Microsoft has been touting its Fone+ project for a little while now, but it looks like the company is starting to step up its efforts a bit further, with the new head of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group, Craig Mundie, reportedly leading the charge to increase the focus on the project aimed at bringing cellphones to the poor. This isn't a case of simply handing out as many barebones handsets as possible, however. Instead, Microsoft wants to use the cellphones (which are described as a "low-to-mid-end smartphone") as an alternative to computers like the OLPC, an idea the company has been tossing around since before the Fone+ project even had a name. To make things a bit more practical, the cellphones would be paired with a dock that hooks up to TV, resulting in a system that Mundie says is "a lot cheaper than having to buy a whole separate computer." Unfortunately, while it is upping its efforts, Microsoft apparently still isn't ready to provide any sort of timeline about when we can expect to see an actual product, and Mundie adds that the company continues to "explore and look at both phone-up models and PC-down models" to make computing more accessible to the poor.

[Via Phone Scoop

Microsoft's just announced that its $500M buyout of Sidekick maker Danger is complete, and that it's rolling the new team into its own unit, the Premium Mobile Experiences division. Ready to follow the chain of corporate command? PMX is under the Mobile Communications Business unit at MS, which itself falls under the Entertainment and Devices Division responsible for the Xbox and Zune. Got all that? Good. Danger's management team won't be directly calling the shots at PMX, though -- they'll be reporting to Roz Ho, who you might remember as the former head of the Mac Business Unit. Ho says the goal of PMX is to have people "smile every time they look at their phone," which hopefully means we'll be seeing a lot more Danger influence on Windows Mobile than the other way around. Still, "Premium Mobile Experiences" is an interesting choice of name, especially in the same division as the 360 and Zune -- dare we dream of a Microsoft-branded consumer phone?

[Via MocoNews]

So what you see here is exactly what AT&T and Microsoft will be deploying to a handful of stores on April 17 -- 12 stores in four cities, to be exact -- and we have to admit, this appears to be a pretty flawless execution of the Surface's user interface concepts and a great business model for the 30 inch, multitouch monster to undertake. Being able to throw down a phone or two and get specs, review plans, and compare features is simply jaw-droppingly cool, though what really got us was another feature that AT&T has apparently been tossing around as a future possibility: device-to-device transfer. The idea is that a customer would walk in to purchase a new phone, place both phones on the surface, and contacts, photos, music, and so on stored on the old handset would appear on the Surface, where they could be selectively dragged to the new one or discarded. Even better, you have the exciting opportunity to pick up the last user's norovirus as you run your hand along the thing. One suggestion, AT&T: keep some bleach handy. Please. For our sake. Follow the break for the video!

No, Microsoft hasn't suddenly transformed its 30-inch, multi-touch Surface into a big-ass cellphone. It has, however, chosen AT&T to launch the world's first Surface into retail. Shoppers in New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco will be treated to what amounts to the novelty (at least initially) of learning about a device (Samsung BlackJack II, pictured) by simply placing it atop the Surface. They'll also have the ability to explore interactive coverage maps. Later, users will be able to drag ringtones, graphics and video and drop it into "the phones." Note their use of "the" and not "your" phone in the press release. Nevertheless, we're happy to see Microsoft get the technology out the door on its long march towards consumerdom.

Update: Interestingly enough, AT&T's flagship iPhone will not be one of the first phones demonstrated on Surface. Perhaps AT&T / Microsoft worry that the multi-touch collision would create strangelets.

Looking to get back to flexing its mobile browsing muscle in the esteemed company of heavy-hitting players like Opera, S60, and the iPhone, Microsoft has announced a new version of Internet Explorer Mobile that promises a "desktop-grade" browsing experience on Windows Mobile-powered handsets. Central to the new version's power is its support for the trifecta of H.264 video, Flash (ahh, so that's why they licensed it!), and Microsoft's own Silverlight, giving a significant fraction of media-heavy sites a fighting chance of running normally on the small screen. It'll all be available to Windows Mobile licensees starting in the third quarter of this year, with the first devices expected at retail before the year's out -- just in time to do some serious battle with Firefox.

Though it's been circulating through the user community (and a Sony Ericsson lab or two) for a little while now, Windows Mobile 6.1 had never gotten officially official in its own right -- until now. Microsoft has taken the wraps off the latest rendition of its mobile platform at CTIA today, a small step on the path to Windows Mobile 7 that'll provide Microsoft-based smartphones with a breath of fresh air starting later this year. The changes are expectedly minor as 0.1 releases tend to be, offering a new Getting Started Center to ease the process of setting up a new device, home screen tweaks, and -- finally -- true, native threaded SMS.

Additionally, Microsoft has announced that a phalanx of carriers and manufacturers have thrown their support behind upgrading devices that are already in the marketplace, which is exactly what we were hoping to hear. Everything from the Pantech Duo, to the AT&T Tilt, to the Sprint Mogul is getting 6.1 love beginning this quarter of the year -- though exact dates haven't been announced. Follow the break for the full list of devices on the upgrade list or have a peep at our 6.1 gallery below!

The rumors that Windows Mobile 6.1 is going to make its long-awaited official debut next week are flying fast and furious, but if you can't stand the wait, it looks like Boy Genius has managed to score yet another Moto Q9 running the update and he's posted up some deets and a bunch of screenshots. There's nothing too earth-shattering in this latest rev, but there are some minor tweaks from what we've seen before: AT&T's Video Share is now supported, as is TV out, the camera UI and home screen have been refined, there's a new Albums feature in the media player, and photos and videos can now be uploaded to your Windows Live account. Right, nothing major, but that's fine -- the smaller the changes, the sooner the ship date, right? Hit up the read link for tons more shots.

Mom-and-pop shops and giant corporations are clearly still trying to wrap their heads around the iPhone SDK, probe its capabilities and limitations, and figure out just what kinds of apps to bring to the table, and Microsoft is no exception. The company maintains a fairly active Mac development division -- a bit of a redheaded stepchild for the company, but a profitable one at that -- so it totally makes sense that they'd want to bring the iPhone into the fold from that angle. Indeed, the head of Microsoft's Specialized Devices and Applications Group (of which the Mac fiends are a part) have assigned a small handful of engineers to figuring out how, if at all, they can add value to Apple's talkabout; some sort of Office extension is an obvious one, but recent acquisition TellMe is also looking into whether it can shoehorn any voice recognition goodies on there as well. The strange bit, of course, is that this flies in the face of Microsoft's own Windows Mobile, which itself could use all the engineering help it can get to roll out its long-promised killer revamp as quickly as possible; then again, Office Mac is itself an affront to Windows, so maybe it's business as usual in Redmond.

[Via iLounge]

Well, that's not much of a vote of confidence for Microsoft's own products, now is it? Despite the fact that Silverlight for Mobile development is well underway, Windows Mobile's patron saint has decided to license Adobe's Flash Lite and Reader LE packages directly and make them available to WinMo licensees straight from the mothership. Though Adobe's press release says that availability on specific devices will be "confirmed later," we imagine that it'll be a no-brainer for virtually every ODM to sign right up to offer the goods -- just ask any Nokia N95 8GB owner how cool the in-browser Flash support is.

[Via Mobility Site]

Ironically, Nokia was totally on the ball in announcing that Microsoft's Silverlight rich internet development platform would be coming to its own devices -- but naturally, there are plans in the works to bring it to Windows Mobile, too. Silverlight 1.0 for Mobile (as it's being called) will be available to developers in the second quarter of the year, putting it roughly on the same timeline that Nokia has settled on for the S60 version of the browser plugin. Unfortunately, the first version will only support Silverlight 1.0, despite the fact that 2.0 has already been released for PCs; then again, Flash Lite has historically been at odds with Flash proper, so we suppose it's business as usual.

[Via the::unwired and Windows For Devices]

Microsoft is expected to shore-up its much maligned Internet Explorer Mobile browser this morning by announcing new Flash Lite support. We have no idea when the new plug-in technology (including Reader LE for PDFs) might make it into Windows Mobile. Nevertheless, with the far superior Skyfire and Opera Mobile 9.5 mobile browsers already supporting Flash Lite, and Microsoft's own competing Silverlight not expected to go mobile until the end of the year, it can't be long now can it?

It's always interesting to hear execs chime in on the competition following big announcements. So it's no surprise to hear that Steve Ballmer was peppered with questions about the iPhone during yesterday's Mix '08 event with Guy Kawasaki. When asked about Silverlight -- Microsoft's attempt at usurping Adobe's Flash -- on the Flash-less iPhone, Ballmer said, "Silverlight for the iPhone is of course interesting," adding, "I can't say there's been extensive discussion with Guy's old boss." He also wondered aloud about Apple possibly digging too deeply into developers pockets with its 30% share of application revenue. Ballmer said, "it's a good business if you can make it." A jab at Jobs' claim that Apple doesn't plan to make any money off the App Store. The highlight though came with Ballmer's compliance to recreate his Monkey Boy Dance for Web Developers. Bill, we're going to miss you.

[Thanks, Bryant]

Read -- Q&A on iPhone
Read -- Monkey Boy dance, take 2

Adobe's Flash -- Silverlight's sworn enemy -- is already well-entrenched on a number of devices (including Nokia's) in its Lite incarnation, so it'll be interesting to see just how far Microsoft can really take this beyond its own Windows Mobile territory. Nabbing Nokia is certainly a big win to that end, and even crazier, Nokia has announced that it'll be bringing Silverlight not just to S60 devices, but also to its extremely capable Series 40 dumbphone platform and to Maemo. S60 development is already well underway with an early cut to be shown off at MIX08 this week and developer tools in the pipe for later this year; timelines Series 40 and internet tablet versions, meanwhile, will be "confirmed later."

So it looks like Pieter Knook, SVP of Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business, is out, according to the WSJ. We're not entirely sure why he's retiring (when we met him last year he seemed sprightly enough), but he'll be replaced by Andrew Lees, VP of Server & Tools Marketing and Solutions Group, a man that's spent the last decade on MSDN and TechNet stuff. So, you know, the guy clearly knows the mobile space inside and out. The move comes just in time, too -- what Windows Mobile really needs right now is somebody to come in and make it more business-centric.