Microsoft has just made official Windows Phone update 8107, with this gem:

The update, available to all carriers that request it...

We all know what happens when we let mobile operators decide which updates come or not to our handsets. Updates are not delivered. Things don't happen as they should. And consumer suffers.

And yes, I remember Microsoft said operators can skip one update, but the next one will always incorporate the missed one. Still, this opens the door to a broken ecosystem.

In the months ahead, we'll continue to send out firmware and maintenance updates as needed. These will be available across the globe-although not everybody will receive or require them. It depends on your country, carrier, and phone model. But remember that you'll never have to guess when a Windows Phone update is waiting: Just watch for the pop up notification on your device.

Yes, because one thing customers don't really care about is updates, right? Wrong, just give them instead of this tiered delivery.

There are also a few changes on the way for the blog and website. As we continue our growth, we won't be individually detailing country, model, and carrier details on the Where's My Phone Update? site any longer. And instead of my weekly blog posts, the official Windows Phone website will be the primary place for news and information about our updates, just as Microsoft Answers is there for your support questions.    

Sure, because when everyone is moving into communicating more with customers, someone at Microsoft decided it was time to reduce the options of communication.

Seriously, Microsoft? This is not the way to go ahead with a mobile platform that is not exactly winning at the moment.

This week I met a Microsoft New Zealand person who gave me a Windows Phone Mango demo... Lots of new features, but a picture (movie) is worth a thousand words:



Seriously, the integrated inbox (which allows you to select which inboxes are part of the integrated view, and allows you multiple integrated views) and the contacts groups are beyond anything you've seen in any other smartphone platform. Contacts allow you to see all communications with contacts - email, IM, social networks, etc.

And on communications, you can start a conversation via IM, and if the contact goes offline it will automatically send the next message via SMS, or via Facebook IM, or whatever is available. And you see all in a single thread, single application.

Best of all, Windows Phone Mango will be available for existing Windows Phone hardware.

This is a video demo of Internet Explorer 9 rendering a HTML5 page during the MIX 2011. And winning...

After neglecting the online gaming community for so long, the Microsoft mobile folks are at least working on a killer proposition: get those online gamers into mobile.

They are talking about 25 million active Xbox LIVE users who will have access, through Windows Phone 7 to a lot of the features they are used to while playing PC games and consoles: avatars, achievements, gamerscore, etc.

This is a list of game available at launch:

. "3D Brick Breaker Revolution" (Digital Chocolate)
. "Age of Zombies" (Halfbrick)
. "Armor Valley" (Prot?g? Games)
. "Asphalt 5" (Gameloft)
. "Assassins Creed" (Gameloft)
. "Bejeweled LIVE" (PopCap)
. "Bloons TD" (Digital Goldfish)
. "Brain Challenge" (Gameloft)
. "Bubble Town 2" (i-Play)
. "Butterfly" (Press Start Studio)
. "CarneyVale Showtime" (MGS)
. "Castlevania" (Konami)
. "Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst" (MGS)
. "De Blob Revolution" (THQ)
. "Deal or No Deal 2010" (i-Play)
. "Earthworm Jim" (Gameloft)
. "Fast & Furious 7" (i-Play)
. "Fight Game Rivals" (Rough Cookie)
. "Finger Physics" (Mobliss Inc.)
. "Flight Control" (Namco Bandai)
. "Flowerz" (Carbonated Games)
. "Frogger" (Konami)
. "Fruit Ninja" (Halfbrick)
. "Game Chest-Board" (MGS)
. "Game Chest-Card" (MGS)
. "Game Chest-Logic" (MGS)
. "Game Chest-Solitaire" (MGS)
. "GeoDefense" (Critical Thought)
. "Ghostscape" (Psionic)
. "Glow Artisan" (Powerhead Games)
. "Glyder 2" (Glu Mobile)
. "Guitar Hero 5" (Glu Mobile)
. "Halo Waypoint" (MGS)
. "Hexic Rush" (Carbonated Games)
. "I Dig It" (InMotion)
. "iBlast Moki" (Godzilab)
. "ilomilo" (MGS)
. "Implode XL" (IUGO)
. "Iquarium" (Infinite Dreams)
. "Jet Car Stunts" (True Axis)
. "Let's Golf 2" (Gameloft)
. "Little Wheel" (One click dog)
. "Loondon" (Flip N Tale)
. "Max and the Magic Marker" (PressPlay)
. "Mini Squadron" (Supermono Limited)
. "More Brain Exercise" (Namco Bandai)
. "O.M.G." (Arkedo)
. "Puzzle Quest 2" (Namco Bandai)
. "Real Soccer 2" (Gameloft)
. "The Revenants" (Chaotic Moon)
. "Rise of Glory" (Revo Solutions)
. "Rocket Riot" (Codeglue)
. "Splinter Cell Conviction" (Gameloft)
. "Star Wars: Battle for Hoth" (THQ)
. "Star Wars: Cantina" (THQ)
. "The Harvest" (MGS)
. "The Oregon Trail" (Gameloft)
. "Tower Bloxx NY" (Digital Chocolate)
. "Twin Blades" (Press Start Studio)
. "UNO" (Gameloft)
. "Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet" (i-Play)
. "Zombie Attack!" (IUGO)
. "Zombies!!!!" (Babaroga)

Since I didn't have enough space in our news page, here are some screenshots showing what you can expect to see on your Windows Phone 7 when it gets to the market (hopefully we will not be too far behind here in New Zealand):

Microsoft has removed the wraps from one of its most guarded secrets, unveiling Windows Phone 7 Series, an operating system for mobile that promises to make it easier to work through your mobile and social life. While the company has demonstrated the software, we can't buy any handset yet because those are still at least nine months away.

Windows Phone Series 7 introduces Hubs that guide you through different use cases. In each Hub you can browse through it and change how you see information. Data is constantly updated in the background - your music, photos or social networks are constantly updated, with this being reflected in the tiles.

The new phone also ditches the old ActiveSync (Windows XP) and Windows Mobile Device Center (Windows Vista and Windows 7) in favour or Zune software. And Microsoft promised Zune Marketplace will be available wherever Windows Phone 7 Series is officially sold.

This is a move from an application centric interface to a more activities and social centric interface. Will it work well? Who knows, as I said an actual product is still nine months away. Developers will get a lot more information at MIX10.

Does it mean the death of Windows Mobile as we know it today? It appears not, according to istartedsomething, that reports both Windows Phone 7 Series and the current Windows Mobile will co-exist.

I also received some interesting information today that points in that direction. For example people buying apps from the Marketplace for Windows Mobile know that it's currently limited to a specific geographic region and developers paid to have their apps listed in different regions. This limited the reach of applications. Well, no more, since Microsoft is making it easier for developers to list their applications by removing additional listing fees. Once the application is listed in the marketplace (with its $99 fee) it can then be listed in any region for free.

Also users will have the option to browse the marketplace catalogue for other regions, with prices listed in the user's own currency. This will improve the catalogue vastly, because since launch users could only see apps available in their own regions, limiting the offerings.

These changes, plus what istartedsomething reported earlier, seem to point that Windows Mobile will continue in the market for some time, while Windows Phone 7 Series comes to life.

Microsoft has released a small update to Windows Mobile, its phone operating system. Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is a step ahead in the "facelift" of this smartphone platform, and the latest update brings the following new features:

• Capacitive touchscreen support
• Platform to enable multi-touch
• Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus)
• Consistent Navigation
• Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about screen)
• Magnifier brings touch support to legacy applications
• Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps
• Drag and drop icons on Start Screen

I am told the native browser performance has improved, with decrease in page load time,  better memory management, pan & flick gestures smoothed, and zoom & rotation speed increased.

The OS comes with updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1), and support for Arabic read/write document.

The update in itself is a small release but it should bring the venerable operating system closer to current consumer markets. The first handset with the new operating system is the Sony Ericsson Aspen, just announced.

Screenshots below - click for larger versions: