Microsoft 'does not' tell us it will release Windows Mobile 7 next year

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	Microsoft 'does not' tell us it will release Windows Mobile 7 next year	By Philip Berne, 29 November 2007

Details about an upcoming update to Windows Mobile 6 leak out of Microsoft. Is this a baby step, or teenage rebellion? Philip Berne gets the scoop.

Today at the Mobius 2007 conference in Amsterdam, Microsoft let loose a few hints about an upcoming update to Windows Mobile 6. We've seen a lot more of the new system than we can talk about, but we can tell you that it will soothe many of the aches that Windows Mobile causes. It won't be Windows Mobile 7, but it will bring WM6 to a more satisfying point, as early criticisms of the OS noted that it wasn't enough of an improvement over Windows Mobile 5.

The new features will be available as a simple update, not a full-fledged upgrade, and Microsoft says it will provide the upgrade to manufacturers and carriers in the first quarter of next year. How, and even if, the phone makers will disseminate the update to customers is then out of Microsoft's hands.

We've seen the new version of the OS running on a currently available piece of hardware, though this was only for testing purposes. We can guess at which phones will get the upgrade (most likely the newest of the new), but we wouldn't bank on anything. Still, the update shouldn't tax modern hardware too much, so the ball is in the court of the phone providers. Hopefully they won't drop it, they'll pass it along.