Microsoft May Be Dropping the ''Pocket PC'' Name

An unconfirmed report indicates that Microsoft intends to drop the "Pocket PC" name at some point in the future.

Microsoft launched the Pocket PC line of handhelds in 2001. The next year, it introduced an operating system for smartphones, called, logically enough, Smartphone 2002.

The following year, these two platforms were combined under a single product name. That's how they became Windows Mobile for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile for Smartphone. There's also a third variant, with the somewhat cumbersome name Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition, that's intended for cellular-wireless handhelds.

However, if a report from Pocketinfo.nl is correct, all three of these will get a name change the next time Microsoft introduces a new version of its mobile operating system:

• Windows Mobile for Smartphone will become Windows Mobile 6 Standard
• Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition will become Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Windows Mobile for Pocket PC will become Windows Mobile 6 Classic

Microsoft is expected to release an updated version of Windows Mobile in the second half of this year, code-named Crossbow. It the Pocketinfo.nl rumor is correct, then it's likely the name changes will happen then.

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