Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse review

June 27, 2013 By Remo Knops Leave a Comment

The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse is one of my favorite and most used accessories for my Windows powered notebook. It is a very lightweight mouse, with an excellent battery life, that is perfectly suited for every modern nomad.

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse – A design overview

I would like to provide an overview of the product design and highlight the features that I personally like. On the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse product page you can read the following description:

“Arc Touch Mouse’s innovative design allows for quick use and storage. Curve it comfortably to get started.”

The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse is really thin, when not curved. This makes it very easy to store the Microsoft Arc Touch mouse in a small front pocket of Tom Bihn Empire Builder or the back pocket of the Waterfield Sleevecase.

“Then smoothly glide your finger up or down the scroll pad. Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse responds precisely to the speed of your finger movement, using Haptic feedback (light vibration that signals scrolling speed) to scan through documents or web pages as quickly—or as cautiously—as needed, entirely by feel.”

When you curve the Microsoft Arc Touch mouse, it is immediately switched on (you can see the blue BlueTrack light). The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse offers enough support for my hand to comfortably rest on the curve of the mouse. Instead of a scroll wheel, there is a touch-sensitive strip between the two mouse buttons. If you would like to scroll up or down you simply swipe your finger up or down over the strip, while getting haptic feedback about the scrolling speed.

Both the mouse buttons have a pleasant size and travel. Below the touch-sensitive strip there is a led, which flashes red in the case of low batteries.

The Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center allows you to easily configure the mouse buttons and additional features in Windows 8. Download the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center for Windows 8 here.

“When you’re done, keep the tiny transceiver plugged into your computer’s USB port, or tuck it into the underside of the mouse. Then flatten Arc Touch Mouse to turn it off, and slip it into your pocket or bag as easily as a cell phone.”

The Microsoft Arc Touch mouse comes with a small but unique to the mouse USB transceiver. The backside of the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse has a magnetic area in the case that you would like to remove the transceiver and attach it to your mouse. The Nano Transceiver however is permanently plugged into a USB port of my Lenovo work laptop.

BlueTrack Technology

“With BlueTrack technology from Microsoft, your computer mouse will work on even more surfaces than ever before, including granite and carpet, wood tables or park benches.”

This is a great technology that makes everyday life a lot easier. No matter on which surface you would like to use your Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse, it always simply works. 🙂

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse is a very compact and lightweight mouse, with a more than excellent battery life.

I think I change the two AAA batteries once per half a year with intensive daily usage. Personally is this excellent battery life a major pro for buying the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse.

Like I mentioned in the introduction it is very easy to store in a bag. When I walk around the office (from one meeting room to another) I sometimes even put the Microsoft Arco Touch Mouse in the back pocket of my jeans. It is that flat … 🙂

You can argue about the price point of €69.99, but honestly it is the best mouse I’ve ever bought and you get a lot of design- and technology for your money.

The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse furthermore has won several design prizes:

Winner of a 2011 IDEA Gold Award for design excellence;
Winner of a red dot 2011 Product Design Award and Best of the Best Award;

The Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse is the perfect notebook accessory for every road warrior.

Innovation Management with the Microsoft Project Server 2010

August 27, 2012 By Remo Knops 1 Comment

Some time ago I attended the event “Innovatie management op het Microsoft-platform” where I could experience a cool intersection of open innovation and information technology.

CXS B.V., a joint venture between Campana & Schott and Corporate Project Solutions, shared a case study at a marketleading pharmaceutical company, where they’ve build an innovation management solution build up-on Microsoft Project Server 2010.

What is open innovation ?

Let’s start with a quick look at the term innovation (and some of its context). 🙂

A formal definition of open innovation is discussed in the article “What is open innovation“. I’ve argued there that the term open innovation has innovated itself, with a more recent view on services focused innovation.

Open Innovation funnel

The open innovation funnel is a visual model that describes the inflows and outflows of knowledge. The starting point on the left is the ideation phase, with lots of different ideas and knowledge sources. These ideas travel different routes through the funnel, however the result is going to market in an actual product or service.

Keep the open innovation funnel in mind, because it will help you understand the different building blocks of the innovation management solution build by CXS B.V.

Innovation Management with Microsoft Project Server 2010

The PowerPoint slide above describes the initial situation and context of the case study. You can see the different IT system building blocks:

Idea management;
Project management;
Portfolio management;
Study management;
Financial databases.

The most interesting part for me was the connection of different IT systems (like the pieces of the puzzle) including the SAP ERP systems with financial databases.

In this PowerPoint slide you can see each of the IT system building blocks as modules in a Microsoft SharePoint environment.

The open innovation funnel has stage-gated characteristics given the different building blocks of IT systems. A highly interesting scientific paper about stage gated innovation funnels is How companies are reinventing their idea-to-launch methodologies (Cooper, 2009).

Solution Architecture

The formal system architecture is shown in the PowerPoint slide above.

First a core platform of Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server.

The second layer on top of the core platform consists of Microsoft Project Server 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010. The ability to create (custom) SharePoint workflows suits the stage gated model perfectly.

The third layer is the front-end to the end-user and consists of Microsoft Project 2010, a SharePoint Portal and a Microsoft Project Web App. Web Apps are known from Microsoft Office 2010, where the Word-, Excel-, PowerPoint- and OneNote Web Apps allow you to create documents from your browser onto your SkyDrive cloud storage (and edit them).

CS Connect – Connecting SAP ERP with Microsoft Project Server

In the first PowerPoint slide you could see the innovation management solution also consists of a connection with financial databases within SAP. Remark that a lot of large international firms use SAP technology for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

Perhaps less known is the fact that Microsoft and SAP have a strong partnership for more than 20 years with one common goal: Create customer value.

[…] close collaboration has led to the development of joint solutions, such as Duet Enterprise™, and the continued optimization of Windows™ and SQL Server™ platforms for SAP. Today, thousands of companies around the world depend on these SAP and Microsoft solutions to effectively run their businesses.”

However in the solution architecture you can see that CS Connect facilitates the integration of the Innovation Management solution based on Microosft Project Server 2010 with the (financial) databases in SAP. You can read more about CS Connect and its features in the following CS Connect Brochure.

Reporting

CXS B.V. has added extra reporting modules to Microsoft Project Server in order to provide the neccesary management tools for Project Managers and Portfolio Managers. The whitepaper Reporting with Microsoft Project Server 2010 is a must-read when you want to learn more about this aspect of Microsoft Project Server.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

It is really cool to see an innovation management solution that is based on Microsoft Project Server 2010, that supports the complete life cycle of a pharmaceutical product (from idea to realization).

According to the CSX team has this innovation management solution shortened time to market of pharmaceutical products and lowered the corresponding costs. The innovation management solution has helped to increase interaction and transparency between the different departments that each add their piece of value to the end product.

Personally I do see similarities with the open innovation funnel, so I could see scientific theory and practice coming together in a single solution. Furthermore there was a great and open discussion with the different project managers and innovation managers who visited this TechNet Masterclass and the people from CSX B.V. who actually build this innovation management solution.

Overall it was highly interesting to see an end-to-end innovation management solution build with Microsoft Project Server 2012, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and other technologies from the Microsoft Platform.

Microsoft Mixed Minds Business Course 2012

August 13, 2012 By Remo Knops Leave a Comment

After last year’s success of the Microsoft Mixed Minds Business Course 2011, I would like to inform you that it’s time again for students to challenge Microsoft Netherlands!

Are you a talented student in the final phase of your study ? Are you creative and passionate about technology and ready to challenge the status quo ? If these are descriptions that suite you will, don’t hesitate and enroll for the Mixed Minds Business Course on September 27th 2012.

[Read more…]

Microsoft, Yahoo! – Will the Search Landscape really change ??

July 31, 2009 By Remo Knops Leave a Comment

Perhaps some of your remember the acquisition propositions of Microsoft to Yahoo! earlier this year, which in the end didn’t result in Microsoft buying Yahoo!. However yesterday the news spread very fast on the web that both companies announced a long-term agreement in the Web Search segment.

“Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.”

Analysis key terms of the agreement

But even the simple term version in the summary made me think about the advantages and impact the agreement has for both Yahoo! and Microsoft. Dueto my background in and interests in technology trends I wanted to have a closer look at the key terms below:

@1. “Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;”

Remarkable is the long-term character of the agreement, especially in the fast moving and hard to predict digital era we currently live in. However the agreement might be a good strategic move, in order to continue development and expand marketshare for the Microsoft Bing decision engine.

@2. “Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.”

This key term only supports the expansion of Microsoft Bing, since it will power the search platform on Yahoo! websites. A questionmark however is if Microsoft will also have access to the Yahoo! search data, which is collectd by Yahoo! until now.

@3. “Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.”

It sounds like this key term is really aimed at combining complementary skill sets, or to reduce Microsoft’s sales force for premium search advertisers.

@4. “Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.”

Thus the agreement is only for the search-segment of both the companies, while other parts like the Instant Messaging platforms and the Web Properties, etc. will not be part of this agreement. From a Microsoft perspective, it looks like this deal is fully aimed at brining Micrsoft Bing to the next level. What intrigues me is how the close collaboration agreement will be shaped in practice? Will the Microsft Yahoo search become a separate business unit under the Microsoft Bing “umbrella” ?

@5. “Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.”

This one is very interesting, since I believe that both companies will invest in continuous development of the user experience as well as the search experience. This key term triggers a question again: What will happen to the Intellectual Property (IP) that is a result of a co-creation process, which required both parties’ knowledge to develop / or create ?

@6. “Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.

Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.

Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.”

Well here come some financials in play. Microsoft (Bing) will pay Yahoo! compensation for the market expansion which seems to be fair for both companies. The first bullet however only covers the first 5 years of the agreement, while the exclusive license agreement on Yahoo!s search technologies is bought for a period of 10 years! Honestly in the fast moving internet era, these periods seem to be long but might be the result of “slow moving giants” compared to the flexible start-up companies.

@7. “Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.”

Looking a the compensation-term of the agreement above and the fact that Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo! revenue per search, both companies but foremost Microsoft have really faith in the success of Microsoft Bing, which is more than a Google search alternative.

@8. “At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.”

Nice to write down the estimates, but which prediction and estimation models are used to calculate these numbers. What is the balance between the financial win for Microsoft and what is the financial win for Yahoo!? However I do think that this merger / acquisition can result in highe efficiency improvements by combining the best of both worlds in search and advertising. If the numbers and calculations we’re correct we will see in time.

@9. “The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.”

Consumer privacy is certainly a good point, but will this key term not slow down the companies since they seem te rely both on certain types of information for additional development of their services.

Thoughts and wrap-up

Todd Bishop -co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash- has written a series of articles on the TechFlash website about this deal from a variety of perspectives in the following highly recommended articles: “What people are saying about Microsoft’s Yahoo partnership” and “Analysts, investors react to Microsoft’s Yahoo partnership” and “Audio: Ballmer and Bartz discuss partnership, Google, and f-bombs“

“While Microsoft gets the larger market share to improve Bing’s search relevance and advertising volume, Yahoo still gets 88 percent of the revenue from ads on Yahoo search, without the R&D and operating expenses that it would normally encounter. That frees up Yahoo to concentrate on its online media business, Ballmer said.”

But how can we relate this agreement back to the failed acquisition in February this year, and what was te initial goal of the Yahoo! acquisition at that point in time ? Was it also aimed at buying the search technologies of Yahoo! in order to improve Microsoft Bing and leverage the Yahoo! network to collect data and expand in advertising as well ?

All interesting questions, which will require some additional research. However what most strikes me in this deal is the long-term character and trust both companies have in this agreement and the partnership. I would like to know when you really can measure the impact of this agreement, both in financial- and in operational and efficiency terms as well.

In the article I explicitely didn’t talk about Google -another industry giant an leader in the search segment-, but I’m also really curious on their strategic reaction as well. And:

Is the agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo! a clever move to dismantle Yahoo! piece by piece or is it a better deal for Yahoo! so they can really develop ventures in new or related industries ?
Will the two industry giants be able to be more flexible and move faster due to this agreement, like a early start-up ?
Which management challenges will the (partly) merger of Yahoo! and Microsoft (Bing) bring ?
What impact has this acquisition on the innovative power of Yahoo! and Microsoft ?
What is the impact on the business models of Yahoo! and Microsoft ?

Concluding

The current agreement betweent Microsoft and Yahoo! is a very interesting business case, of which I will follow the developments. I hope in time some questions will be answered and perhaps some new challenges will come on their path. The long-term character of the agreement and the open formulation of the key terms, makes it even more interesting to follow. Please let me know what you think of this agreement, and you might have some thoughts about the proposed questions as well.

Reference List

MWC 2009: Windows Mobile 6.5 announcement & screenshots

February 17, 2009 By Remo Knops Leave a Comment

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Steve Balmer and Andrew Lees announced Windows Mobile 6.5, together with two additional services: (1) MyPhone and (2) Windows Marketplace for Mobile. This article will focus on the main changes in Windows Mobile 6.5 and provide some background information together with screenshots.

“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.” [ref01]

The first remarkable fact is the naming: “Windows Phones”. Since a phone running the Windows Mobile platform is per definition a MOBILE device, the term Mobile is absolete. It’s al in the simplicity of the word choice: A phone running Windows. In slightly different words Clinton Fitch’s describes Balmer’s idea’s above:

“Microsoft is working on the concept that people and information are the center of your personal universe, not necessarily a phone, pc or other digital device. Accessing those people and that information is really what is key – on what you use to access them is somewhat secondary. To that end you will see with Windows Mobile 6.5 a focus on getting to the information you want to access quicker. Further, you will see more of this information being available in different locations. You can see some of that now with Live Mesh and with the introduction of My Phone, you will see this vision further develop.” [ref03]

The essence however is to connect the different platforms (PC, Cloud & Phone) and to get quicker acces to your information With this essence in mind I will guide you through the main area’s of change, and focus on the different aspects shown in the accompanied screenshots. After that I will provide a summary an some initial thoughts about the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.

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1. LOCKSCREEN

The first major area of change is the lockscreen, which is shown in the screenshots above ! Research has shown that people want to know three things on the first screen they see on a mobile device: (1) the time, (2) the next appointment, (3) the status of their phone. The latter means the notifications about missed calls, voicemails, new text messages etc. This lockscreen is shown when the device is touched or turned on. If you have enhanced security enabled on your Windows Phone, you probably need to enter the code AFTER this screen. The next appointment and the time are more or less obvious (remark the homescreen of SPB Mobile Shell and the background information I provided in the review of version 2.0). However the phone is locked and the blue box shows the total number of notifications. If you tap or click on the blue notification box, the notifications are split up per type. As an example you have a missed call, than you simple make a sliding gesture to the left or right, which results in the automated action of opening the dailer and calling the “missed call” number.

wm65_homehr_240px

2. HOMESCREEN

The second major area of change is the homescreen. I will start to lookback at (1) the sliding panels which were introduced with Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard, and (2) the interface of a Zune Player. It looks like bits of both interfaces have com together in the new Windows Mobile 6.5 homescreen design. While the sliding panels were only available on Windows Mobile Standard, this homescreen is rolled out both on Standard and Professional devices.

“The order of the items on the home screen are not movable but you will be able to add web widgets for things like weather. These widgets will automatically update so you don’t have to tap around to update them, improving the information feed to you.” [ref03]

For the readers among you who hooked up to the livestream of the keynote already saw this homescreen in action during one of the demo’s. Personally I was pleasantly surprised by the speed of the interface on the HTC Touch Pro2 device (Windows Mobile Professional). At this point in time it’s not clear to me if and how this new homescreen will interact with custom userinterfaces like TouchFLO 3D.

wm65_start_240px wm65_startmove_240px

3. START

The third main area of change, and probably the most dramatic is the honeycomb-style start menu. Let’s have a look at a current professional device where you have a folder with programs and a folder with settings. If you install third party applications some get their link in the programs folder, others in the settings folder. With the new Windows Mobile 6.5 start menu both the settings and programs are merged into one single honeycomb-style menu, which is fully customizable. The end-user can manipulate the icons where-ever he or she wants to have it in the list. If you look at the darkened sides of the screen, and not showing additional honey-combs to the left and right a user knows that he cannot scroll to the left or right (and the same applies for scrolling up in the screenshots above). The start menu isn’t a single-level list, but consists of more levels:

“If, for example, you were to tap on Settings, you would see the Settings menu in this same honeycomb layout with thinks like Bluetooth, Owner Information and so forth occupying the cells of the menu.” [ref03]

The question may remain: “Why a honey-comb and not a box or a circle ?” There are two arguments which favor for use of the honey-comb design, which came out of Microsofts Research groups. (1) The honey-comb is the optimal area to tap on with your fingerprint (not a box or a circle), in short finger-friendlyness, and (2) The honey-comb design makes it possible to pack relative a large amount of links / icons into the screenspace. The combination of these two arguments results in this easy to use, simple start menu.

wm65_browser_240px

4. BROWSER

The fourth main area of change is the browser: Internet Explorer 6 (for Mobile). This browser supports flash lite, and is optimized for finger use like you can see in the screenshot above. Cool but very functional features are the zoombar and the breadcrumb, which shows up in the corner during panning accros a webpage. Furthermore Microsoft claims that it’s possible to complete more online transactions on this mobile browser (than on any other mobile browser). Furthermore this browser is based on the (desktop version) Internet Explorer 6, and now brought to the mobile platform.

“One of the questions that many of us MVPs asked was why the version was based on IE 6 when Internet Explorer 8 is near release. The answer, which makes good sense, is that the vast majority of website were built to the IE 6 standard. This will make sure the browsing experience more robust for users.” [ref03]

myphone_device_320px

5. SERVICES

The last area of change is not directly ON the Windows Mobile platform, but consists of the services which INTERACT with the Windows Mobile 6.5 platform. Recently the Microsoft Live Mesh service was introduced, which easily connects and let you share files on the PC, in the cloud and on your phone. This only supports the fact that Microsoft will explore the service domain a little further. During the Micrsoft Mobile World Congress keynote of Steve Balmer and Andrew Lees two additional services were announced: (1) Microsoft MyPhone, and (2) Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

The MyPhone service was also shown in a demo, and if you are interested you can read more in my article about the MyPhone service. The second service Windows Marketplace wasn’t shown in a demo, nor in any screenshots, so we have to be a little patient to see more on this service.

WRAP UP & FINAL THOUGHTS

This article highlights the main changes that will come to the Windows Mobile platform in the next upcoming release called Windows Mobile 6.5. While there are changes in five main area’s I assume that Microsoft will do a lot more tweaking and finetuning under the hood, for example to increase batterylife. Overall I do think that this is a step in teh right direction, where both the Professional and the Standard platform get the same look and feel, resulting in a more unified platform. Furthermore Microsoft tries to simplify the use, and make it more easer to use (fingerfriendlyness), and for all to get quicker acces to your information. Also the addtional services are good signs, since I think that there is a bright future for services (compared to applications).

A first question might be: Is my phone compatible ?”

HTC’s Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2, announced today, will be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5. New enhanced contact integration combined with new Internet capabilities deliver a people-centric approach to mobile communication. HTC’s Touch Diamond 2 features TouchFLO 3D, a sleek and compact design with a large 3.2″ high-resolution wide-screen display, while HTC Touch Pro 2 introduces one of the best-ever mobile productivity experiences on a phone highlighted by HTC’s new Straight Talk technology, an integrated E-Mail, voice and speakerphone experience.

The LG-GM7300 is a stylish, user-friendly phone with features such as one-click E-Mail set up to help people stay connected to the information they care about most. Available first on Windows Mobile 6.1, LG will add a Windows Mobile 6.5 version to the family, complementing an expanded alliance to dramatically increase the number of LG phones running Windows.” [ref01]

A second question could be: When will it be available ?

“The new Windows phones are expected to be available in the second half of 2009.”

While during the keynote we already saw some first impressions during the demo’s. I would like to finalize by asking your opinion about the changes, the direction Windows Mobile is heading, the services and the time frame of the whole development.

Reference list:

MWC 2009: Microsoft MyPhone – A new backup & restore service for Windows Phones

February 16, 2009 By Remo Knops 4 Comments

A week ago the::unwired already published an article about Microsoft MyPhone service that went live, prior to its scheduled date. Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona during the Microsoft keynote with Steven Balmer and Andrew Lees, not only the Windows Mobile 6.5 is unveiled, but also two additional services: (1) Microsoft MyPhone, (2) Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

myphone_splash_570px Some of you might saw the demo during the MWC-keynote, but -with many thanks to Scot Rockfeld from Microsoft for providing the screenshots of this service- I will be able to focus more on some details, in the following walk-through. Microsofts strategy is aimed at providing the Windows-experience on (1) the personal computer, (2) on a mobile phone, (3) in the cloud, and provide an exhange of information among the different “platforms”. The Microsoft MyPhone service connects these platforms, resulting in synchronizing, editting and sharing of personal information.

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Currently MyPhone is offered as a free backup-service, which includes 200MB of storage. For using this service you need to install a client on your Windows Phone, and this also emphasizes that this is not an Exchange Active Sync solution for the mass market, although this might be a direction to go for the furture. However if you use a Microsoft Exchange solution now, you can use MyPhone as a complementary service because it backups your text messages, your photo’s, your video’s, your music and your documents. The Microsoft Exchange partnership has priority over the MyPhone service for managing your contacts, calender, tasks and e-mail just to be perfectly clear. For the documents backup and restore the following file-formats are supported: ppt, xls, doc, one, wks, as well as txt, rtf, pdf, html and xml.

myphone_addcontact_570px

The screenshot above shows the option “connected devices”. It is possible to connect multiple phones to this service, extremely helpful for technology enthusiasts lik we are. On the other hand the normal consumer probably just has one Windows Phone. Furthermore you can browse on your personal computer and upload a picture to the MyPhone account, and add it to a contact, restore it to a Microsoft Phone (one or more if you have connected more phones), or Archive it to the web. The last option just puts the file on your MyPhone account, while the icon clearly shows that the file isn’t on a device but in the cloudservice.

myphone_addedcontact_570px

The MyPhone service is compatible with all Windows Mobile 6.0, 6.1 devices (professional and standard) up to the today announced version 6.5. Furthermore the MyPhone service seems to work both over a cellular data connection as well as over WiFi. The MyPhone business model is currently based on advertising, in order to provide the free storage. However for the future one could also think of premium subscriptions, which offer more storage space, or even operator “branded” services. For example: “My T-Mobile Phone” or “My Vodafone Phone”.

myphone_photos_570px

The bottomline is that I’m really enthusiastic about the MyPhone service, because it can keep all my important information in the cloud. And for instance in comparison with DashWire it is a total Microsoft solution which builds upon the existing Windows platforms, Microsoft Exchange and cloud-services, resulting in a solid and robuust backup and restore solution. If you are as enthusiastic as I am, please read on over here for additional information.

Reference List: