Microsoft starts rolling out IE 6 for Windows Mobile

Microsoft has made available for download emulator images for Internet Explorer (IE) 6 for Windows Mobile phones.

(Yes, that isn't a typo. Even though Microsoft is finalizing IE 8 for PCs, it's only up to IE 6 for its mobile platform.)

The new IE 6 bits were released on November 11 as part of the Windows Mobile 6.1.4 release from Microsoft's Download Center Web site. According the Windows Mobile blog, carriers should begin offering IE 6 on Windows Mobile phones "soon."

Microsoft has been touting IE 6 for Windows Mobile for months as its first "full-fledged" browser release for mobile devices. From its Web site:

"Windows Mobile 6.1.4 includes the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6, a full-featured browser for Windows Mobile devices that brings the same high-quality browsing experience to the user as desktop browsers. Internet Explorer Mobile 6 supports desktop-quality rendering and has the best compliance support of all versions of Internet Explorer on a Windows Mobile device to date. Several new features and improved support allows users to complete tasks quickly and easily."

Microsoft has been trying to shore up its mobile strategy and products as of late (even though its executives continue to claim publicly that all is well there). Microsoft shook up its mobile-management ranks over the past month. And the company is now acknowledging that it is planning to release a Windows Mobile 6.5 operating-system update to phone makers in 2009. The long-awaited Windows Mobile 7 is looking like a latter half of 2010 release, at this point.

According to the latest numbers from market watchers at Canalys, Symbian, Apple and RIM outpaced Microsoft (which delivers Windows Mobile via mobile-phone makers, not directly) in terms of Q3 mobile shipments worldwide. In the third quarter, Nokia had 47 percent worldwide smart phone market share; Apple, 17 percent; RIM 15 percent and Microsoft Windows Mobile phones, 14 percent.