Windows My Phone Service Has Shut Down
Last Updated on Monday, 8 August 2011 05:41 Written by Alan Monday, 8 August 2011 04:47
For the Windows Mobile users out there, and there is still a surprising number, yesterday marked the end of a critical service – Windows My Phone. For users of the service, if you have content still stored there it will begin migrating to Windows SkyDrive. Video, Music, and Favorites will will not be moved. Over the weekend, Microsoft sent a final warning, via email, to all users. You can read the message in full at the end of this post.
While many customers have probably moved on to Windows Phone, or migrated to Android or iPhone, corporations are always slow to adopt and many still are using Windows Mobile devices. Of course, many are still using Windows XP and IE 6 as well. What evolved as Pocket PC 2000 and later became Windows CE 5.2 before settling on the Windows Mobile moniker may still hold as much as a 5% share of the worldwide market. That’s sounds small, but it equates to millions of users.
Microsoft Email:
Dear Windows Mobile 6.x customer,
Microsoft will be discontinuing the My Phone service for Windows Mobile 6.x. Because you may be affected, please review the information below.
My Phone To Be Discontinued
On August 7, 2011, the My Phone service will stop saving content from phones to the My Phone service. If you use the My Phone service to back up the content on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone, you will be affected.
Starting on August 7, 2011, Microsoft will begin moving your My Phone content to Windows Live SkyDrive. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s free online storage service that helps you access and share your files such as photos and Microsoft Office documents. Contacts, calendar entries, text messages and photos from your My Phone account will be moved to SkyDrive for you. Once moved, you will be able to access this content by logging into SkyDrive using the Windows Live ID that you used to register for the My Phone service.
Other content types, including videos, music, documents and favourites will not be moved from My Phone to SkyDrive for you. If you want this content, you must save it from the My Phone service to your local PC.
On October 6, 2011, the My Phone website at http://www.microsoft.com/
Take Action
To learn more about the My Phone service shutdown, including information about your content moving to Windows Live SkyDrive and how to save other content to your local PC, please visit this web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/
Microsoft is committed to making this transition easy. In the meantime, we want to sincerely thank you for your use of Windows Mobile 6.x.
-The Windows Phone Team
Microsoft MyPhone Shutdown Coming August 7th
Last Updated on Saturday, 9 July 2011 06:31 Written by Alan Monday, 11 July 2011 07:00
For those few users out there who are still clinging to their Windows Mobile devices the end is getting closer. Microsoft is now sending out reminders that the their MyPhone service will be shutting down on August 7th, 2011.
For those still using the service to backup their phone’s data, this should be a wake-up call. If you have data stored with the service then it will be moved to Microsoft SkyDrive. You won’t lose data – you just won’t b able to back any more up. You will still be able to access your previously store data, such as photos, Microsoft Office documents. Contacts, calendar entries, text messages and photos.
To get the exact information you can read the email (posted below) that Microsoft is sending out to users.
Dear Windows Mobile 6.x customer:
Microsoft will be discontinuing the My Phone service for Windows Mobile 6.x. Because you may be affected, please review the information below.
My Phone To Be Discontinued
On August 7, 2011 the My Phone service will stop saving content from phones to the My Phone service. If you rely on the My Phone service to back-up the content on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone, you will be affected.
Starting on August 7, 2011, Microsoft will begin moving your My Phone content to Windows Live SkyDrive. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s free online storage service that helps you access and share your files such as photos and Microsoft Office documents. Contacts, calendar entries, text messages and photos will be moved to SkyDrive for you. Once moved, you will be able to access this content by logging into SkyDrive using the Windows Live ID that you used to register for the My Phone service.
Other content types, including videos, music, documents and favorites will not be moved from My Phone to SkyDrive for you. If you want this content, you must save it from the My Phone service to your local PC.
On October 6, 2011, the My Phone website at http://www.microsoft.com/
Take Action
To learn more about the My Phone service shut-down, including information about your content moving to Windows Live SkyDrive and how to save other content to your local PC, please visit this web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/
Microsoft is committed to making this transition easy. In the meantime, we want to sincerely thank you for your use of Windows Mobile 6.x.
-The Windows Phone Team
Windows Mobile Marketplace and MyPhone Shutting Down
Last Updated on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 05:19 Written by Alan Wednesday, 8 June 2011 05:19
Windows Mobile had a nice long run, through 6.5 versions, but the release of Windows Phone 7 last year spelled the end for Mobile. Now that inevitability has been given dates. Both the Windows Mobile Marketplace and MyPhone service will be shut down over the next couple of months. Microsoft is notifying users by email beginning today.
Here is part of the text, including dates, from the email users are receiving.
The Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site at http://marketplace.windowsphone.com will no longer be available starting on July 15, 2011. After July 15, 2011, you will no longer be able to browse, buy or download applications for Windows Mobile 6.x phones via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site.
The Windows Marketplace for Mobile service will continue to be available on your phone, however. You will continue to be able to browse, buy and download applications for Windows Mobile 6.x on your phone.
On August 7, 2011, the My Phone service will stop saving content from phones to the My Phone service. If you rely on the My Phone service to back-up the content on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone, you will be affected.
Starting on August 7, 2011, Microsoft will begin moving your My Phone content to Windows Live SkyDrive. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s free online storage service that helps you access and share your files such as photos and Microsoft Office documents. Contacts, calendar entries, text messages and photos will be moved to SkyDrive for you. Once moved, you will be able to access this content by logging into SkyDrive using the Windows Live ID that you used to register for the My Phone service.
Other content types, including videos, music, documents and favorites will not be moved from My Phone to SkyDrive for you. If you want this content, you must save it from the My Phone service to your local PC.
On October 6, 2011, the My Phone web site at http://www.microsoft.com/myphone will no longer be available. On this date, you will no longer be able to log in to the My Phone service to access your content stored to the My Phone service. Microsoft will continue to store your My Phone content for one (1) year. Physical copies of your content can be shipped to you upon request until October 5, 2012.
To get additional information on the MyPhone service shutdown, Microsoft is directing customers to the Knowledge Base article 2557520.
We knew this day would eventually come, but I expected to be a bit further off. Microsoft has a habit of supporting old technology long beyond what most people would consider reasonable. And give the number of businesses on Windows Mobile a longer run would have seemed to be a given. That said, I can’t say that many people will be sad to see this mobile OS fade into the past.
