So in the last few days many in the blog-o'sphere have been opining about the reported delay of Windows Mobile 7.  Have you heard this one yet?  Evidently Phil Moore at a recent event stated in regards to the never in sight mobile OS:

"It has been put back until late next year but it is definitely coming."

Okay.  But we already assumed Windows Mobile has been pushed to late 2010.  Actually, lets step back a second:  what do we even know about any release date for this big OS overhaul?

• Back in 2005 is what referred to as 'Photon' and it was still "years away"
• One rumored said it was beta testing in Q1 2010
• RTM in Spring
• Microsoft will be talking about it in March
• Something about a Q3 date from a "Taiwan factory" (ooookay)
• Ballmer says little, but does mention Zune in same breath
• Mobius '09 was under a lot of NDA and a bunch of something was shown

So the latest rumors were: beta test in Q1, release to manufacturers in Spring, carrier testing and release in Q3/Q4.  So "late in 2010" sounds about right to us. Outside of getting a Phil Moore quote on Windows Mobile 7, we don't see what the "news" is here. (Note: these are Taiwanese fiscal quarters, which match the calendar year, unlike U.S. fiscal quarters).

Don't get us wrong, we love leaked "roadmaps" and such, but we also know they can be out-dated when leaked and are not written in stone. Other than that, there are plenty of single, un-named sources and rumors galore.  Shoot, in May of this year Winedows Mobile 7 was planned for a software release in the fall and hardware in the Spring--but that came and went with no news.

Call us crazy, but seeing as WM6.5 just launched in Fall 2009 (right on schedule) and is still rolling out, "late 2010" you know, about 1 year after their last over-haul, seems like a good time frame to release a major new OS. 

How Phil Moore's comment is read as "delayed again" is beyond us since Micorsoft has never publicly confirmed a release date.  Oh sure, no doubt Microsoft has missed milestones and they are none-too-happy about the progress in the last few years, but that doesn't mean every time someone says something we need to infer yet another delay.

Fact is, the OS will be done when it is done and we don't know what "late 2010" means: RTM, in our hands? And Microsoft has some minor tricks up its sleeve till then. We think next-gen CPUs, capacitive screens and a compatible OS will be the big thing of early-mid 2010 and we'll anxiously await WM7--when Microsoft is ready to show us.

Lets just keep those rumors and speculation in check, mmkay?

So the rumors are floating around the Internets that Palm has delayed two smartphones from mid-year to the end of the year. As Dieter points out over at TreoCentral, this almost certainly cannot, does not and shall not mean that the Pre has been pushed back several months.

Reports DigiTimes, citing the Chinese-language Commercial Times (and from the same report that kills the Motorola Alexander):

Shipments of Palm's two smartphones will be delayed as Compal is waiting for Qualcomm's new chipset solutions that will enable better performance, said the paper.

Here's our thing: We know that Palm has dropped the Palm OS and is focusing on WebOS (which is what's on the Pre), and Windows Mobile. So, it's entirely possible that Palm has a couple new WinMo phones in the works, and they've been pushed back a bit. But there are wrinkles in that, too, which Dieter writes about. Or, it could be another couple of WebOS phones, but that seems a bit unlikely so early in the game.

Either way, let the speculation run rampant!

Via Brighthand and Engadget

This is another one where we just have to shake our heads and sigh.

CNET's Ina Fried posts on her blog [via] that Microsoft has told a handful of its partners not to expect a final build of its Windows Mobile 7 operating system until the second half of 2009.

Not exactly the sort of WinMo news we hoped to bring you on the day the first Android device is officially released.

Fried does write that we shouldn't have to go cold turkey as we wait for WM7, with an update to Internet Explorer Mobile still in the works. (Yeah, that doesn't make us feel much better, either.)

We are, however, reminded by Fried of a speech Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave in April in which he spoke of the sweeping changes planned for WM7.

"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."

And while Silverlight has had a bumpy start, the rumor of a Microsoft-led application store could well be what's holding this whole thing up, and it could well be worth it.

In the meantime, Microsoft appears content to let outside manufacturers do the UI legwork, a la HTC's TouchFlo and the sliding panels on the upcoming Xperia X1, and third-party options such as SPB's Mobile Shell.

Group product manager Scott Rockfeld tells CNET's Fried:

"Customers don't have to sit back and wait. There's tons of stuff coming from us and our partners."

But we do have to sit back and wait from Microsoft. Again.