If sources at Taiwanese mobile handset manufacturers can be believed, Microsoft plans to keep both Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Mobile 7 alive well into the next decade, in a bid to compete with Android-based cellphones and the iPhone.

Microsoft could attack Android phones with the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, expected on October 1 this year with an upgraded touch interface available from February 2010.

A Windows Mobile 7 launch planned for the fourth quarter of 2010 and would potentially compete with the iPhone.

If true, that’s a seriously long lead time and makes me wonder just how serious Microsoft is about keeping and gaining mobile OS market share. [Read more…]

Originally posted on August 19, 2009 @ 6:48 am