Unless this is a mistake it seems that Microsoft have decided to kill off Windows Live by charging for it. This message has started to pop up when users sign into Windows Live Messenger. It states that a 30 day trial has just begun and, once complete, you’ll need to buy a “30 day pass”.
If this is true (I’m not getting it on mine, so it may be a glitch), it seems like a crazy decision, especially when other handsets – which aren’t powered by Windows – give free access into Messenger without any need to download additional software. In our eyes a Windows Mobile phone should have Windows Live Messenger installed – it’s a Microsoft phone, so why start charging for a Microsoft product which is so popular and helps the platform to succeed ? Although this seems to be happening to other platforms (Symbian etc), it’s possibly the worst thing you can do to Windows Mobile phone owners.
Update – There’s more on this from Microsoft, read on for the news!
Link – MoDaCo.com Quote beloe taken from modaco.com…
“Hi folks, Jeff from Microsoft here (any Mobians on the thread will know me
from Amsterdam and a few other events) first of all, sorry for taking so
long to get back to you; we needed to do some investigation as Windows
Mobile users were not supposed to get that message.
Here¹s what happened: This week we rolled out a direct-to-consumer billing
service for the Windows Live client on Nokia S60 in the UK and Sweden.
Although we are considering doing the same at a future time for Windows
Mobile, this has not been implemented however, something happened and many
of you saw a trial message on Windows Mobile devices. Windows Mobile
customers shouldn¹t have received any notifications of a 30-day trial and we
are working as quickly as possible to correct this.
As you may know, we offer Messenger services through mobile operators on
lots of handsets, not just Windows Mobile. Traditionally, customers have
been billed by their mobile operators for many of these services, either
directly or through their data package.”
Windows Live to start charging Windows Mobile owners?
January 9, 2008