WinMo 6.5 to Become WinPho Starter Edition - The UpStream

We've been calling Windows Mobile WinMo for ages, and so has everyone else. But ever since MWC and the announcement of Windows Phone 7 Series we haven't heard anyone mention Windows Phone as WinPho. So we did. And we are copyrighting it in text right here. So Microsoft, start payin' to use that, buddy. Anyway, we learned this week that WinMo 6.5, the new operating system coming to several phones in the upcoming months will be renamed to Windows Phone Starter Edition, mainly due to Microsoft's everlasting rule of launching a product and naming it something else without changing anything but the wrapper.

Zdnet got a hold of a Windows Mobile spokesperson who said something interesting when asked about the difference between WinMo 6.5 and if WinPho Starter Edition will be a stripped-down version.

The Windows Phone 6 Starter Edition SKU is offered in multi-language versions with and without Microsoft Office Mobile and supports 2G (GSM), 2.5G (CDMA2000 xRTT, EDGE, GPRS), CDMA (Rev A, EV-DO Revision A), and TD-SCDMA radios.

So the text doesn't really state if it will be a stripped-down version, which only leads us to believe this is a name change with a possible few add-ons for devices with the OS already installed and labeled as WinMo 6.5.

Some blogs are reporting that this will be an "emerging-market only" SKU, similar to how there is a Windows 7 Starter Edition that is released in countries developing a technology market, but we here at PLuGHiTz Live! beg to differ. Almost all of the netbooks out there currently have Windows 7 Starter Edition as their operating system here in the United States, it's just a less intensive OS. So we think WinPho Starter Edition will be no different - a less hearty operating system on devices with a current-state processor of around 1GHz.

Of course, this is all speculation, but we wanted to clear the air and quell the rumors. Some bloggers are crazy and like to make things up without putting "RUMOR" in front of it or making fun siren noises. We're not like that.

One thing we did catch out of the answer from the spokesperson is that they left out HSDPA3G, but included EV-DO. What does this mean? Maybe they are also getting involved in emerging markets like Windows 7 Starter, but not exclusively for this OS. Of course, again, this is all speculation. I'm sure we'll have more details in the coming months. Microsoft usually sticks to their guns about most news they want to keep under wraps but give minor details about, so we'll keep you posted as more information comes to surface.