Windows Mobile 7 coming to MWC in February, not just 'evolutionary'

We'd heard some rumblings, but apparently Robbie Bach let the cat out of the bag at an analyst briefing this week, stating that we should expect a showing of Windows Mobile 7 at the Mobile World Congress show in Spain, which begins on February 15th. He also added that the OS (which he's played with, surprisingly) will "set the bar forward not in (just) an evolutionary way," and that Microsoft is going to be "more engaged" with OEMs in its "go to market approach." We love a good buzzword or three, but the hope here is that Microsoft has learned its lesson from iPhone and Android and is ready to compete in the next-gen smartphone game in a big way -- a WinMo 7 showing just four months after the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 certainly smacks of that.

[Thanks, Matthias]

[joozzt Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:09PM]

guys & girlz,
Competition is a good thing.
Open minds are good.
Bashing is bad.
naughty , naughty.

[MSwillDie Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:19PM]

I've seen WM7 and all the "Pink" related work..less than 4 months ago..and I can tell you this...it will be another disaster in the making...MS needs to revamp everything across the board...the world of software, hardware, mobile and computing in general is changing around them and they still don't get that they need to rip out their current infrastructure and go into debt and start over!!! Google will rule the cloud..and also put carriers out of business and Apple will yet again revolutionize a segment..btw..Apple is not a technology company...It is a Technology Marketing Company!!!!

[argenys Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:31PM]

@MSwillDie How have you seen WM7?

[MSwillDie Posted Jan 8th 2010 6:18PM]

@argenys
I was part of an inside WM presentation relating to third party apps hosted at the MS campus last quarter....and believe me when I say it again....way behind the 8 ball...MS continues to create from an engineering perspective and not a consumer point of view!!!! It's like they walk around saying..."Hey, we are MS engineers..we know what's good for you...now use it cause you don't know better"!!!...unfortunately..WE know better...thanks to Apple, Android, WebOS, ect....

[OG Phenix Posted Jan 8th 2010 10:23PM]

@MSwillDie

"we gotta get you a book of proverbs or something-this mix and match sh*ts gotta go"

Being "way behind the 8 ball" is a good thing (since the difficulty in being behind the 8 ball lies in manuevering the cue ball around it)

and if I didn't believe you when you said it, why would I believe you when you said it again?

I apologize in advance if English is not your first language; that being said, if you are indeed a native speaker I doubt you were any closer to the Microsoft campus than I was to convincing Jessica Alba to bear my child.

[MSwillDie Posted Jan 9th 2010 1:45AM]

@OG Phenix
Totally agree on the proverbs. The mix and match was bad form. You don't have to believe, I know that I was there and what I saw. The UI is again from a engineering perspective and not anywhere close to being as fluid or friendly as iPhone. Further, I can say without a doubt that plans around apps for any WM driven mobile device is going to be discouraging to independent developers. The idea was not to catch up but to present the next level up..and that my friend..MS is not doing!

[Wesscoast Posted Jan 9th 2010 3:16AM]

@MSwillDie

You do know that all companies do marketing right? Marketing is listening to your customers, then giving them what they want.

Just because MS doesn't listen to you don't mean they're not good at marketing. Hint: they are a business applications company.

[pokes Posted Jan 9th 2010 6:57AM]

@MSwillDie

Give us an idea of what you have seen of the UI. Is it like the previous iterations? is it like any of the leaks we have seen already? is it like the zunehd interface (unlikely from what you have already said). Come on give us an idea that would help back up your statement. Can you compare it to anything out there yet to help visualise?

Have you ever thought that images shown in the presentation are just to present the necessary concepts. In your case apps, and they are not the final UI images. Something similar to the office mobile images leaked - no one knows if they are concept UI images or actual UI images.

If they can produce a very design and aesthetically focused UI for zune why would they not for WinMo.

Take home message don't take anything you see in a presentation as final especially if it is presented over half a year to a year from the final release of the product.

[thunderbollock Posted Jan 12th 2010 4:42AM]

@MSwillDie
Perhaps you saw the OS at the point where it was still in its bare engineering stage. i.e. the final UI touches were not in place..? If it were anywhere near a finished product we would have testers leaking images etc by now.

[eka Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:27PM]

Damn why so many apple / android fanboys are so worry about WinMo7.

[RabidAppleFanboi Posted Jan 26th 2010 3:13PM]

@eka "Damn why so many apple / android fanboys are so worry about WinMo7."

We just like to kick M$ when they're down. Which is pretty much all the time. Why do you ask?

[argenys Posted Jan 8th 2010 10:00PM]

The only thing I can say/ask is that, if that's the case then why was it that people came out of that very impressed. I don't have a source but I know that I did read it somewhere. I am not doubting what you saw but I was just wondering why people would come out impressed but yet what you saw was underwhelming

[MSwillDie Posted Jan 9th 2010 1:50AM]

@argenys
I can't answer that for you. If what they saw was a demo/mockup..show peice..then it could be anything and could be very impressive. What I saw was presented by product and engineering managers..to a room full of independent biz, dev, test guys. We got to see the real thing..with them asking about feedback. I'm very impress with MS based on their history despite themselves, but these days..we've got real players in the mix and MS is not showing us what's next..but rather a poor attempt to live up to what is out there.

[thunderbollock Posted Jan 12th 2010 4:44AM]

@MSwillDie
With a name like "MSwillDie you don't sound very plausible.

[thunderbollock Posted Jan 12th 2010 4:44AM]

@MSwillDie
With a name like "MSwillDie" you don't sound very plausible.

[stockjones Posted Jan 8th 2010 11:20PM]

Very interested to see what they have brewed up. A zune like UI. But to say it will be more then evolutionary? Ok

[jerack Posted Jan 8th 2010 11:41PM]

many diverse comments here.. I will say that MS has a lot catching up to do with Apple, RIM, and Google. Palm has placed themselves back in contention and this only adds more variety. I do hope that MS comes out swinging at MWC.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 9th 2010 2:00AM]

HTC is gonna sue their a$$es off

[Wesscoast Posted Jan 9th 2010 3:12AM]

How many of Microsoft's lies will it take? It's going to be good, of course, but.. Windows Mobile is irrelevant.

Remember the boy who cried wolf?

[Quikboy Posted Jan 9th 2010 3:09PM]

@Wesscoast : It's not irrelevant. If it was, the world's best smartphone (HD2) wouldn't be running it.

[Ripper Posted Jan 9th 2010 5:49AM]

WinMo7 Microsoft's last chance... do or die bach..

[RabidAppleFanboi Posted Jan 26th 2010 3:21PM]

@Ripper "WinMo7 Microsoft's last chance... do or die bach.."

WinMo7 will be lame and fail. So M$ will do what they always do with a failed product: rename it, patch it a bit, and try, try again.

For example: Vista failed, and the point-release bugfix patch is now called Windows 7 (although the internal version number is Windows 6.1.)

Maybe M$ can capitalize on the strong demand for Windows XP and rename WinMo 8 to "Zune XP" or something similarly zingy.

[HisEnormity Posted Jan 10th 2010 4:39AM]

We're all excited about WM7 and we all know we're going to be disappointed. It'll need a 3Ghz processor to run it and 4 Gigs of ram.

[MSwillDie Posted Jan 25th 2010 12:30PM]

WMC won't save WinMo...why? Jan 27th!!! just when you thought you are catching up....BOOM! 4.0 makes your "evolutionary" effort look 5 years old.

[AirRescueFF Posted Jan 30th 2010 3:51PM]

@MSwillDie

Jan. 27th has passed.

You were saying?

[dkhang Posted Feb 8th 2010 2:26PM]

i hope that the rewrite the OS, not updating from 6.x version. hahahaha revolutionary... i'm excited