BANGALORE, INDIA: As we see a big surge in mobile industry, the growth of mobile operating system is also on a rise. Now mobile phones are no longer used as a device to talk but also for doing many applications.

To offer more features and applications to mobile phones users, Microsoft recently launched Windows Mobile 6.5, a mobile operating system that facilitates standard phone applications such has calling, messaging and online surfing.

In an interaction with Abhigna N G of CIOL, Sumeet Gugnani, director, Windows Mobile India, talked about the new features of Windows new mobile operating system and the kind of opportunity Windows Marketplace for Mobile offers to developer community.

He also talked about how developers can monetize by building applications for Windows mobile and the adoption of Windows 6.5 by Indian developer community. Excerpts:

CIOL: Could you throw light on the latest features, which are available in Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system?

Sumeet Gugnani: Windows Mobile 6.5, the next-generation Windows phones, deliver on several key innovation areas including a new user experience with improved touch, a powerful mobile browser, and a new generation of mobile Web services built into the platform. 

Some key features include:

* A new home screen with customizable widgets that display glanceable updates, such as news, weather, traffic and more, from your favorite Web services.

* An improved user interface focused on finger touch and the ability to cut through clutter to accomplish what you want.

* Internet Explorer Mobile, a powerful new browser with an updated user interface that exceeds other mobile browsers in the ability to complete activities.

* My Phone, a free service, which provides Web sync of valuable data from the phone, like pictures, video and texts, to a Web portal for safe keeping and sharing.

* Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a new, rich application marketplace available on first-generation Windows phones which allows people to easily find, install and experience those applications that fit their needs and make the phone truly personal.

The Windows phones will also feature two new services: My Phone, to sync text messages, photos, video, contacts and more to the Web; and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a new marketplace that will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications and can be accessed from both the phone and the Web.

CIOL: How does your new service, 'My Phone' help user to access, manage and back-up personal and professional information onto the device to a password-protected Web-based service?

SG: With automatic syncing and back-up capabilities for all contacts, appointments, text messages and other information, My Phone keeps all things up-to-date and easily restores them should you lose or upgrade your phone.

You will also be able to automatically upload photos and video from your Windows phone directly to My Phone service, making it simple to preserve content that, in the past, would have lived and died on the phone.

You also have the option of automatic data back-up available within My Phone application. You can enable automatic back-up of your phone content by going to your Windows Mobile 6.5 Menu -> Schedule and then set the frequency and the time of the day you would like the service to back-up your data, say, for example, you chose daily at 4 a.m. Once you chose the frequency and time of the day your phone data will automatically start syncing to the cloud.