Windows Phone 7 Roundup: Coming to Energize IT 2010; Fake image making rounds

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

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?

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
  • Eldar is frequently "off the mark" and WMPU posts anything even vaguely related to Windows Mobile, whether it's verified or not. Just sayin'.
  • OK, so, your source can tell you that what is running on that i-mate is indeed not WM7... but then he should also be able to tell you whether WM7 looks like the mockups in that presentation, right? Can you ask him, if not already done?
  • Their "source" is Dieter Bohn, the guy who runs the Smartphone Experts Network that WMExperts is a part of. Back in November 2009, Dieter was invited to a secret Microsoft-hosted event called Mobius 09, where he and a couple of other journalists had the opportunity to see WM7 in action, presented by MS. Every single journalist there was under tight NDA, meaning no one could ever publicly talk about what they saw @ Mobius 09. MS held the event because they wanted to see what journalists in the mobile industry thought of WM7. Here's your evidence if you were asking: http://www.windowsphonethoughts.com/news/show/95970/mobius-2009-fascinat... and: http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/11/19/windows-mobile-7-shown-under-n... As to whether or not the screen shot in the Chinese PDF is real, i think we have to look at it realistically. The screenshot on the imate device has similar UI elements to the one in the Chinese PDF. So if the imate one isn't what WM7 looks like, then the one in the Chinese PDF is probably not what WM7 looks like today, and is probably an outdated WM7 build just to throw us off and make us think thats what WM7 looks like. If this is true, MS is pretty damn clever.
  • *False*. Dieter does not currently have access to current WM7 hardware nor the OS. It would be quite easy to verify that he is the source and MS would be all over him for violating his NDA. They have not said a peep to us, which is one heck of a response if you think someone violated their NDA. Big difference between seeing a supposed "slide show" at Mobius (as reported on blogs) and getting hardware specifications from LG and HTC--do you really think those companies told Mobius attendees about their upcoming hardware? *Really*? We will be getting more evidence in the coming weeks, which no one from Mobius would posses. There are also *multiple* sources, which we use to corroborate info we are given. Finally, please don't presume you know what we know. It's rude, slander and inaccurate.
  • Well, as long as you guys know for sure that none of those leaked screen shots are Windows Mobile 7. It would be really disappointing if MS hardly changed the UI and didnt consider adding new UI elements that we haven't seen. I think we all just want WM7 to be a great surprise, and blow us away.
  • @drphysx Those slides are more than 2 years old. In short, no. It does not look like those slides. I don't think MS would be *that* naive to just publish new images that could be easily leaked ;-)
  • So you guys asked Dieter whether or not it was real, eh? We're pretty luckly Dieter had a chance to see WM7 at Mobius 09 last year. Otherwise, we would have to believe Microsoft was sitting on their hands all these years, not creating and drastically improving the new UI for Windows Mobile 7. Can't wait to see the awesome stuff Microsoft has cooked up for WM7.
  • There's no need to ask him to verify anything. Once again, you are barking up the wrong tree.
  • We will say this once, and one time only: We're not going to discuss sources that aren't otherwise identified in a story. Period. And that said, it'd be pretty stupid to get your boss to disclose NDA'd information and then turn around and print it. Second to that would be accusing someone of being that stupid. End of story.
  • Temper temper guys... Being snappy gets you nowhere.
  • You guys dont know how very wrong your, thats an early windows mobile 7 alpha build, i wish i could post a certain video withing my files....but let just wait till February shall we?
  • Need to point out, the network it was on was Fox Business, not Fox News...its a totally different channel... same owner, but different channel... its like saying something that was on CNBC was on MSNBC...two totally different channels...