Partners who had expected to have a final release in their hands by early next year have been told that Windows Mobile 7 won’t be ready until the second half of next year. Although Microsoft has not made any official announcements on the matter, any delay could prove costly as the competition has just stepped up its game with the launch of Google’s Android OS.
Microsoft is not expected to have a major update to its core operating system ahead of Windows Mobile 7. However, other improvements are expected to debut sooner, most notably an improved browser that brings the rendering engine of Internet Explorer 6 onto Windows Mobile. That update, still expected this year, should pave the way for Windows Mobile phones to display rich Web pages, including those that are home to Flash content and Ajax applications.
As for Windows Mobile 7, Microsoft has said very little publicly. Ballmer did make reference to it in a speech to enthusiasts in April. During the speech, he talked about how Windows Mobile would outsell Apple and RIM during 2008. He then added: “And I think that certainly this should be a good year for us for sales, but the work we’re doing on Windows Mobile 7, which is the next major release of Windows Mobile, not just in the Windows Mobile team, but across Windows Mobile, in Silverlight, the development platform, the e-mail, the back-end, I think you’ll continue to see that as an area of major excitement and innovation for the company as we move forward.”