Great news! We are now live with our new and updated Windows Live services for mobile. Go to http://mobile.live.com from your mobile phone’s web browser and check it out. There are a lot of new features and services that weren’t even available for our beta users. We’re really excited about these new mobile experiences!
The new and updated mobile web services include Windows Live Home, Photos, Profile, People, and Spaces. These complement our existing mobile services, like Hotmail and Messenger. (An update to Hotmail for mobile web is on its way in the coming months – check this blog for more mobile news as it becomes available). With this release, we are extending even more of Windows Live to mobile devices, but with a mobile twist. To get started, all you need is a phone with a browser and a data plan. Using these services doesn’t require a download – all you do is go to the new Windows Live website at http://mobile.live.com.
There are actually two versions of http://mobile.live.com – one for your computer, and one for your mobile device. If you’re on your computer, go to http://mobile.live.com to learn about what you can do with Windows Live on your mobile device, and to set up mobile SMS services, such as alerts. Or, on your phone’s web browser, go to the same web address, http://mobile.live.com, and you can simply start using the new Windows Live services for mobile.
Let’s look at the different services in detail…
Windows Live Home for mobile
Windows Live Home for mobile is designed as the hub of your mobile Windows Live experience. It allows you to quickly update your personal message, and provides an overview of what’s new with people in your network.
Here are some other key things you can do here:
- View and update your personal message. Any changes you make here will, of course, be reflected across all other Windows Live services, both PC and mobile.
- See notifications of unread e-mail and pending network invitations, with one-click access to act upon them.
- Browse your “What’s new” list to see what your friends are up to, both within Windows Live and on other online networks, such as Twitter. Click a link to get more details.
- Get to all the different Windows Live mobile services.
Windows Live Photos for mobile
Photos for mobile extends the Windows Live Photos experience to your mobile device, so now you can view, share and upload photos from your mobile phone. This means you can take a picture with your phone’s camera, upload it to Windows Live from your phone, share it with your friends (if you want to), and then view it online from either a PC or a phone.
With Windows Live Photos for mobile you can:
- Browse your own photos and photos from people in your network. You can also view thumbnails of all the photos within an album, and get a larger view of a photo when you click a thumbnail.
- View other people’s comments on photos or post your own comments.
- Get an overview of what new photos or comments have been added by the people you know through the “What’s new” list, which, in Photos, is filtered to show only photo-related activity.
- Upload new photos, directly from your phone’s browser (this feature works great on many phones, but unfortunately not all mobile phones support this).
Windows Live People for mobile
People for mobile gives you easy access to all your Windows Live contacts from your mobile phone. This new service includes the ability to search through your Windows Live contacts, and easily get to their profile pages to see more details. You can also initiate a phone call or an e-mail from here.
Windows Live Profile for mobile
Profile for mobile is the place to share personal information with the people you know, just as you do on the Windows Live website on your PC. On the profile page of someone in your network you’ll usually find their contact and personal information (depending on what they’ve shared with you), as well as updates on what they’ve been doing lately. And of course, all your settings for what information you share with which contacts carries over from your PC to mobile.
With Windows Live Profile for mobile you can:
- View detailed contact and personal information, if it is shared with you.
- Get an overview of what’s new with a particular person.
- Quickly link to to other content related to the person whose profile you are viewing, such as their photos, spaces, etc.
- Invite friends to join your network, and view and reply to invitations from others.
Windows Live Spaces for mobile
For those of you who already use Spaces on your mobile phone, you’ll notice that we refreshed it a bit for this release. We updated the design to match the other new mobile services, and some adjustments to make it work well with the new Photos and Profile services.
Windows Live Mobile website
(on your computer)
The Windows Live Mobile website, which you can browse to from your computer at http://mobile.live.com, is a great place to learn more about all the great mobile services. In addition, you can:
- Get a preview of what the mobile experience looks like for you.
- Attach your phone number to your Windows Live ID, so you can start using Windows Live SMS services.
And with that, we’ll sign off for now. Please visit http://mobile.live.com on your computer to learn more about these services, or go to the same web address from your phone’s browser to try them out for yourself. We hope you enjoy using Windows Live on your mobile phone, and look forward to hearing your feedback!
Thanks,
— Keith Senzel and Martin Krupicka, Windows Live Mobile team
P.S. Stay tuned for more new Windows Live SMS services, coming in the first half of 2009.
Windows Live team blog archive 
Great, I\’ll check it out now. Thanks guys for all the hard work!
Thats nice….but, Id really like that you issued all the problems and complaints first on the live services.
I really think you all did a fabolous job making the Windows Live Page and Windows Live Mobile match together. What you do on the computer you can do on the phone. There is just one problem and I am kinda curious…why is Windows Live Messenger and Calendar left out of this loop again? for example..in the people (contacts) section the little square dot next to the person name should turn green letting us know they are on messenger. With the option of calling, emailing,..messenging should be included in that choice if the contact is on your messenger list. This is the second time Windows Live Messenger has been left out. It wasn\’t even part of the download mobile software. The calendar is always forgotten about. Hopefully you all will consider these two options when upgrading the software. Overall good job on the mobile part.
It looked surprisingly good on my BlackBerry Bold browser! All links seem to work fine.
I\’ve been using Windows Live Mobile for a few days and really like it. My one request is that you focus some attention on the problem of Live Messenger logging us off our desktop accounts, The Beta version of Messenger 9 supports MPP, unfortunately your mobile Messenger doesn\’t support it. Skype has had this multiple points of presence support on their desktop and mobile client for years. It\’s time Microsoft catches up in this area. …. otherways I love all the other Live Mobile services.Cheers!
Great release everyone! I\’ve been using it for a few days now without a hitch! Having all the same services available on my phone wherever I go is just brilliant! While I have a Windows Mobile phone synch\’d to my Windows Live account…for all my friends who don\’t…the ability to call a conact via the mobile interface is a terrific addition!I have noticed that we don\’t have the ability to see/post/delete notes on profiles. I\’d like to see this added.
Great,Thanks . for all the hard work
Ho my! that\’s really great on my iPhone, good job dudes!
This looks interesting and by the preview from mobile.live.com I can say you guys have done a great job! Keep going…..
It would be great if you guys support all mobile providers like Airtel and Idea in India ……..
Looks good. Hopefully you guys can hurry up with the final updates for Hotmail, both or desktop and for mobile.
hi
Why is the calender sync an sms service and not just an internet sync service? I mean at the moment we can all sync our e-mail and contacts with windows live mobile client. Now the online live calender is almost useless for me cause I cant sync over the internet.
Request: I think what\’s left is updating Hotmail Mobile. It doesn\’t match the other updated Windows Live pages. Even though it is completely functional, but I am sure many of us would like to see that page updated to match the other interfaces.P.S: It\’s nice to see a lot more positive comments than usual 🙂
Great job! I think it\’s working fine on mobile devices. But I have a windows mobile 6 smartphone and the real valor for me on live service is on client applications like messenger, mail, contacts and calendar.Are you planing to support client applications for windows mobile phones and live calendar/contacts sync side-by-side with outlook? Congrats for the hard work!
Good job. *But* it doesn\’t work at all on newer Windows Mobile 6.1 phones (The new HTC/Sony devices that run Opera Mobile as their browser – such as Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and Touch HD, and Xperia 1). Instead it takes you to the Windows Live Mobile Info page, and not to the home page. Works fine with pocket Internet Explorer, but not in Opera.
Now, can we have Live Calendar sync with the calendar app in Windows Mobile already? or will that not be ready until WM7?
Except hotmail mobile everything is excellent..you should start supporting html in mails,since most of the mail today is html one…pls do that soon..can anybody suggest how to view desktop hotmail in mobile?
Very good but three requests:When SMS services are released please make them available to as many countries as possible and also allow us to be able to send SMS messages to our Messenger contacts regardless of their country. If we have to pay for that please provide a cheap package we can purchase so that we could send SMS to any country through Messenger. And make it so that we can enter any mobile number and not only send to an existing contact.Secondly, make the Nokia applications available for download like the Windows Mobile and Blackbury ones are now. Currently, to get the Nokia applications you have to ask you mobile provider. Please put them on your website for direct download. Are you building iPhone apps as well?Thirdly, make a voice search app for other phones instead of only for Windows Mobile and make it available for download. Or, if it is already available, say for Nokia or the iPhone, point us to it.
Please do include the Philippines in the list of countries. Thanks!
Blimey … you mean something about this new Live, actually works as intended!!
when we can download windows live essentials RC??
Product naming continues to confuse me. When I saw "Windows Live for mobile is here!" I expected that to mean that the downloadable Windows Mobile software that interfaces with Windows Live services was released. Instead, it\’s just the mobile-optimized webpages, right?Microsoft, please fix this nasty product naming.
I have tried "attaching" my mobile phone number to my Windows Live ID numerous times with no success. I never recieve the confirmation code on my mobile. I have emailed back and forth with Window Live Support, and it\’s been a nightmare. They keep sending me the exact same steps over and over again, and I keep replying that I\’m following the steps but not getting the confirmation number on my mobile. My ticket was "escalated" to an SME, and I kid you not, the "SME" emailed me the same steps to follow … type in your number, click next, etc.I have tried my phone and my wife\’s phone and neither of us get the confirmation number sent (I\’ve waited hours). I checked with ATT and no text messages are being blocked. I\’ve also tried to manually change my details when signing up by changing it to "other" and typing in my mobile\’s SMS email address. Still nothing.
All of this offers only confuse you, and none of them works propertly. I sing up for Windows Live Mobile, and all I recieved is just mail alerts which I can\’t see the contest, and for some reason block my messenger log in. I\’m traying to discontinued, but I can\’t find the way how to do it.
Looks good- but, works fine with Internet Explorer Mobile, but does not work with Opera Mobile 9.5 (default browser on many new windows mobile devices)… let\’s get that working and keep up the good work guys!
It\’s good to have it on the way. I liked the preview section which is available for the computer. feels good!
Wonderful job! I wish the themes would look better, ability to add and synchronize with a Calendar client, better rendering for Opera 9.5 and other mobile browser (then again, it wouldn\’t hurt Microsoft to make a much better mobile browser…). Keep up the good work.
How about an update to your Windows Live Mobile Messenger??With the features below added to it… Windows Live Mobile Messenger Standalone App1. Support for not signing off when exiting/closing the program (Run in background)2. Voice Streaming* (*Data Usage will be large must have a data package)3. Video Streaming* (*Data Usage will be large must have a data package)4. Be signed on same account on computer without signing out of mobile and/or PC/Mac
First and foremost, I want to thank you all for the good feedback and input for how we can make our mobile services better. It is also great to hear that many of you like the new Windows Live for mobile web services.I would like to follow-up on some specific questions that have been posted:- Opera browsers: We are investigating the issue why the services don’t work well on some devices with Opera browsers, and we will be looking at options to solve this.- What’s included in this release: What we just released is a suite of new and updated Windows Live mobile web services. It doesn’t include any new downloadable mobile applications at this time. – Hotmail for mobile: Thanks for your feedback on what features you would like to see in mobile Hotmail. As we mentioned in the original post, we will release an update to mobile web Hotmail in the coming months. Stay tuned.- SMS service availability and price: We are always trying to make our SMS services affordable to our users, which sometimes unfortunately mean that we have to trade-off how quickly we can make them available in some markets.- Windows Live application for Windows Mobile devices: The Windows Live for Windows Mobile application is available to download directly from your Windows Mobile device. From your mobile phone, go to http://wl.windowsmobile.com, and click to download.- Windows Live application for Nokia devices: The Windows Live for Nokia application is available for download for supported Nokia Series 60 devices. You should find the application in the download folder on your Nokia phone if it is supported, or you can also find it at http://www.nokia.com/windowslive, where you can also learn about supported devices and availability.- Windows Live application for Blackberry devices: Instructions for how to get Windows Live Hotmail and Messenger on your Blackberry can be found at http://www.blackberry.com/windowsliveI hope you find this information helpful. Again, we really appreciate all your good comments and feedback. – Martin Krupicka, Windows Live Mobile team
Where is the NEW cab for WM phones???!! I do NOT want to use IE to get to the new Live services!! I want access from a locally installed app!!!!!!!! Come on Microsoft UPDATE your software!
@Martin: Thanks Martin for your answer. I am glad to hear that mobile Hotmail is getting an update in the coming months
people don\’t listen. the older versin was alot better. had what i needed and was easy to use.this version has 95 percent what i do not need or use.please let us have the choice.
@Glen RobertsThere is no new cab. You have to use IE. I feel the same way you do in not wanting to use IE.@MartinJesus Christ, what the hell is wrong with you brainiacs in Redmond? You all have got to be the most obtuse of the main developers out there. Nobody in their right mind would want to have Windows Live\’s SMS services taking up usage on their text plans, especially if the recent update to Windows Live for mobile entails data usage, which should allow the user to access the information that would have been texted to them. So your current strategy is asking users to use data and usage against their text plans? Develop a native application already! Or at least integrate the "updates" currently only accessible via IE into the Windows Live Mobile app that currently only allows chat, synchronization of hotmail, and synchronization of contacts! Currently, to make good use of Windows Mobile, I have to open outlook for email messaging from hotmail, then I have to open Windows Live for chat, then, I have to open the Calendar program to look up appointments.Are you aware that contacts aren\’t even synchronizing correctly? For example, let\’s say I have detailed information in a .csv file uploaded to my hotmail account via web browser. Then I go synch the contacts uploaded to my device. Person John Doe will show up in contacts and messenger as JohnDoe34 or some random crap like that. The contacts do not maintain the integrity of their original information as they are migrated from one platform to the next.Think about this and ALL the other issues increasingly fed up consumers are posting here.
Application based offerings which are incomplete (e.g. no Calendar sync, restricted access to Messenger), browser based offerings which are incomplete, different URLs for these different offerings, etc., this is all way too complicated. Please consolidate and simplify; you are all over the place. Finish the application based offering; the demand for calendar sync is clear. If you do so you will have a winner.I am a Systems Engineer and have worked with Microsoft technology for over 25 years. To compare, I have purchased several iPods, including the Touch. I recently looked into the iPhone, but decided to stay with a Windows Mobile based device (HTC Touch Pro as offered by Verizon). Staying with Windows Mobile had more do to with the carriers/plans than anything else. While Windows Mobile is flexible and exciting, I am amazed at Microsoft\’s lack of drive/focus on simplification. I can\’t imagine an average consumer dealing with the complexity of the platform. While Apple is also far from perfect, they get the value of simplification and thus enjoy the success they have. You lost the MP3 player market to Apple; again due to far too much complexity. You still have time to take the Smartphone market; Apple\’s exclusive/long-term deal with AT&T was a mistake. You still have some time, but the clock is ticking.
I am a paying premium member. Why are people that I am sharing photos with now seeing ads? If you need more money thats fine but this is just making me look very cheesy! What am I paying for? I thought it was for no ads. This in itself is THE total deal breaker for me.
@Joseph Bundy… yes you\’re right, there is no cab / local installation but they need to release one 🙂
@Jorge – it\’s a simple answer. YOU are paying not to see ad\’s… but the people you\’re sharing your photo\’s with, are seeing ad\’s because they are NOT paying to not see ad\’s.
I have found a issue in windows live for mobile. When I post a comment on a spaces entry from mobile, the comment owner is treated as anonymous, see that entry and my comment. It\’s showing my name, but not my picture and profile/spaces link http://evilazaro.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5FE1D2BA6AB11B0E!2193.entryregards!
How do we get to our my.live.com (the personalized set of RSS feeds that works like igoogle) from our mobile phones? It seems to redirect to the home telling me what my friends are doing. I want to get to my feeds!
I am very well pleased with the release of the new Live Spaces. However, let me be possibly be the first to say that I had issues with Live Messenger in the beta release. For some reason, I kept getting error messages and had to uninstall the beta version and go back to the previous version for it to work! I have released some video tutorials that you may want to take a peek at and advise if I am on the correct direction of how I am trying to assist those in the community!You guys rock! Keep up the excellent work!Greg
Well I like the changes on hotmail! Thank you…
It\’s about time (-; I\’m very grateful to the team for coming out with this great feature. I\’m telling my friends right away. Cheers!
I think you guys are finally heading towards the right direction with your "Live" products. In the past, they were not very robust, responsive and appealing. This is not the case now. Congratulations to the team who\’s behind these changes.
Hey guys. I just wanted to say that i have been stuck using a phone for web for over a week now due to a sudden unplanned move and you guys have made my life so much easier. Windows live has basically saved me every place google has failed- from getting lost in the country to reading slashdot. Seriously- thank you. (posted from a low end mobile)
I Used to be able to access Hotmail from Outlook Mobile..i cant on WinMo 6.1, what\’s up? it forces me to use the web version which honestly is NOT the best experience. How can i use Outlook Mobile to access Hotmail?
@ Jorge: You\’ll find info on using Hotmail on Windows Mobile here: http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook_mobile/archive/2008/06/05/using-hotmail-with-windows-mobile.aspx. You\’ll see a link there to the downloadable Windows Live application (not the web version).- Windows Live team
Is there any sync integration between WL Calendar / Contacts and the corresponding apps in WinMo 6.1?
why i cant log into window live messenger,i already deleted and download..but keep failing..,help me anyone,sum1,why now everything is complicated =s
I cannot log in to my account on WLM in my phone. It displays the error "there is a problem with the server. please try again later" as shown in this screenshot: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3393/3191615963_6d05ee559c.jpgI guessed that it may have "logged on" but it didn\’t successfully continued, because when I\’m logged on to WLM (Wave 3) in my desktop, i get the message "You have signed in to Messenger on too many other computers. Click here to sign in again" as shown in this screenshot: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3527/3192487272_cfa61156a0_o.pngI have tried connecting using home WiFi, Public Wifi, GPRS/HSDPA, and via Activesync, to no avail. I tried installing another CAB for Windows Live, but still the same results. I removed the display picture in my desktop WLM, but still the same. I have tried to Switch Windows Live ID, and enter the same Live ID, and still the same too. But when i use someone else\’s Live ID, it works perfectly. All of my Windows Live components, such as hotmail, push and contact synchronization are working properly except for Messenger. Looking at Sync Status, there is a line that says "Contacts: This instant messaging address is not valid for use with Messenger. Please enter a valid Windows Live ID."., as indicated in this screenshot: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3192534132_477ae51d74.jpg. Although I have been using this Live ID (a custom domain created on Windows Live Admin Center) on WLM Mobile for years, its only a few weeks ago since i started to encounter this problem. Is there a way to fix this problem?
where ?
I know other people have commented on this but lets just summarise something. People generally choose a Windows Mobile device over a normal phone because they want to take advantage of the Personal Information Management features. Essentially they want to organise their lives when mobile. Surely to do this one of the most important features of this is Calendar / Task synchronisation. And yet you do not have any facilities to synchronise Live Calendar with Windows Mobile Calendar. You do not even support the calendar properly through mobile.live.com. Even the Daily Schdules do not render properly in Mobile Messages synced with Hotmail. You get a lovely text based message with the details of the schedule removed.Bizarrely, however, you are investing time is SMS support which can be used to request such items as up coming events from your calendar. Great, I can now pay cash to access a free service!As far as I can see you are failing to support one of the main selling features of a Windows Mobile device. There are now many good phones one the market which support web browsing, email and SMS natively which essentially means you get exactly the same service regardless of whether you have the Windows Mobile device or a pretty basic standard phone. It strikes me that your marketting policy on this encourages people away from the "smart phone" market and back to simpler phones offered by suppliers such as Nokia and LG. I would be interested in what others think to this.
I am in total agreement with David. New windows phones have Exchange Active Sync acrcoss the air and now even Apple (iPhone) and Google have licensed the technology from Microsoft. All I can currently do on my iPhone with my Windows Live account is use pop to connect to my Hotmail account (because I have paid the subscription). mobile.live.com looks good, but not really that useable. I want to sync my device Email, Calender and Contacts over the mobile network with push technology, so for now I have binned my live email and am using a Microsoft Online Services Exchange account which does exactly that on my iPhone – it is fantastic!
I can not view my Calendar through Windows life on my phone. Can someone tell me why and is there something I can do to fix it.I have the Verizon Dare. I have Windows life on the phone and MSN however it says that my browers will not let me view the calendar.
Since the appearance of Windows Live, I considered this platforms due to integration of its components and enough amount of space to upload photos and others stuff, particularly by the ease it provides to synchronize contacts automatically through the web. Now I feel the need to synchronize the Windows Live calendar also with my mobile phone, but as I read there is no way to do so like we make with contacts. I guess the Windows Live Team should be working on this, but do not even comment on that, by this, I am considering to testing the Google platform that is already syncing everything we need: emails, contacts, calendar, maps and more. Only we need a mobile phone with Android, like HTC Magic to get all this stuff and more. WLT please let us know what are you doing regarding this, please gift us a tool to syncronize, web via, Windows Live calendar with our WM 6.x mobile calendar…. A lot thanks.. PS: Sorry by my bad english
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