Windows Mobile 6 “Crossbow” thoughts

Ever since the Windows Mobile 6 (Crossbow) rom was leaked and found its way on to the web we have had a number of questions about the likelihood of official rom upgrades being made available for HTC Universal and HTC Hermes devices.

We now know, due to the Hermes and Universal leaked roms, that Crossbow is compatible with these devices so an official ROM upgrade would be theoretically possible. However I cannot think of a time where a hardware manufacturer has actually provided an official rom upgrade to a completely new OS version, and certainly not for free.

It’s all a matter of licensing. When a device is produced and an OS rom installed a license fee must be paid to the OS manufacturer, in this case Microsoft. The license fee relates to a specific OS version and is not transferable to another OS version. For an official rom upgrade to be released I am sure that the device manufacturer or the device owner would have to pay a further license fee.

The mobile market is a little strange in many respects. People generally expect rom upgrades and mobile software to be given for free. Compare this to the PC market. When Microsoft releases Vista would you expect them to give this new OS away for free?

I’m pretty sure that we wont be seeing an official ROM upgrade path for Crossbow on existing devices. It’s a shame as I would be happy to pay for the upgrade for my TyTN!

BTW – You wont find the leaked Crossbow ROM anywhere on this site.

Matt

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