Microsoft Phasing out 'Pocket PC' and 'Smartphone' Brand Names

[Ed Hardy]

Microsoft has decided to stop referring to devices as Pocket PCs or Smartphones. Instead, both these groups of products will be combined in one category, Windows Mobile devices.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Mi...and_Smartphone

[rsc1000]

However, this was more than a simple name change. About 90 percent of the code base for the two Windows Mobile versions is the same.

yeah 90% - but that 10% ensures that code written for Pocket PCs does not run on Smartphone. What the hell???? There needs to be some way to refer to the rather large difference (i.e. the difference between the software working or NOT working on one platform or the other) between the two. Games written for the Pocket PC screen res (i.e. all commercial PPC games) will simply not run on Smartphone. The majority of OS GUI-using apps written for PPC won't run on smartphone either because of the difference in controls (Smartphone doen't have all controls - including some very basic ones - that PPC has). A lot of PPC c/c++ code out there uses MFC - but there is no MFC for Smartphone. I understand that they have this idealistic notion of future compatibility with .net making so much head-way - but that's still only part of the picture. How is this new branding exercise supposed to work exactly? Am i missing something? How can a company say 'works with PPC - but not with smarthphone' with new editions of the OS? Does MS expect companies to list all of the models? What gives?

[JeffLewis]

Soooo... does that mean we now refer to them all as Windows Mobile Devices....

aka


WMDs?


(PS: I actually like Windows Mobile - but once again, Microsoft's branding department doesn't think out the negative uses for their branding... )

[JK27]

Originally posted by JeffLewis
Soooo... does that mean we now refer to them all as Windows Mobile Devices....

aka


WMDs?

Woooooooooooops!!!

[Double-Trinity]

I don't see "Windows Mobile Handhelds" or "Windows Mobile Devices" as better names than "Pocket PC." Windows Mobile is fine as the name for the OS, but the name "Pocket PC" is a lot more informative as to what the device really is, a PC that fits in the pocket. Windows Mobile to someone unfamiliar with the platform just isn't as good of a name as it doesn't describe the product.