Without totally taking the lid off of our treasure trove of questions regarding Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft did answer some questions last night with a Q&A on Twitter and on the blog of Charlie Kindel, the Partner Group Program Manager for the Windows Phone Application Platform & Developer Experience.

First off, Charlie talked about app development (and we'll remind you that apps are going to have an overall different feeling in the way they run on 7). The major development languages will be .NET, Silverlight, XNA (which is already in use on the Zune HD), and Web 2.0 standards. And it's now officially official: No backward compatibility. Wrote Charlie:

For us, the cost of going from good to great is a clean break from the past. To enable the fantastic user experiences you’ve seen in the Windows Phone 7 Series demos so far we’ve had to break from the past. To deliver what developers expect in the developer platform we’ve had to change how phone apps were written. One result of this is previous Windows mobile applications will not run on Windows Phone 7 Series.

And that's the main theme. Windows Phone 7 Series is not Windows Mobile. Microsoft's going to be repeating that for a while, we fear, and so shall we. And a break of this magnitude is hardly unprecedented, as witnessed by our pals at PreCentral.net. It can be argued that Palm's move to webOS has hurt more than it's helped, but we're willing to bet that Palm's long exclusivity period with Sprint (thus keeping devices out of more hands) did more than the change in operating system.

Anyhoo, another repeated phrase was "there will be more at MIX" in a couple weeks in Las Vegas. And to Vegas we shall go. Stay tuned, folks. [Charlie Kindel's blog | Twitter]

What you see above is the Microsoft sign at Mobile World Congress. At first there was nothing special except for a large sticker covering...something.

The savvy cats at Engadget decided to use the "X-ray filter" in Photoshop and lo and behold, beneath the sticker it says: 7 Series.

Seven?  Series? Sounds like that might be hinting at the rumored Business and Multimedia editions that we mentioned a few weeks ago.

While we don't know all of the details about what Microsoft has in mind for Monday, we're still surmising that the overall strategy (and what we've talked about during the podcast #88, #89) is thus:

• Pink/Zune/Turtle/Pure phones = Feature phones; not full Wp7
• Business Edition = The true upgrade path for WM6.5 --> Wp7; customizable 
• Media Edition = Combine the Pink & Business edition for one high end smartphone

Call us crazy, but we think this three-pronged approach (with only two being 'true' Windows phone 7 devices) is what Microsoft is attempting.  Mind you, according to the WSJ, we might not even hear about Pink/Zune/Turtle/Pure at Mobile World Congress. That actually makes sense as those devices are not true Windows phone 7 series nor would they want to scare off their OEMs.

It's also becoming more clear that last week's "rumors" were probably more about Project Pink than Windows phone 7, which we strongly suggested ;-)

So, what do you think? Sound off below!

No shock here, but as the closer we get to Mobile World Congress next month, the more news is leaking out.

Unfortunately, it's still just crumbs from a a giant, delicious Microsoft cake.  Perhaps someday we'll see what that cake is and tastes like. Until then...enjoy these bits:

Stephen Chapman of Microsoft Kitchen (msftkitchen.com) has been finding all sorts of morsels.  For one, Windows Phone 7 will be featured and discussed at Energize IT 2010, a conference for developers.  Its focus will be "...the client to the cloud, this fun-filled demo-intensive exploration will excite you about the possibilities of the Microsoft-based platform".  Sounds right in line with this whole "three screens", mobile and cloud computing system that Microsoft has been slowly edging too.  Looks like it will all be pieced together during that conference.

Likewise, he also managed to get his hands on a Chinese Office 2010 .pdf. On one slide, he found the same image reported earlier, mentioning a Spring release-to-manufactures (RTM) deadline.  The interesting part?  The document is dated December 11, 2009.  Guess those "it's delayed again" headlines were a little premature?

In addition, WMPU has a clip up from Fox News where Microsoft's CFO says what we've been hearing for awhile, that they (Microsoft) will have more say on Windows Mobile 7 in February at Mobile World Congress.  So yeah, confirmation of what we already expected.

Finally, Eldar Murtazin of mobile-review.com, aka the person who everyone keeps citing, even though his info keeps turning out to be off-the-mark, has scribbled some info on his Live Journal.  In fairness, in this post he's citing Evgeny Pavlov, product manager HTC Russia via Twitter, and even Eldar seems a bit skeptical.  Evidently, Mr. Pavlov was twittering some of the minimum specs of Seven.  We won't quote the specs, because it doesn't even make much sense.

But what we want to do is nip this in the bud:  the image to the right is not a screen shot of Windows Phone 7.  Eldar received this from either Mr. Pavlov or someone at HTC. So please don't pass it around speculating.  We have run it by our folks in-the-know and, to quote "Looks like a pretty skin - almost like an iPhone? Not anything like what I have." Of course, you've already figured that out, right savvy readers?

Of course, you are encouraged to doubt our info as well, like the good skeptics you are ;-)  Lets hold off till something more definitive, eh?

So the iPhone Fanboys Gadget Blogosphere have received their fabled Apple Tablet, known hitherto as the iPad (hit up The iPhone Blog for complete coverage). Featuring a 9.7 inch capacitive display, a 1GHz Apple A4 processor, 802.11n WiFi, and flash storage of 16, 32, or 64GB; the iPad hardware falls somewhere between cell phone and notebook computer.

From the software point of view, the iPad is running a modified version of the iPhone OS. As of now, that means it has most of the same shortcomings as the iPhone including but not limited to lack of multitasking and support for Adobe Flash. To be fair, however, the iPad does support copy and paste (snicker).

What does this mean for the WinMo faithful? The market for devices in the dark void between cell phones and Laptops has been steadily heating up for years, but it seems to be hitting the boiling point in 2010. Already this year we’ve seen Microsoft announcing the slate form factor at CES and Apple releasing the iPad; and that’s not even touching on the major push that Netbooks are getting right now. Even on the Windows Mobile front we’re starting to see devices starting to push the obnoxiously large boundary with the HD2.

Looking at the hardware numbers that have been bandied around in the last week or so in regards to “Seven”, it’s not hard to speculate that perhaps Microsoft already has an eye towards devices with similar hardware running a Windows Mobile based OS. Could Ballmer and Co. be taking a hard look at MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) running Windows Mobile 7? We’ve seen attempts at this in the past, but nothing that ever hit the big time. Here’s hoping that Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona is the turning point in the evolution of Windows Mobile.

Flashback 2008...

MaryJo Foley of ZDNet is continuing her Microsoft "code name of the day" contest, which seems really kind of fun and a neat way to gather info. Well, today's entry is "Rouge."

Rouge? Pink?  Sound related?  She thinks so. Using info that she's gathered she states: 

Best guess on what it is: Microsoft’s business-focused premium mobile services

Meaning/context of the codename: Rouge sounds like the business-side complement to Pink, Microsoft’s forthcoming family of consumer-focused premium mobile services.

Basically, Rouge was meant to beef up Microsoft's "... family of Office Communications Server, its corporate instant-messaging/VOIP/conferencing product."

Call us crazy, but that sounds like the sort of thing we heard described to us about Seven Business Edition, with real-time document editing between multiple sources.

So is there a code-name for the supposed Media Edition?  What do you get when you combine Pink and Rouge?  How about Project Awesome.

[via ZDNet]

Since our big story on Seven a few days ago, leaks and information have continued to come forth.

We'll just summarize them all here since nothing is conclusive yet, but there are lots of interesting tidbits:

• Windows Mobile 7 session at MIX 2010 announced: Evidently Microsoft is going to host a session on how to make apps and games for Seven in March at the big MIX '10 conference.  Looks like that Mobile World Congress debut is quite likely. (via MobileTechWorld)
• Twitter comments are coming from some Microsoft/Danger employees. Mention WinMo7 team, doughnuts, private testing, and milestones. Tweets originate not from a Sidekick client but from Microsoft. Project Pink lives? (via EngadgetMobile)
• Part II: List of those tweeting from Danger/Microsoft: Carlos Picoto, Director of program management at Microsoft; Jeff McKean - Senior Product Planner at Microsoft; Bruno Silva - Director of Development at Microsoft Corp., Zune; Daryl Welsh - Director of Test -Premium Mobile Experiences at Microsoft; Michael Ducker - Program Manager, Premium Mobile Experiences at Microsoft; Namrata Bachwani - Release Manager at Microsoft (Thanks azimmerm)
• Our leak of the HTC Obsession gets backed up by another anonymous source at WMPU, who says that it is really the Diamond 3, which seems kind of obvious. Also AT&T may grab it too. (via WMPU)
• Our own source reveals to us that Seven is backwards compatible with WM6.x applications (contra an earlier rumor), but it is limited to resolution restrictions. A security warning pops up on launch, but the program will work.  That info leads naturally to...
• ...the idea that Seven is based on WinCE 7 aka Chelan, which our man with the knowledge Conflipper confidently states.
• Finally, commenter drphysx, mentions this article from a few months back, which we think dovetails nicely with our big post.  It seems to fill in the background info on decision making. It's all theory, but we think its well thought out.

We're sure that's just the tip of the iceberg and we're expecting a lot more info to come forward in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned!

Okay everyone, time to put on your rumor helmets (they're like beer helmets, but filled with vodka). Here's what we are hearing about Windows Mobile 7 from various sources (none of which has been announced by Microsoft). 

We'll spill the beans on what we're hearing about supposed various versions of Seven, two WM7 devices including full specs (the LG "Apollo" and HTC "Obsession") time-frames and even features.

Read the rest of this entry »

MobileTechWorld has done some digging and found a recent job posting for Microsoft, specifically for their 'Windows Mobile 7 Communications group' which is seeking to "... bring social networks to life by integrating them into the core experience of the phone".

Now none of this should come as a surprise per se — social networks are the current and next big thing on smartphones.  Combined with what I refer to as "personal GPS" (i.e. not just for driving) and you have a method for near universal awareness of location (i.e. Google Latitude), status (Facebook), thoughts (Twitter) of all you friends, family and colleagues.

What of course is missing currently from Windows Mobile is a way to integrate all that information into "...a single hub on the phone" as his job ad rightly points out. (See this mockup video for what Microsoft probably intends).

It would seem natural for this "social hub" to be combined with Microsoft's future cloud-location-service called "Orion" (you heard it here first), which will provide aGPS services for all future Windows Mobile 7 devices, including extremely fast signal locks via various methods (trilateration, WiFi networks, GPS) in < 1sec/300m. In addition, it looks to be also integrated with "...the storage platform (Unified Store)" a possible reference to Mesh.  Finally, the team seems to be interested in defining API's for 3rd party services to build off of for seamless fusion with the core Microsoft is providing.

The somewhat bad news is that this seems to be a recent job posting, meaning WM7, at least in this regard, is still behind a bit from being anywhere near finalized. On the other hand, Microsoft seems serious (if not late) in attempting to redefine social interaction on smartphones.  We can't wait.

Read the full job description after the break. 

[MobileTechWolrd via Twitter/UX Evangelist]

Read the rest of this entry »

Ask us about ways to push e-mail to your phone, and the Seven beta inevitably comes up. And for good reason. It's pretty darn good. Now Seven has given a boost to calendar support, with specific love for Google calendar.

Here's what's being rolled out:

• Ability to accept, reject or reschedule meetings and appointments: users can manage their calendar the same way they would on their desktop, enabling them to better manage their time.
• Real-time, two-way synchronization: with SEVEN's true push capabilities, calendar updates are automatically, in real-time, synchronized between the server and the mobile device. The two-way synchronization increases users' productivity by letting them manage their Google Calendar on their phone while ensuring that changes are reflected on the server.
• Meeting reminders: reminders, one of users' favorite calendar capabilities, are also available. Users can choose between visual and/or sound alerts as reminders of upcoming meetings. Users can dismiss or snooze the reminder.
• Read/Write Offline Accessibility: with SEVEN, the Google Calendar is also accessible offline, for access outside of coverage areas or in places where the use of mobile phones is banned. When offline, users can not only view their Google Calendar, but they can also create, edit and change calendar entries. Server synchronization occurs as soon as the phone is connected back to the network.

Seven's still in a free, open beta, which you can get in on here.