Microsoft to launch Office Mobile 2010 for Windows Mobile 6.5 OS

Bangalore: Microsoft is reportedly preparing for the launch of new software for the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system (OS), the latest version of its platform for mobile phones. The new software is none other than Office Mobile 2010, which might not make users of a WinMo-based device wait too long before it becomes available for them.

Office Mobile 2010 can be launched from one's start menu on any phone running Windows Mobile 6.5.4. One can also open Office file attachments within his/her e-mail or documents stored on his/her Windows phone directly.

Also, one can publish his/her documents to SharePoint Server 2010 or Windows Live services, and access and view documents from his/her smartphone browser. One can also access InfoPath forms via a full-featured mobile browser powered by SharePoint Server 2010.

In addition, Office Mobile 2010 will run exclusively on Windows Mobile 6.5. This means that older versions of the platform won't see it available for them, but that does not meant that the future Windows Mobile 7 will not support it. Previous reports already suggested that Office Mobile 2010 was set to be launched sometime at the beginning of the next year, and that launch time frame might not have been changed so far, yet more details should emerge shortly.

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Is Windows Mobile 7 in beta already?

What if Windows Mobile 7.0 wasn't as far off as some would expect? What if the operating system was already in early beta testing phase somewhere deep inside the caverns of Redmond? What if Windows Mobile 7.0 devices arrived less than a year after the first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices? Microsoft might just stand a chance then. It's a long stretch, but Hand Huang's LinkedIn profile, which says he's a Chinese Senior Engineer at Motorola, puts the words "Windows Mobile 7.0" and "Beta" right beside each other:

3. Joining Caesar product development, lead a team to do telephony feature and other applications development. Migrated relative applications from Windows Mobile 6 to Windows Mobile 7
Language: C++
Tools: VS2008, AKU, Platform Builder
Runtime Environment: Windows Mobile 7.0 (Beta)

UX Evangelist found this mention of Windows Mobile 7.0, and a ton of other ones, while scouring LinkedIn. If you're wondering, the "Caesar" reference is likely the same one as the one on Siddharth Saxena's LinkedIn profile: "Responsible for the integration of BCM4325 wlan chip on Caesar Platform (OMAP3430) on WM7 as a native host driver." In other words, it's just one of the many chips Microsoft is making sure the next version of Windows Mobile will work with.

Windows Mobile 7.0 being in beta so soon is not as farfetched as it might sound at first. The operating system has already been in development for years and last month, we noted how the Windows Mobile 7 Search and Windows Mobile 7 Browser teams were looking for internal testers.

Rumors have April 2010 pegged as the month the OS will hit RTM, and November 2009 the month Windows Mobile 7.0 gets put into testers hands. For that to be true, Windows Mobile 7.0 would have to be in some beta form by now. So what's so special about November? Unsurprisingly, it's when PDC09 is taking place. (Will attendees get a beta copy or at least some glimpse of the new mobile OS?)

At the same time though, we have a separate rumor from last month that states Microsoft will update Windows Mobile 6.5 in February 2010 (new whispers are calling it Windows Mobile 6.7), positioning it against Google's Android, while in Q4 2010 the company will unleash Windows Mobile 7 against the iPhone. April 2010 doesn't fall into Q4 2010, and although Microsoft might end up taking its sweet old time between RTM and actual devices, that's a rather long wait, even for the software giant. Nevertheless, we always love to note how Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared in March 2009 that Windows Mobile versions need to start coming out faster, so there's still hope.

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