Motorola: Windows Mobile 7 will arrive in 2010

Updated at 1:15 p.m. PST with Microsoft comment and additional context.

When Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha said Tuesday that his company's phones would eventually carry Windows Mobile 7, he let on more than he probably thought.

Windows Mobile 7 is expected to improve on Windows Mobile 6.1 (shown here). But will it be delayed until 2010?

(Credit: Microsoft)

In answering an analyst's question during the Q-and-A portion of his company's earnings call, Jha said: "Yes, we are still committed to Windows Mobile. As you know, Windows 6 series is available in 2009 and as compared to Android, we believe in 2009 Android is more competitive; more of our effort and focus in 2009 is going to Android, but in 2010 when Windows 7 will become available, we will then participate in a more focused way in Windows Mobile 7 in 2010."

Without commenting on Jha's comment, a Microsoft representative said the company has "nothing to announce today."

In September, CNET News reported that Microsoft told its partners not to expect Windows Mobile 7 until at least the second half of 2009. Jha's comment seems to indicate that the deadline has been pushed back even further.

The software maker has been counting on the next version of Windows Mobile to enable devices that better rival Apple's iPhone. Among the features widely expected to be part of the release is advanced gesture recognition, perhaps along the lines of the iPhone, but possibly also using the camera as a means for reading gestures.

Microsoft has been quiet for some time on the Windows Mobile front, but that's expected to change later this month when CEO Steve Ballmer gives a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. The company has said to expect news on the operating system, partner, and mobile services fronts.

Although Windows Mobile 7 is probably a ways off, the company has said it is working on some sort of interim release, dubbed Windows Mobile 6.5, and has also promised better browsing and other features will come this year. In an interview last month, mobile unit head Andy Lees acknowledged the company has some catching up to do.

"You are going to see a bunch of announcements at Mobile World Congress but also it is going to be the beginning of a 12-, 18-month period where you are going to see a whole bunch of different stuff," Lees said. In addition to the traditional operating system unit, Microsoft has a fairly secretive "premium mobile services" group under Roz Ho that has been working on a variety of projects over the last couple of years. That group also includes the team Microsoft picked up when it bought Sidekick maker Danger. Separately, Microsoft's Windows Live unit is also working on a new wave of services for Windows Mobile, Lees said

CNET News' Ina Fried contributed to this report.

[ken_wilsonii]

Unless they update the actual phone to touch screens like the i-phone, Windows Mobile can't help much.

I started with a Moto Q Global only to find out it did not have wi-fi (global? your kidding right?)
The indivudal applications all cost a monthly fee and even on stupid things like the ebay app.

The phones need for physical screen space to be usefull. I traded out for an i-phone 15 days later
after comparing with my friends i-phone and there was just no way around it the i-phone was designed better, applications made sense to the user. The learning curve on windows Mobile is too high.

Things I really would like to see

a UMPC built like the i-phone. I would use that on a regular basis and make sure it has Cell phone and wi-fi. If they can make the i-phone like that ..they make a sligtly ;arger UMPC like that.

[paulej]

I'm a Windows Mobile user and I do like the phone I have, except that my phone does not have WiFi, either. I figured it must be an AT&T requirement on manufacturers, as there seems to be no other logical reason for this feature to be missing when it is on so many comparable models one can buy from the same companies outside the US.

But, even though I like my phone, it really is no comparison to the cool functionality available on the iPhone. Microsoft knows that developers are what makes their products successful. A platform without developers goes nowhere. There are a HUGE number of people writing apps for the iPhone -- it is becoming a preferred development platform for mobile apps. Microsoft is going to have to work hard to try to bring developers back to its mobile platform.

But, though I like the iPhone, the reason I do not own one is because it is locked to a carrier and, while one might be able to unlock it, there is the risk of having to constantly fight the locking issue. I travel around the world and usually get a SIM card whereever I travel. And I really don't want to have two mobile phones to keep up with. So, the iPhone really isn't suitable for me just for that reason. Still, it's a very nice device -- very impressive.

[sahilk]

lets hope it isnt as SLOW and sluggish as all winmo phones

[Que.Ball]

Windows mobile right now feels like Windows 9x did. Very fragile unless you are running the stock OS with very few add ons.

So will this 6.5 version be like the disaster that was Windows ME? A piece of junk update that was rushed out to meet consumer and partner demand for an updated product to sell.

It should be interesting to see how they respond to the intense competition they find themselves under with Apple iphone, Linux based Android, and now this new Palm WebOS which all look to be the next generation of mobile operating systems.

On the other hand you have RIM. Their operating system doesn't have nearly as many stability problems as Windows mobile but it's also starting to show it's age. The blackberry wouldn't look very good right now if it didn't at have it's strong corporate and email support to lean on. I personally use a blackberry but it lacks the richness and next generation feel that these new competitors are bringing to the market. The touchscreen Storm brings some of the new media experience to blackberry users but nobody will say it's a better media and browsing experience than the iPhone, G1, or what we have seen of the Palm Pre. I wonder if RIM has a team working on a next gen OS we have not heard about yet?

[Ilgaz]

If I was about to buy a Windows Mobile handset, it wouldn't be from Motorola for sure. Telling as a Symbian UIQ owner which got killed by both Sony and Motorola management, that is not a company to buy anything "smart" from.

[littleM]

I've owned PPC2003, WM5 and WM6. All are very hard to use without a stylist and very slow (even my Dell Axim x51v with a 600MHz Arm CPU). Microsoft seems to have targeted the enterprise market with nothing more that a small form factor version of their desktop. I doubt if their next version will be anything more than some additional features. Their installed base is too large for them to make any radical changes, even for the better. I certainly would not want to be the product manager who has to propose the EOL for this architecture. Ironic, since I doubt if this business line was ever really profitable.

[cnet_user_0]

Doesn't Windows Mobile have a greater user base than the iPhone/Android? I have been a user of Windows CE since the days of the Handheld PC and have never looked back. The CE/NET APIs are so rich that I've never had a need to look to others for more features.

There's more to life than your phone for God's sake! Some like WM, some like iPhone, some like Android...

Each to his/her own!

[rvassar]

Win Mobile is the worse 'smartphone' OS of all. Having had WinMobile, BB, and the Treo in the past, I have found the iPhone to blow them all completely out of the water. No comparison - WinMobile was the worse of all of them!