Windows Phone Italy

Here we go again: our columnist Bambi Blue has not yet solved here schedule problems so this week I'm bound to be back as your temporary host on the I ♥ WinMo weekly column in English!

This week's hot topics include the presumed new SkyBox, SkyLine and SkyMarket mobile services from Microsoft,  Windows Mobile 6.5 Beta allegedly spotted in the wild, the new Windows Vista-based Sony VAIO P netbook, a real treat for the tech addicts, and the all new HTC Touch Cruise with HTC Footprints.

Pretty much has been already said (also by ourselves) about the 3 new mobile services by Microsoft, said to be announced next month at MWC 2009 in Barcelona. SkyBox and SkyLine are said to be respectively the consumer-oriented and the business oriented of the same Azure-based platform for file, e-mail, contacts, SMS sharing over the web (something similar to the well known MobileMe by Apple).

SkyMarket instead will be kind of of the long awaited "Microsoft's version for Windows Mobile of the iPhone App Store", meaning an online catalogue collecting the majority of the applications available for the WinMo platform, possibly those certified by Microsoft.

Around the web much fuss was caused by a recently surfaced YouTube video showing an old Qtek 9090 ("HTC Blue Angel") running on what appears like a Beta version of Windows Mobile 6.5. While a related post on xda-developers dates back to September 2008, nothing is really known about it, although it won't be long before the new platform is officially unveiled. [Thanks Paul O'Brien for the tip!]

Last but not least, directly from CES, here's Sony's first netbook ever. The Sony VAIO P series ("p" stands for "portable") is an expensive marvel, causing most of the Consumer Electronics Show to drool in front of it. It sports a 8" widescreen display, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth and, only in select models, 7.2 Mbps 3G HSDPA, a 60 GB hard disk or a 128 GB SSD.

If you want to drool as well you can check Akihabara News's photo gallery, featuring my friend Alex trying to fit a VAIO P70 in his back pocket. Oh my, that guy just has all the luck! Alex, how about lending me one of your gadgets?