Windows Mobile 7 delayed again? Or much hype about nothing?

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

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?

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?

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

12 Comments
  • Meh, it was all the iPhone fanboy sites that made a big deal out of that quote. I think true WinMo users are more than willing to wait till late 2010 if it means the OS will be in good shape out of the gate. Besides, quite a few WinMo users (myself included) recently upgraded to the TP2, so we can't get a decent price on a new phone for a few years.
  • The big deal isn't that it's delayed to late 2010 but the big deal is that it's now somewhat confirmed by MSFT that it's coming late 2010; not earlier, not later! This hopefully stops spreading false information about a CTIA release, a Mobile World Congress release, a Mix release or whatever release.
    Serious news sites put it into the right directions, less serious sites made a big deal out of the news. Mmkay?
  • When Phil Moore said "delayed AGAIN" I believe he was referring to the Windows Mobile 7 that was scheduled for release in summer of '09. I read an article that was written around the release time of WinMo 6.5 that quoted Steve Ballmer saying something along the lines of "we screwed up WinMo 7 and we decided to go back to the drawing boards to try again"...sooo that's what I believe Phil Moore was referencing...but that's just my two cents sooo yeah....:)
  • Sept 2010, on Tmobile Leo, USA sounds like a good bet to me. But I am just taking a stab in the dark. I can see some other devices launching in October 2010 with WM7 has well. Oh and devices would be on ATT and be Snapdragon, and WM7
  • Hi. I have to differ with you on this one. Just because MS doesn't release to the public an official roadmap, a product still can miss its internal deadlines. THis is what happened with WM7. There were lots of roadmaps flying around -- I had one in hand. There were slides from MS presentations showing it was due to come out in spring 2010 on new phones. OK -- we haven't hit spring 2010 yet, but MS officials are saying late 2010. That is a delay. Here's my post from August with links. Thanks. MJ http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3765
  • Hi Mary Jo--actually I do agree that they have missed those internal deadlines and no doubt WM7 has been pushed back again and again (hence the Photon '05 citation). I actually link to our story mentioning the Spring 2010 release too: http://www.wmexperts.com/konklusion-wm7-skedule-phones-april-2010 It just seems sort of obvious that this was going to be pushed back roughly 1 year post WM6.5 release, especially with Q1 beta testing reports and now Spring RTM deadlines--I mean a Q4 release is *exactly* where that timeline would put you, not any earlier (especially if you factor in carrier testing). If WM7 were slated for summer 2010, it' be in beta testing as we speak, nearly wrapping up. But it's not and reportedly hasn't begun yet, so some of us here just find the "late 2010" remark sort of obvious. Put it another way, releasing WM6.5 itself was an admission of missed WM7 deadlines. While in NYC in October, it seemed pretty clear that there was not going to be any WM7 for at least a year. It would have been odd for MSFT to have a big WM6.5 launch only to do it again 6-9 months later.
  • A year to wait for WM7 would be a reasonable time after WM6.5, except for the fact that WM6.5 was a relatively minor upgrade. It seems to take an eternal amount of time for Microsoft to release even minor improvements. Doesn't anybody worry about the effect this will have on the platform's viability? I'm worried that Windows Mobile won't last that long, and be discontinued. Just look at the market share going down. What will stop this? Ballmer doesn't seem to have steered the company in the right direction.
  • Do you have any idea the number of changes that 6.5 did bring? The changes you see are minor, but the core changes are very huge. There is many many pages listing of changes. What's New in OTA Firmware Updates for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Outlook Mobile for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Shell and UI in Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Customizing a Windows Mobile 6.5 Device What's New in Internet Explorer Mobile 6 for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Configuration Service Providers What's New in Applications and Services for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Audio for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Core OS Services for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Graphics for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Kernel for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Networking - Remote for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Mobile VPN for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Networking - Wireless for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Bluetooth for Windows Mobile 6.5 What's New in Phone Device Features for Windows Mobile 6.5 There is a list of Titles. And you still there that there is little Change? 6.5 laid out the framework for WM7, and then placed all of that into an open test market.
  • Well said Conflipper. As to the other comment about taking so long: at least according to the constant leaked builds of the OS at xBeta, MSFT is cranking out revisions all the time. Delays stem from OEM partners who have to customize and test. Then another delay comes from carrier testing. Both of those basically double time-to-market. So it's the model, not the OS maker, that is to blame. Had MSFT just decided to make a WinMo phone, it'd be a lot different...and a lot more constricting.
  • What's that old-salty sailor saying: "water everywhere but not a drop to drink." It's easy to touch a lot of features but hard to make significant improvements. The fact is that WM 6.5 is even more buried in HTC's flagship WM device the HD2, and where it does peek out, the mash-up is clumsy at best. If HTC and Samsung don't believe 6.5 was a significant release not to be shown the light of day, who are we to quibble? Delays in WM 7 really don't matter at this point. What does matter is what Google, Apple, Motorola, Palm, RIM, etc. do before WM 7 is available and there's no question there will be significant introductions from one or more of them before Microsoft shows it hand. Again, the big question isn't delays, trivial build release or the like, it's why Microsoft sticks with this outmoded risky long-period all-or-nothing kitchen-sink product release schedule.
  • and what we learn from all the free form windows bashing is - - it's easy to rag on windows mobile - it's like the bust or carter of phone os's.
    - windows mobile has little cache or goodwill towards it, so no one contests bad news or cited failings
    - it's almost expected to have you noticed the sprint ads that feature three 'hot phones'?
    palm, blackberry and android.... it's not good for business to mention windows? not good to associate with the windows brand? if so, what can be done? address the f'n windows branding issue. and what's the single biggest issue that causes winmo all this grief? what is the problem that every iphone, droid and palm user make fun of winmo on? the user interface. fix the winmo user interface and you fix the winmo brand weakness. and then will that be enough? no. msft will have to address 3 years of saying nothing while APPLE has defined the window experience on phones and pc's. meanwhile every shortfall, every missed milestone, and every bump holding back the winmo7 launch will be fodder for the android, iphone, blackberry, and palm blogesphere; as well as analysts and tech writers, tech blogs, and journalists for newspapers and magazines across the world.
  • I do a lot of smartphone consulting and own phones using everything but WebOS (I can't bring myself pick up a Sprint account just for Palm) and Windows Phone stacks up pretty well. The newer HTC devices especially show just how powerful the OS still is. It's a little frustrating to see so much written about the "necessity" of using a stylus when I haven't needed one since the original Touch Pro.