Windows Mobile 6.5 to get Widget Support

Windows Mobile 6.5 to get Widget Support

Techtree News Staff, Mar 21, 2009 0900 hrs IST

Official confirmation from the Windows Mobile Blog

It's been quite a while since rumors of Widget support for Windows Mobile 6.5 have been floating around.

Well, it no longer remains a rumor because we now have official confirmation from the Windows Mobile Blog, the official mouthpiece of the engineers working on the development of the OS.

A recent blog post on the blog states "Starting on 6.5, we are adding a new option for developers out there "Windows Mobile Widgets." A good way to think of a Windows Mobile Widget is as a 'portable chunk of the web' or just basically a rich internet application. Widgets are written using all the web technologies we know and love (HTML, CSS, AJAX, JavaScript) and, since they are powered under the covers by our new internet browser, they have full access to Flash and other ActiveX controls available on the device (Like MediaPlayer)."

What this means for end users is that each of the widgets will have their own separate icons, and will act like standalone applications. So those of you who are unhappy with the overall "widget" effect might have a reason to cheer. Microsoft also seems to have developed a new standard for widgets. More on that here.