[Electronics-talk] Mobile Speak and Windows Phone 7

Sun Sep 5 00:58:12 UTC 2010

Well I would say three things to you.  First, 
Microsoft, Code Factory, and others will work at 
the problems until they are solved.  They really can't do otherwise.

Secondly, if your phone works for you, and it 
does what you want and need it to do, does it 
matter that it isn't necessarily the latest and 
greatest.  If it does the job it still has value 
and usefulness.  At some point it will either 
stop working, or you will want to do things it 
can't do, but by then the OS, and/or Mobile Speak will be fixed most likely.

Dave

At 10:22 PM 9/1/2010, you wrote:
>this is so sad for people like my self who just 
>purshes ms for the first time for a widnows 
>phone,  so what  do we do just stay 
>left  back.  wow this is to much so much money 
>out there and they can't do anything,  o well, IPhone it is...
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Code Factory 
>News (no reply) (by way of DavidAndrews 
><dandrews at visi.com>)" <enews at codefactory.info>
>To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 10:18 PM
>Subject: [Electronics-talk] Mobile Speak and Windows Phone 7
>
>
>
>Logo Code Factory
>
>
>Caroline Ragot - Marketing Director
><mailto:marketing at codefactory.es>marketing at codefactory.es
>
>Windows Phone 7
>
>
>Mobile Speak for Windows Mobile, 5 years of successes and challenges
>
>
>
>
>Code Factory products will not be compatible with
>the initial versions of Windows Phone 7
>
>
>
>
>Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, September, 1st, 2010
>
>Code Factory has always shown a great commitment
>to keep up-to-date with the latest mobile phone
>technology. Back in 2005, Code Factory launched
>Mobile Speak Pocket. "Many of our users were
>asking us to make Windows Mobile Pocket PCs
>accessible, because at the time they were the
>only professional-oriented mobile devices,"
>explained Eduard Sánchez, Code Factory's CEO.
>"One of our top priorities has always been to
>allow our professional blind and visually
>impaired users to be as efficient and productive
>as their sighted peers. Therefore, based on the
>experience of Mobile Speak for Symbian phones
>released two years earlier, we put together all
>our passion, knowledge and effort and developed
>Mobile Speak for Windows Mobile".
>
>In five years, Code Factory took up many
>challenges with the Windows Mobile platform,
>including support for the first touchscreen
>devices; support for hundreds of devices from
>more than fifteen different manufacturers such as
>HTC, HP, Motorola, and Samsung; support for
>customized firmware from carriers from all over
>the world; and support for five new operating
>system (OS) versions, from Windows Mobile 2003 SE to Windows Mobile 6.5.
>
>Microsoft has announced the upcoming release of
>Windows Phone 7. Windows Phone 7 is not an
>upgraded version of Windows Mobile 6.5. It is a
>brand-new OS, which means that applications built
>for Windows Mobile 6.x or earlier will not run on Windows Phone 7.
>
>As a software developer, Code Factory is facing
>the same issues as mainstream companies such as
>Mozilla, Adobe or Skype. "Windows Phone 7 doesn't
>support native code development, which means that
>it is technically impossible to develop a screen
>reader application without the direct help of
>Microsoft, the OS maker", explained Eduard
>Sánchez. "Therefore Mobile Speak, Mobile Geo, and
>Mobile Magnifier will not run on the initial version of Windows Phone 7".
>
>However, Mobile Speak, Mobile Magnifier and
>Mobile Geo will of course keep running on
>supported Windows Mobile devices. Also, the
>Windows Mobile 6.5 devices won't disappear from
>the market all at once, and Code Factory's
>customers should still be able to acquire them
>for a reasonable period of time after the release of Windows Phone 7.
>
>"We have been talking with Microsoft for the last
>few months to try to remedy the situation and
>come up with an accessible solution for Windows
>Phone 7 as soon as possible. In fact, we waited
>until now to make this announcement because we
>were hoping that together with Microsoft we could
>find a solution before the release of the first
>Windows Phone 7 devices, but unfortunately this
>will not be the case" added Eduard Sánchez.
>"Microsoft has always been willing to put
>accessibility on its road map, however it hasn't
>been possible for the first release of Windows
>Phone 7. We at Code Factory are at their entire
>disposal to provide our assistance and expertise".
>
>Greg Sullivan, Senior Product Manager at
>Microsoft Mobile Communications Business Group
>said, "We understand that the initial Windows
>Phone 7 release doesn't live up to some
>expectations in specific scenarios but as we work
>on future versions of the technology we hope to
>learn from the Accessibility Community about what
>scenarios and features will allow Windows Phone to appeal to more users."
>
>Eduard Sánchez concluded, "Developing Mobile
>Speak for Windows Mobile has taught us a lot and
>we are proud of our development team for those
>five years of hard work. We are very excited with
>the future of mobile phones and all the new
>platforms which are coming out. We hope that soon
>we will be able to add Windows Phone 7 to the
>list of our successful challenges".
>
>For more information about Microsoft
>Accessibility, visit
><http://www.microsoft.com/enable/>http://www.microsoft.com/enable/
>
>For more information about Code Factory's
>accessible solutions, visit
><http://www.codefactory.es>http://www.codefactory.es
>or submit a ticket through Code Factory's Help
>Desk at
><http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/>http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
>
>
>
>About Code Factory
>
>Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Terrassa
>(Barcelona), Spain, Code Factory is the global
>leader committed to the development of products
>designed to eliminate barriers to the
>accessibility of mobile technology for the blind
>and visually impaired. Today, Code Factory is the
>leading provider of screen readers, screen
>magnifiers, and Braille interfaces for the widest
>range of mainstream mobile devices. Among Code
>Factory's customers are well known organizations
>for the blind such as ONCE, and carriers such as
>AT&T, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, TIM and Vodafone.
>
>For more information, feel free to contact Code Factory S.L.:
>
>
>Code Factory, S.L., Rambla d'Egara 148 2-2, 08221 Terrassa (Barcelona)
><http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/>HelpDesk, www.codefactory.es
>Code Factory, S.L. - 2010

                         David Andrews:  dandrews at visi.com
Follow me on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/dandrews920