Microsoft unveiled Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, the most recent edition of its handheld/smartphone operating system (OS), a little over a year ago. Today, the company's Chairman & Chief Software Architect Bill Gates will deliver a keynote at Microsoft Mobile & Embedded DevCon 2005 that is expected to introduce the follow up to that platform.

Code-named Magneto, the Windows Mobile update, is now known to officially be called Windows Mobile 5.0. The software giant posted some screenshots with details about the new OS during the fall and a beta edition leaked a couple of months ago.

Here's the story so far:

The major upgrade to Windows Mobile includes Softkeys at the bottom of most application screens under the handheld edition of the platform. The purpose of these keys depends on context and the application running. According to reports, the Today screen assigns Home and Contacts to the SoftKeys, for example. As with today's Pocket PC hard keys, a user can change the functions assigned to the Softkeys.

Windows Mobile 5.0 also shifts the way memory is managed. Unlike today's Microsoft-based devices, where RAM is used to store and run software, the new platform runs all applications in RAM and stores them in ROM. This should make data safer, as ROM doesn't lose information like RAM does when a battery runs out of power.

The new OS synchronizes files using ActiveSync 4, which offers users the ability to better manage the synchronization of media files. Microsoft also addresses a major weakness of early editions of Windows Mobile, the handheld version of Microsoft Office.

So with Word Mobile you can now view tables and handheld numbered lists, while Excel Mobile can be used to generate and exhibit numerous types graphs and charts, for example. Mobile Office also (at last) gets an equivalent to PowerPoint in, you guessed it, PowerPoint Mobile to view but, unfortunately, not produce presentations. Mobile Outlook should make it easier to create e-mails among other improvements as well.

As with Mobile Office, Pocket Internet Explorer adds more features too. So users can finally, for example, view web pages with their device's full screen and handle Security Zones like their PC equivalents.

Windows Mobile 5.0 delivers many additional improvements over the ones listed here. We expect Gates will cover most these during his keynote. You can watch the keynote here. The one and half hour speech is slated to take place at 12:00 PM eastern time.

Support
Vendors are already beginning to line up to support the upgrade. For instance, Hewlett-Packard, the number one Pocket PC vendor, informed us it would support Windows Mobile 5.0 for current select iPAQ handhelds and plans to support the platform in future offerings. The company says the new OS provides simpler navigation and access to critical data, along with an enriched multimedia experience.

Upgrades to Windows Mobile 5.0 for the iPAQ hx4700, hx2100, hx2400 and hx2700 should be available this summer. The computer and printing giant is currently evaluating how much to charge for the update.

Smartphone Impact
For a long time now a number of pundits have predicted the smartphone market would eventually tighten, becoming a two-way race between Symbian and Microsoft and their licensees.

The latest such talk comes from two Gartner analysts Nick Jones and John Girard in an article in the Inquirer. Because, they assert, the upcoming Windows Mobile 2005 for Smartphones OS (codenamed Magneto) fixes all of the bugs and issues in previous editions of the platform, the competition will tighten between Symbian and Microsoft.

They go further, however.

Since it will then come down to marketing, the two analysts predict Microsoft will come out on top because it can do a better job of painting its products as ‘the’ choice for enterprises

The analysts don't think upstarts RIM or the J2ME platform will end being major factors in the end.