Maybe we will have 6.5 sooner.
A MOBILE phone loaded with top-secret Microsoft software given to Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has apparently been stolen by a Barcelona pickpocket.
The yet-to-be-released software was on a yet-to-be-released phone given to Mr Trujillo in Spain this week at the World Mobile Congress.
The theft has left Telstra and Mr Trujillo embarr***** and Microsoft facing an industrial espionage threat.
The phone is believed to be either a HTC Touch Pro2 or the HTC Touch Diamond2 that operates on new Windows Mobile 6.5 software.
A Telstra spokesman yesterday confirmed the phone was given to Mr Trujillo but was in the possession of a senior Telstra executive when the theft occurred.
“The phone was not in Mr Trujillo’s possession at the time. It was being held by a senior Telstra executive,” he said.
The Daily Telegraph understands the phone was with one of two senior executives with Mr Trujillo on the Barcelona trip but Telstra would not reveal the name of the executive last night.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the software at the Congress this week. Details of how the software works are so hush-hush that journalists at the launch were not even allowed to touch the HTC phone. The phone will hit US shelves by June, but the software is not due for release until the end of the year.
It's understood that Mr Trujillo was "dog-fooding" - geek-speak for product-testing - the software for Mr Ballmer. Dog-fooding aims to identify bugs before software hits the market.
"What if news of those bugs is released early before a final version goes on sale. Those sorts of things could affect the shares of Microsoft," industrial espionage expert Les Goldsmith said.
The Windows software on the stolen phone gives users one-touch access to their favourite songs from their music library, their latest mail or their favourite social networking applications.
It also runs Internet Explorer 6 in full fidelity.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001021,00.html