation of Windows Mobile 6.5 from NetMediaEurope on Vimeo.