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Microsoft is roaring into CTIA. Redmond’s grab bag of assorted announcements take in new Windows Live applications, the Windows Mobile application Marketplace (including word of that elusive Facebook app), and new themes featuring designs from haute fashionista (and Target chum) Isaac Mizrahi. The news gives Microsoft’s mobile arm a much-needed jolt of excitement to follow up on its February announcement of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Windows Live, Hotmail, Facebook

For more than a year, we’ve been wondering when Facebook and Microsoft were going to grace Windows Mobile phones with an official and native Facebook app like its free, downloadable applications for BlackBerry, iPhone, and Palm. While we weren’t able to get anything out of Facebook back then, on Tuesday, Microsoft made Facebook’s presence official. Microsoft’s Facebook application is due in April, followed by a native MySpace application set to descend sometime “in summer.”

For those who live in the moment, Microsoft has already made Windows Live for Windows Mobile available to download on platforms running version 6 of the operating system or higher. The Windows Live services suite installs mobile versions of Hotmail, Messenger, Live Contacts, Spaces, and Live Search on the phone. Those with older phones can still access Hotmail with a new beta version optimized for the Web, accessible at m.mail.live.com.

Windows Marketplace: Apps and refunds

Not to be outdone by Apple and BlackBerry, Microsoft is readying its own application storefront, dubbed Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The few details released in advance of Microsoft’s Thursday keynote showcase application developers whose apps will be featured in the mobile Marketplace. EA Mobile, Gameloft, and Hands-On Mobile are well-known game makers. AP Mobile, Accuweather, and Pandora also stand out in an otherwise obscure lineup.

Also Marketplace related, Microsoft says it will let customers buy applications two ways–through a credit card, or as an add-on to the monthly cellular bill. In addition, Microsoft will let remorseful users return unwanted applications within 24 hours of purchasing, a refund service that neither Apple nor RIM has offered so far for the iTunes App Store or forthcoming BlackBerry App World.

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Originally posted at CTIA show

The CTIA Wireless mobile phone conference this April may be much lower key in 2009, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be news.

In advance of the show, Opera Software announced on Thursday an update to Opera Mobile, its full mobile browser for Windows Mobile and Symbian phones (…

Originally posted at News - Wireless

For a few years now, video playback has been a blistering-hot topic in the mobile industry–both as a roadblock and as an achievement. We can easily count Google’s update to its straightforward …

Originally posted at The Download Blog

(Credit: RIM)

Not everyone uses iTunes‘ MP3 library. Really. BlackBerry maker RIM has acknowledged the batch of people who use Windows Media Player to organize their music with Wednesday’s release of RIM’s updated music-syncing application, BlackBerry Media Sync 2.0. The latest version of BlackBerry Media Sync will …

Originally posted at The Download Blog

Send a file to a buddy in Skype 3.0 beta.

(Credit: CNET)

Skype’s latest mobile beta for Windows Mobile phones graduated to version 3.0 on Tuesday. Skype 3.0 beta for Windows Mobile integrates two big features from the desktop version–file transferring and SMS. Both are welcome …

Originally posted at The Download Blog

(Credit: WorldMate)

On Monday, WorldMate released an update to its travel app for Nokia and Samsung S60 third and fifth edition smartphones. Called WorldMate 2009, the application refreshes the look of previous versions with a new dashboard screen that tells you the local weather and time of your current location, …

Originally posted at The Download Blog

What’s even better than getting grocery store coupons online? Getting them from your cell phone. AOL has released a version of its online coupons service, Shortcuts.com, that’s now optimized for viewing from the mobile phone.

Cellfire and Shortcuts.com want your Ralph's Club Card number….

Originally posted at The Download Blog

If you use WorldMate Live on your BlackBerry, (hint: the free version comes pre-installed on some models, like the Bold) you may notice something different. On Tuesday, WorldMate Live, a traveler’s resource that helps track itineraries, directions, local time, currency conversions, and flight status, made a tiny tweak to …

Originally posted at The Download Blog

In October, I took a look at Mozilla Fennec, the precursor to the mobile version of Firefox that is sure to make a huge splash in the mobile-browsing world, once it’s released to the salivating crowds.

The graduation of Fennec from alpha to beta 1 means that Mozilla is …

Originally posted at The Download Blog

Sony Ericsson’s MS500 is the company’s first outdoor Bluetooth speaker system.

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

They’re a far cry from the classic boombox and they don’t carry that bit of nostalgia of the good ‘ol days (shoot, am I dating myself here?), but Sony Ericsson’s new …

Originally posted at Crave