Spurred on by Apple’s pursuit of the wireless mass market, Microsoft is redoubling efforts to court mobile-phone consumers. Despite long-standing attempts to widen the appeal of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, the operating system for cell phones is popular mainly with business users looking for a way to view documents, spreadsheets, and corporate e-mail on a handheld device.

Luring the less-business-minded has taken on added urgency in light of Apple’s success with the iPhone, introduced in June, 2007. “We’ve always been going in that direction, but we feel it’s instance to move in more aggressively now,” says Scott Horn, general manager of Microsoft’s mobile communications business, though he denies the push has to do with Apple. In 2007, the Windows Mobile share of the U.S. smartphone market slipped to 28 percent, from 30 percent, reflecting inroads by the iPhone, which uses Apple’s OS X operating system, according to researchers at IDC.

While Windows Mobile has gained global share and

nearly doubled shipments, to 11 million units, in 2007, Apple has made remarkable gains too, selling 4 million iPhones in less than half a year on the market. “Apple has gotten more attention in the first six months than Microsoft has gotten in the first five years,” says Richard Doherty, director at consultancy Envisioneering Group.

Focus on Mobile Browsing

To manufacture Windows Mobile more appealing to the masses, Microsoft is trying to improve its Web browsing capabilities. On Mar. 17, Microsoft announced it has licensed Adobe Flash Lite, which will let Windows Mobile users view undoubtful Web sites, such as e-commerce and video game pages with animations. Microsoft has additionally licensed another piece of Adobe software that makes it easier to view e-mail attachments, and it’s working on a mobile version of its own Silverlight cipher, designed to enhance the appearance of mobile Web sites.

The company is…

Orginal post by Top Tech News