For everyone anywhere outside the US who wants to use Zune I have good news. Microsoft confirmed to Mary Jo Foley that Zune will be going international. MJ asked in an interview with Cassey McGee if “Microsoft [will] make the Zune music/video service available outside the U.S.?” to which the answer was “Yes, McGee said. “It will be available in all countries where Windows 7 Phones will ship.” Microsoft is not yet disclosing that list of countries.”

This is more great news after following the unveiling of Windows Phone 7 and perhaps we will see it before the 2010 holidays, it seems such a long way away.

I wonder now if Microsoft plans to become a real player in the consumer market if they will be opening Microsoft Stores around the world to compliment their soon to be new international products.

Well what can I say? Words don’t seem capable enough to describe what Microsoft have announced today; including a stunning new interface and a radical departure to the old mobile strategy and focus. So without further ado here are some links of videos, views and sites about Windows Phone 7 Series (yes its a mouthful but a least it doesn’t sound like a woman’s product).

Videos

• Official Video of the Keynote
• Channel 9 Demo of Windows Phone 7 Series
• Windows Phone Channel
• Neowin’s video of Windows Phone 7 Series UI
• Engadget hands-on videos
• Gizmodo hands-on video

Pictures

• Long Zheng’s photos of the demo phone
• Engadget’s hands-on pictures | Engadget’s UI pictures
• Gizmodo Pictures

People’s Views

• Engadget Impressions
• Gizmodo

Sites

• Windows Phone 7 Series
• Windows Phone Blog

There was a lot announced and demoed today but there are still many questions about the new mobile OS such as will it multi-task and what will developers be able to do with the OS. Microsoft just keep saying to wait until MIX for those kind of answer, so on to the next conference.

Just a few thought from me about what I think could still be to come.

More Hubs

I wonder if the hubs we saw today will be the be all and end all of hubs or if there will be others, I can certainly see more Microsoft services as hubs. It would be good if Internet Explorer was a hub with access to pinned (bookmarked pages), history and a list of currently open tabs, similar to my hopes for IE9. Bing could also benefit from being a hub what with a local tab, pulling news and info about the user’s location, recent searches etc. One final hub I could see existing on the devices is a Windows Live one with all the various services quickly accessibly from one screen, perhaps we can expect to hear more about this when Wave 4 debuts.

Project Natal

I was expecting Microsoft to include aspects of Project Natal in Windows Phone 7 such as voice recognition and control but this appears to have been left out, or not announced as blogged about on MSFTKitchen.

Project Pink

The saga continues…

I look forward to hearing a seeing more about Windows Phone 7 it has the potential to be game changing. Now if only there was a leaked version for my HD2.

Unfortunately I wont be able to cover Microsoft’s MWC keynote tomorrow as I have uni labs during the event. As a Windows Mobile users I know what I want Microsoft to do and I hope they do much more than what I want to see and you can be sure that I will want to share my thoughts about any and all announcements from tomorrow.

If you want to follow what Microsoft announce at the keynote (seeing as most people I have spoken to about it are free to follow) you can watch it streamed live from Microsoft or read some of the Live Blogs from the likes of Long Zheng and Tom Warren or Engadget(no link posted yet).

I am very excited to hear what Microsoft have planned for their mobile devices (and maybe the wider consumer market) but I’m very disappointed I shall be missing it.

I had said I wasn’t going to post much more about what Microsoft may or may not announce at MWC but when seeing such compelling evidence as the pictures from Engadget I can’t help but start thinking how this could all work together.

Caution all ye who read on from here, there be some serious speculation up ahead.

Windows Phone 7 Series

Over the past few hours I’ve been wondering what could constitute a “series” from Microsoft. If you look at Windows 7 there are several versions in the market but that is only marketed as one product. Therefore I think the idea of the series only being different version of Windows 7 doesn’t make sense.

As suggested in an earlier post Microsoft will be announcing Windows Mobile Starter Edition that is thought to be a version of Windows Mobile 6.x. It makes sense that Microsoft would want to avoid any confusion with having several versions of Windows Mobile by having all versions of Windows Mobile branded under one name, Windows Phone 7 Series.

Another aspect of the “series” name is that it could incorporate Microsoft branded hardware too such as “Zune Phone” or Project Pink running variations of Windows Mobile 7 (making it part of the series) but with very different interfaces.

The “series” idea could actually answer one question I have had about Microsoft and its phone plans which was how they could avoid confusing within the marketplace when offering what looks like several very different experiences. Rather than making it a “Windows Phone” which suggests a device that will run the same OS a “series” suggests differences within a collection, exactly what could be the case.

The there is the question of “7”, yes the next version of Windows Mobile is scheduled to be 7 but I think Microsoft is trying to use the good publicity about Windows 7 in its mobile branding. I personally don’t like the sound of Windows Phone 7 Series, the number suggests a single experience and series suggests variation; unless, of course, there are 7 different components that make up the series (ie 7 different products that make up the series).

…although having just seen this tweet from @jont84 I really shouldn’t get ahead of myself, things might change.

Microsoft Store Announcement

One unrelated idea I have had about other possible announcements by Microsoft during its keynote is news of more Microsoft Stores. For me part of this poster (from Engadget) bares an extremely close resemblance to the Microsoft Store logo.

If Microsoft is serious about bringing Windows Phone to consumers in a big way then being able to showcase and sell the device through their own stores would be a great way to achieve this. If, as rumoured, the first phone running Windows Mobile 7 aren’t released until September then there is plenty of time for Microsoft to open several more stores across the world than just the 2 in the US.

I am concerned of an iPad situation where the rumours make the final product seem very bland, but at the same time I am too much of an optimist and want the best from Microsoft and to share my ideas.

Tom Warren has been busy today on Twitter, first breaking news about FCC confirming Project Pink and now has told his Twitter followers he has been informed by a Microsoft PR person about the existence of Windows Mobile Starter Edition.

As Tom suggests I would expect the started edition to be a version of Windows Mobile 6.x perhaps 6.5.3 or maybe Microsoft will announce an even newer one, 6.6. Its not unsurprising to see rumours of Windows Mobile Starter Edition seeing as Microsoft currently provide a Windows 7 Starter Edition and are planning to release Office 2010 Starter.

I thought I knew what Microsoft were planning to announce but there seem to a few things I had counted on, lets hope Microsoft have some other tricks up its sleeve to make it really interesting on Monday.

I have been a long time user of Windows Mobile and have been following news of Windows Mobile 7 for the past few years, ever since I saw no real change between 5 and 6 and then the launch of the iPhone. Microsoft have been slow to keep Windows Mobile competitive however its only days until we hear how Microsoft plan to make themselves a real contender in the mobile market. Due to that I thought I would write an article combining all the information that we know, the rumours that are circulating and what I hope Microsoft will announce.

At Mobile World Congress on Monday it is widely understood that Steve Ballmer will announce Windows Mobile 7 as part of the Windows Phone brand. With this announcement I also believe there will be a Zune app announcement and release for current Windows Phones (likely to be Windows Mobile 6.1+) and possibly news about about Project Pink and the “Zune Phone”. I also think Microsoft will unveiled several updated services to compliment their new mobile announcements.

Windows Mobile 7

Windows Mobile 7 is likely to be a powerful mobile OS built on the very latest version of Windows CE, I believe will have multitasking whilst being very snappy and have aspects of various interfaces to bring the most user friendly yet accessible and simple interface to mobile devices yet.

It has often been rumoured that Windows Mobile will feature and support Silverlight which should make for some interesting effects and interfaces across the OS and within apps. However it is becoming increasingly more likely that Windows Mobile 7 will not support apps from older versions of Windows Mobile; this is both good and bad. For me there are very few apps I would really want to see on a brand new OS as many are ugly and yet at the same time there are a few must have apps for the Windows Mobile which will need to be ported over to 7 very quickly, I expect Microsoft will have an armoury of apps available at launch such as Windows Live, Office 2010 and Bing.

Now if we have a look at where Windows Mobile currently does well we can expect Microsoft to have a heavy focus on business users but if looking at the iPhone is anything to think about Microsoft will also want to aim for the consumer market. This leaves two approaches either Microsoft create a mobile OS that appeases both markets (even if they are converging) or the company will release two versions of the OS one for consumers and another for business users; this would be much like it currently does with Windows and possibly there could be a Windows Mobile Ultimate. Below is rumoured information about what both editions could contain:

Business Edition

Consumer (Media) Edition

To me the two editions make sense, business wont want to buy their employees a device that can do powerful gaming so will be inclined to buy the business version. Likewise many carriers wont want to sell their “hip” and “cool” customers devices that can do spreadsheet well. There should intuitively be an ultimate version of the OS for us people who want everything on their devices. There will be people for an against such a move by Microsoft but if this was marketed correctly (ie consumer version in shops and business version through partnership channels) there shouldn’t be much confusion within the mobile market.

In terms of the interface of Windows Mobile 7 I expect some things will look very similar to the current version, like the lock screen but eh majority of the OS will be given a much needed overhaul adding transparency, curves and other such goodies to the interface. The design of the mobile OS is said be like a mixture of the iPhone, Android and Zune HD, I hope taking the best parts of each.

Project Pink and the “Zune Phone”

What Project Pink is has been a question for many for quite some time, it is thought to be a combination of both Microsoft branded hardware and powerful services that integrate very closely with the devices. The specifics of what the hardware or software could entail is mostly unknown. Then there are the rumours that Microsoft is readying the announcement and release of a “Zune Phone” devices which could be something like the Zune HD with phone functionality or a version of Windows Mobile 7 with a Zune HD interface on a Microsoft branded piece of hardware.

As much as I want there to be a “Zune Phone” I believe that Microsoft may well only confuse customers if they also offer a full media version of Windows Mobile. People could argue that by just adding a phone component to the Zune HD it would allow Microsoft to have their own phone in the market to compete with the iPhone whilst not upsetting any hardware OEMs; this strategy doesn’t appear to have worked so well for Google who are thought to have only sold a fraction of the number of devices in the first month when compared with the launched of the droid of iPhone.

There has been mention that whatever the “Zune Phone” may be it will integrate well with the Zune.net services which will incorporate photo and video storage in the cloud. For me it makes sense to allow close music, TV and movie integration with any “Zune Phone” and zune.net but I think that Microsoft should use Windows Live Photos (and Videos if such a service is set to exist). This integration could well be the premium services from Project Pink or maybe the whole Project Pink is a completely separate venture inspired more by the Sidekick and Danger team than anything else from Microsoft.

Accompanying Services

If Google is anything to go by a good way to make a phone OS very functional is to make sure it has great integration with various services. Now Microsoft have a vast array of services that could well be capitalised on via a mobile device from services such as Windows Live and Bing to Zune and Xbox Live. What a lot of people like about the iPhone is the iPod functionality Microsoft can compete with that by making Windows Phones sync with the Zune Software for PCs and with Google people like the online service which Bing and Bing Maps can be used for. Then Microsoft can go one further (whatever Apple may claim) and make the first handheld gaming device with phone functionality.

What is necessary for Microsoft to also do is have great online services to act in partnership with the phones to ensure users’ data is stored in the cloud and easily shared with others, if the users wants it to be. Microsoft currently provide the My Phone service to back up a range of data on the phone but why this is not part of the Windows Live suite I don’t know, users even need a Windows Live ID to use the service, so I expect to see My Phone version 2 using the Windows Live storage to create a single online storage for users. Windows Live would allow users to have a single list of contacts, upload pictures (and I believe Videos), keep their calendar synced etc.

Looking to unannounced services that would work well on the mobile OS would be if, as I expect, Live Mesh becomes part of the Windows Live service then all data stored on the device could easily be backed up to the cloud. I also believe that in Windows Live Wave 4 Microsoft will be looking to make it more of a platform that will allow users to share information and links very easily to all their connected services and this will be apparent on Windows Mobile 7 that will support picture, video, status and URL sharing natively; possibly using Windows Live’s own URL shortening service. One other idea I have had is for Microsoft to use parts of its Project Natal technology in Windows Mobile 7, probably not the touch-less control as this would be too much of a power drain however things like face and voice recognition alongside voice control would be extremely useful on a mobile device.

Now on to the Marketplace for Mobile which sounds like it’ll be the only way people will be able to install applications. I guess this makes sense for Microsoft and Developers alike however I also liked how open Windows Mobile was and think it’ll be a shame to see a departure from such an ecosystem. I would also hope that Microsoft don’t have strict rules like Apple on approving apps for the device but can maintain a high number of quality apps.

Release Schedule

Once Microsoft make their announcement on Monday everyone will be looking for when they can get their hands on whatever is announced. If the “Zune Phone” does exist it is thought to be made available within weeks of MWC and any Zune applications for Windows Mobile are likely to be released immediately. Most rumours point to Windows Mobile 7 being released in September, it might be just the business version of the mobile OS or every version, who knows. Then there is another rumour circulating that September will see the launch of the first wave of Windows Mobile 7 phones will no customisation from the manufactures or carriers, then by the end of the year there will be second wave of devices with limited customisation and finally in 2011 there will be a third way where the entire interface could be changed.

Obviously at some point Microsoft will more than likely release Windows Mobile 7 to its OEMs for beta testing at which point we can expecting the first leaking of the mobile OS appear on the internet. This should provide us with much more of an insight into the OS, I doubt Microsoft will have time to demo everything about it, if they do indeed announce it, or want to show us everything.

We also know that Microsoft will be holding several sessions at its MIX conference in March to supply developers with info on writing apps for the company’s new mobiles. It will be interesting to know what other people from Microsoft have to say about Windows Mobile 7 and anything else announced after Monday, I am sure there are plenty who want to talk about it now.

Monday 15 February

Unfortunately at the time of Microsoft’s keynotes on Monday I will be in a lab and will miss it, however I recommend that anyone who is interested in Windows Mobile, Project Pink and/or Zune should watch the live stream of the event via Microsoft or read Long Zheng and Tom Warren’s live blogging of the event. I can imagine its going to be a very exciting event.

I am looking forward to hearing what Microsoft plans to do with its mobile offerings and what innovative features, designs and interfaces it plans to bring to market, Monday can’t come quickly enough for me. I doubt I will share many more rumours with you as close to the events rumours seem to get wilder and wilder as seen with the solar-panel-on-the-back-of-the-iPad rumour but obviously if there is substantial evidence you can be sure I will share it.

This latest set information comes from tweakers.net, via LiveSino, which have written a 7 page article about what they have heard about Windows Mobile 7. Some information was already heavily speculated and rumoured, some I have been hoping to hear about and somethings that are surprising. Obviously it remains to be seen how much of the below information is actually true.

The site is reporting that there will be a much greater focus on integrating various Microsoft services into the mobile OS so there will be a Zune media player and heavy integration between features from the Xbox Live service. The article says there will be wireless (syncing I guess) of data, multimedia and games probably in the same way its possible to wirelessly sync a Zune device and to the cloud I hope. The articles also provide reasoning for the inclusion of some of the services which states that Microsoft is trying to use the good perception of Xbox and Windows 7 to encourage people to use Windows Phones, a strategy that is not at all surprising.

From reading further on the article I understand that tweakers.net believe Microsoft have a 3 phase plan for the release of Windows Mobile 7 which will start in September this year with the release of a few devices with the default Microsoft interface and a standard screen resolution across all the devices. This will then be followed by phase two by the end of the year which will allow OEMs and carriers to make small changed to the interface such as colours and their own applications. Finally phase 3 will start in Spring 2011 and it will see OEMs and carriers allowed to implement their own interfaces such as HTC’s Sense. This sounds an interesting strategy, obviously aiming to get people familiar with the interface and a to raise awareness of the new devices with a unified interface.

A few other things from the article is that it seems like there will only be touch screen devices so I guess we can say good bye to the stylus, some people will be against this. The interface is described as being “very iPhone like” with elements of Android and Zune HD but the OS is said to be much faster than the iPhone 3GS. Again its being said that Windows Mobile 7 wont support apps from older versions of the OS, as I see it that’s both good and bad however there are very few nice looking apps I would want on a “more than evolutionary” mobile OS.

With every new rumour I am wanting more and more to hear what Microsoft have to say at Mobile World Congress on Monday, really not long to wait now.

PPCGeeks posted an article earlier (unfortunately I was going out just as I saw it) about some breaking news with regards Windows Mobile 7 and the highlights of this breaking news is as follows:

-At the Mobile World Congress event on February 15th, 2010, Windows Phone 7 will be unveiled, although at this time plans are only to unveil the user interface of the new platform . Specific in-depth functionality of the device will most likely not be shown.

-The User Interface is based upon codename “METRO”. It will be very similar to the Zune HD User Interface with a complete revamp of the “Start” screen. The UI is “Very Clean”, “Soulful” and “Alive”
-Unfortunately there will be no Flash support at the get go as there was not enough time to implement these features.
-Windows Phone 7 will only support application installation through service based delivery. (i.e Marketplace). Application installation via storage card will not be possible.
- No Multi-Task support. Applications will “Pause” when in the background, however will support notifications via push notifications.
-Marketplace will now support “try before you buy” as well as an API
-No NETCF backwards compatibility. This means the original rumor of no backward compatibility for applications holds to be true. That being said, there are high hopes of porting the NetCF to the newer platform easily.
-Microsoft is confident that devices will be ready by September 2010
-Full Zune Integration
-Windows Mobile Device Center will no longer be used. Zune software to take over syncing via PC.
-OEM Interfaces will not be allowed to run on the device. Say goodbye to Sense UI / SPB Mobile Shell / Point UI / Infinity, etc, etc
-Full XBOX Gaming Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
-Full support for social networking

Now most of these points have already been rumoured but I am very doubtful of some of the points:

• No multi-tasking, I don’t believe Microsoft would want to do considering its a main feature and argument against the iPhone
• OEM interfaces wont be allowed, I would hope Microsoft don’t implement this rule. I expect Microsoft have spent a lot of resources on a new interface, if it is good enough OEMs wont replace it but they should still be able to replace it if they want too

There are some points I would hope aren’t true

• Applications can only be installed through service based delivery, I can see reasons for and against this approach and it does indeed suggest
• Zune software will take over syncing between PC and phone, not the greatest of systems as it will lock users into to using Zune software to use a Windows Phone, nothing wrong with that but its a very “Apple” approach for Microsoft to take

With the points I have addressed above its led me to the conclusion that what PPCGeeks are actually talking about is either the Media Edition of Windows Mobile 7 or the OS that will be used on the mythical “Zune Phone”. I just can’t see Microsoft removing support for some of the platform’s greatest assets, multi-tasking and customisation, in all editions, business users will definitely want more than from a phone.

It makes sense to me that a media variant of the new mobile OS or even the “Zune Phone” will not require true multi-tasking, media playback and gaming, if Xbox Live is a feature, could be quite demanding on the low powered mobile devices. If there is to be a “Zune Phone” it will likely look and feel very much like the Zune HD and Microsoft wont want to let vendors replace the interface. However Microsoft could well allow OEMs to change the UI of the Media Edition of Windows Mobile 7, or not.

I guess we will know how much of this is true in just over a week!

I’ve created some Twibbons for people looking forward to the Mobile World Congress starting in less than two weeks:

“Zune Phone”

For anyone looking forward to the rumoured “Zune Phone” or who are waiting for Microsoft to release a Zune app for their Windows Phone.

Windows Mobile 7

For anyone looking forward to Microsoft announcing and demoing Windows Mobile 7.

Mobile World Congress 2010

If you are looking forward to Mobile World Congress or are attending the event you might want to use this Twibbon.

Following my Windows Live Wave 4: What We Know So Far post (which I will be updating some time this week) I thought I would collect some of the information about the rumoured Microsoft announcements in Mobile World Congress starting in 2 weeks. So for anyone who might have missed some of the news likely to come out of MWC the list below should bring you up to speed.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 or 6.6

It is very likely that Microsoft will officially announce and release the latest version of Windows Mobile 6.X. The update will most notably include a revised UI across the whole OS and support for capacitive screens.

Microsoft have already announced this update to Windows Mobile.

Zune

Zune Windows Mobile Software

Steve Ballmer promised, via The Engadget Show, that when Microsoft next release a version of Windows Mobile (6.5.3 or 6.6) they will also release a Zune app for their mobile OS. As far as I can tell in the US and Canada the app will link in with the Zune service, as the Zune HD does, however outside of those countries the Zune app, if there is one, will only play music synced from a user’s PC.

“Zune Phone”

Rumours have been growing over the past year about a Microsoft branded phone(s) firstly beginning with Project Pink, well documented by Mary Jo Foley, and has recently taken on the form of the “Zune Phone”.

This phone, whatever it may be, is likely to be Microsoft branded with heavy Zune integration both in terms of the UI design and how to sync content on the phone. The operating system is likely to be a scaled back version of soon to be announced Windows Mobile 7 and will use a the same Nvidia Tegra chip as in the Zune HD.

There is likely to be a brand new set of premium services on devices(s) from Project Pink but what exactly these service will feature is unknown.

Windows Mobile 7

Probably the most anticipated announcement Microsoft could make at MWC is about Windows Mobile 7 which they have described as “more than evolutionary”. Little is known about what Windows Mobile 7 will be like and what new features Microsoft will be adding but it is rumoured that there will be two versions of the OS; a business version which will allow OEMs to replace the default UI and a Media version which is likely to have close integration with several Microsoft services such as Zune and Xbox Live.

Windows Live Wave 4

There has been no word on whether Microsoft will demo any parts of the new Windows Live release however I expect and hope Windows Mobile to make use of Microsoft’s social network, online service and features to enhance Windows Mobile. I hope that Live Mesh technology is used to backup data to the cloud and user’s computers and things like contacts and calendar can be easily kept in sync across the whole suite and all devices that can access the services.

If you have heard or hear of any other rumours about what might be announced by Microsoft at MWC then please let me know via comments or Twitter.

Keep up to date with all the latest “Zune Phone” and Windows Mobile 7 news.