Sometimes what you need is a small step, not a huge leap.

That what the upcoming Windows Mobile update plans to do. Windows Mobile 6.0-6.1 came on to the market at the very very beginning of the “next gen” phones. Sure phones had touch screens but they where very rudimentary and crude. Thus they where looked at as a fad. Fast forward to 2007 and the debut of the iPhone. Suddenly touch screens are everywhere.

Don’t get me wrong, Win-Mo has some amazing hardware out there. The HTC Touch Pro & Diamond & Toshiba G01 are awesome. But up until this point they all had to wrap Win-Mo in some 3rd party skin., with varying degrees of success. With the upcoming update, the days of needing a overlay to use Win-Mo are over.

I’m going to go ahead and call 6.5 an “service pack”. It brings a bunch of new things to the table, like much much improved touch interface and a new browser . However it still feels like Windows Mobile.. and that's a good thing.

I’ve installed Windows Mobile 6.5 on a Sprint HTC Touch Pro, which www.phonedog.com so kindly supplied me with. 

See 6.5 in action in the video below

Impressive, huh?

The screen for the most part is very responsive and uses the “flick” motion very well

Remember, this a pre-beta build so much could change in the coming months.

What do you think?

“Features tell, Benefits Sell”

That's a saying an old salesman once told me at my first retail job, It has stuck with me throughout all of my subsequent jobs.

I could blow the customer away with all of my product knowledge, however that would be no help to them. You must connect what the product does with how they can use it in their daily life.

Microsoft has some great products to work with, especially the Live suite. Its powerful, easy to use and most of all free.

What needs to happen in Microsoft's retail stores is to show how the products can help connect your digital life,

Example: Windows Live Photo gallery

Feature: Face Tagging

Benefit: Quickly and easily organize your massive photo collection.

Feature: Panoramic Stitching

Benefit: Create stunning panoramic photos of your favorite locations.

I could go on and on……..

This could be an awesome draw to Microsoft's stores, “Bring your media to us and we’ll show how to make it amazing”, When I show my friends and family what Photo gallery can do, they are amazed. And that is just a very small part of MS’s digital media solutions.

So, applying the above strategy to any of MS’s digital  products you have a great way to showcase in a retail setting. Just make sure the staff is well versed and knowledgeable, and you are set to go.

What do you think?