We talked a while ago about the disaster that was Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system for smartphones, which brought very little novelty to a market where Symbian and the Android OS are becoming ever more popular, and even managed to get CEO Steve Ballmer enraged (with quite a serious chunk of the team in charge of this particular segment of Microsoft's business being replaced by some “new blood”).

However, it seems that Ballmer's “transfusions” worked out pretty well, since rumors have started to abound regarding the imminent official launch of this future OS, as well as the improvements it will bring to the smartphone environment. And the people over at WMExperts have managed to put together a very comprehensive compendium of the respective rumors, some of which are well corroborated from various sources, while others should be taken with a serious pinch of salt, at least until the Redmond-based giant decides to make an official announcement on the subject.

First and foremost, let's see what we should expect in terms of software. So, the first rumor on the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 is that it won't be called “Windows Mobile” anymore, but just Seven. Also, two different editions will apparently be available, the Windows phone Seven Business edition (which, quite naturally, targets mostly people who use smartphones for business-related purposes) and the Windows phone Seven Media Edition.

The Business Edition will apparently be a more basic version of the OS, which will allow phone manufacturers to easily add their own, proprietary interfaces to the device. However, the Media Edition (which is most likely not going to arrive in 2010) is what we might call the “real” Seven, having such features as HD-video playback capabilities, a Zune-like music player and other cool aspects that would certainly appeal to the younger crowd.

In terms of hardware, it would seem that HTC and LG are both preparing some devices that will be able to run the future Seven mobile operating system. The handsets, dubbed “Apollo” (the LG model) and “Obsession” (the HTC version), will apparently feature some improved specs in terms of computing capabilities, both relying on Qualcomm chipsets for more computing power.

As mentioned above, pretty much all of these rumors should be taken with a pinch of salt; on the other hand, they surely feel true enough. Well, guess only time will tell what's what.


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