Toshiba Australia is looking to enter the Smartphone market with a new Windows 7 TG03 series model. The move comes as telecommunication carriers and vendors like HTC, Samsung and LG face the prospect that every current model Windows Mobile along with current applications will be obsolete by September when Microsoft launches their new operating system.Toshiba believe that they will be able to take advantage of the current situation by launching a brand new phone with a new operating system and a new Generation of applications that will work on both Toshiba notebooks and netbooks as well as a new TG03 Smartphone.
Senior Optus executives told ChannelNews that Toshiba has an excellent brand name and a combination of a Toshiba Smartphone and a netbook running the new Windows 7 operating system will appeal to a lot of customers. “They are not tainted by the problems that are emerging with current model Windows Mobile phones” they said.
Last week Microsoft confirmed that their new Windows 7 series phones, expected late this year, won’t run any applications written for older versions of Microsoft’s phone software.
Rob Wilkinson the General Manager of Toshiba Australia Information Systems Division said “Toshiba Australia is seriously looking at what opportunities are out there for us in the Smartphone market. We are talking to retailers and carriers. I have a model in my draw and we will make a decision shortly”.
Late last week according to AP, Microsoft executive Charlie Kindel, who handles contact with outside software developers, said that jettisoning support for older applications was necessary to make the new operating system as powerful and user-friendly as possible.
The announcement is set to hurt several organisations in Australia who have developed their own software to run on Windows phones.
Currently several carriers and retailers are offering Windows Mobile phones for sale. According to Microsoft these models including the recently launched HTC HD2 model will not be able to be upgraded to the new Windows 7 Series operating system.
All of the current Telstra applications found on the HD2 will have to be rewritten in time for the launch, of the new Microsoft OS say Microsoft executives.
