Gates gives latest Windows Mobile a push

After years of playing runner-up in the mobile phone market, Microsoft hopes it has finally found a winning entry.

The software maker is set to announce that it has wrapped up development of Windows Mobile 5.0, its latest operating system for mobile phones and handhelds.

Microsoft is hoping to boost its fortunes - and grab some market share from archrival Nokia - by creating software that can be more easily customised by device makers and wireless carriers.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said: "A lot of their requests about customisation used to take us a lot of hand work to do what they wanted. With Windows Mobile 5.0, we've taken a lot of the customisation and made it really trivial for them to do it."

In Windows Mobile 5.0, the software maker has also implemented a feature called "persistent memory storage", to resolve a key shortcoming of the OS where information was lost when a handheld or phone's battery drained completely.

Gates, who will announce the new version at a mobile developer conference in Las Vegas, noted that Microsoft has already convinced 68 carriers in more than 40 countries to offer phones using its products.

The company's mobile effort, led by former Microsoft researcher Ya-Qin Zhang, has focused for some time on an overhaul of the OS that would allow it to run on a broader array of devices. Microsoft points to a number of features it said will help in that regard, including support for software-based buttons which will make it easier to operate devices with one hand and without using a stylus.

The new version, which has been code-named Magneto, also offers features such as improved mobile versions of Word and Excel, a viewer for PowerPoint spreadsheets and a mobile version of Windows Media 10 that supports subscription music and viewing of recorded TV shows.

Scott Horn, senior director of marketing for Microsoft's mobile and embedded device unit, said: "We're increasingly hearing from our carrier partners that they want to run music and media download services."

Devices running the new operating system will begin coming to market over the next few months, Horn said. A few products, such as T-Mobile's MDA IV and Samsung's hard drive-based SGH-i300, have already been announced. Others will be announced next week, he said. Both Hewlett-Packard and Dell said they plan to let some existing customers upgrade their handhelds to run the new operating system.

Analysts report Microsoft's broader support for devices with keyboards has set the stage for a showdown targeting RIM's stranglehold of mobile email.

Stanford Group analyst, Pablo Perez-Fernandez, wrote in a report issued on Monday: "By enabling easy customisation, handset manufacturers should be able to introduce attractive BlackBerry handheld alternatives."

Ina Fried writes for CNET News.com