Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will be front and center next week during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) conclave in Barcelona. Enterprise Mobile Today looks ahead to the company’s latest smartphone roadmap and how it plans to compete against the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Google Android.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is widely expected to personally unveil more of the company’s Windows Phone plans, including at peek at Windows Phone 7, at the opening of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Monday.
According to a media alert on Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Web site, Ballmer will “discuss Windows phones.”
The news marks the latest in what’s become a closely watched waiting game, as industry watchers anticipate what’s ahead in Microsoft’s efforts to safeguard its position in mobile and better compete with Google Android, the Apple iPhone, and other rivals.
Microsoft officials, including Ballmer, have made no secret since the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January that the company plans to show off in Barcelona the latest incarnation of what had been previously known as Windows Mobile, and what has since become labeled Windows Phone 7. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, said as much during a presentation to financial analysts at CES.
Bach said he had the opportunity to “play” with Windows Phone 7, and that he felt it was not “evolutionary,” but was instead “differentiated” and “something that feels, looks, acts, and performs as something completely different.” He did not go into detail, however.