Click to View

The comments of a Motorola executive have bloggers concluding that Windows Mobile 7, once projected for a late 2009 release, won't be available until 2010.

Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha said Tuesday that his company is focused on Android right now but, "in 2010 when Windows 7 will become available, we will then participate in a more focused way in Windows Mobile 7," according to various Web sites and bloggers.

An upgrade to the Microsoft operating system is widely anticipated as a response to the Apple iPhone. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is slated to give a keynote later this month at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, perhaps ending a long silence from the software giant on the expected launch of Windows Mobile 7.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced a few weeks ago that Microsoft may soon announce the arrival of Windows Mobile 6.5, an interim step between Windows Mobile 6.1 and 7, by year's end.

Motorola’s Jha confirmed Windows Mobile 6.5 in his company's earnings call in October. He said the struggling phone maker had Windows Mobile 6.5 devices in the works.

Phone manufacturers would get the new Windows Mobile 6.5 by the middle of the year. Some devices may appear on the market by the third quarter, with most coming in the fourth quarter, according to Digitimes.

It isn't clear what Windows Mobile 6.5 won't have that 7 will. It should offer a lot that's new, but may not be the total revamp that 7 is supposed to be.

Early last year, a supposed internal Microsoft document revealed a number of details about the Windows Mobile 7 under its codename, Photon.

The document, if real, was chock full of details and screen shots, giving us the best view of Windows Mobile 7 yet—particularly in the area of the user interface, which, surprise surprise, heavily emphasizes more advanced touch input (a la the iPhone) than included with previous versions of Windows Mobile

So, in addition to accepting standard stylus input, Windows Mobile 7 accepts multi-touch (more than one finger at a time) and gesture—swipes and flicks of the finger to quickly move through lists, for example—input, both concepts introduced to the smartphone world by Apple with the iPhone.

In addition to touch, Microsoft appears to have plans to allow users to control and manage their Windows Mobile device through shakes and rotation as well: The strength, direction and number of shakes may determine how a smartphone responds.

James Alan Miller contributed to this article.