Akihabara News, a Japanese technology site, has begun posting a series of videos capturing a lengthy interview they conducted with John Starkweather, Microsoft's International Director of Product Management for Mobile and Embedded Devices. The interview is focused mostly on Windows Mobile, and according to Akihabara News, there is a lot of really interesting and even forward-looking information to be found throughout! Some of the topics covered in the first 16-minute video segment include the history of Windows Mobile, the HTC Diamond, and the Samsung Omnia.

Check it out!

Excellent interview so far BUT!!! The device John could not talk about yet!!!! For sure it was a Samsung device....that much I know! looked somewhat like the BJ II....and he couldnt talk about it yet!!! QUOTE: It is running a future version of WM....very interesting!!!!

I finally got a chance to review this video again, and I noticed one piece of information John shared that I thought was extremely interesting:

He said that in developing future versions of Windows Mobile - whatever and whenever they may be - Microsoft is focusing on data they've gathered showing that if people have to click more than twice to accomplish something, their "success rate," as John puts it, plummets dramatically to below 50%.

This is why, he explains, Windows Mobile 6.1 puts so much information and one-click functions right on the homescreen. And, he revealed that the WM 6.1 Standard "sliding panel" interface was actually "slipstreamed" into the .1 update, meaning that the interface improvements were and are part of ongoing, parallel development and happened to be ready in time for the new OS, which was really focused more on "under-the-hood" improvements than anything else.

Part 2 is available now click here

John mentioned a few things in the new version of WM -  that there will be no difference between touch screen and non-touch screen and that it is a dramatic upgrade....something about from the kernel on up....based on CE 6 I think...