Microsoft didn’t allow its users to get very used to the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system which hit the market last year before news of a new version started making the rounds. Windows Mobile 6.5 finally made it to mobiles only last month and there has been frantic news about how cool (or not) the update was; one of the reasons that it made the ‘not cool’ list was the fact that the new update wasn’t free on many devices.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is already old news after Microsoft announced the new Windows Mobile 7 that would be made available in the third quarter of the coming year. Going under the code name of Maldives, the new program for WinMo 7 will start testing with handset makers in the first quarter of 2010. WinMo 7 Maldives will have support touch panels unlike the previous Windows Mobile operating systems, including the 6.5 upgrade.

Support for touch panels would ensure that the operating sysem can be used by handsets much like the Apple iPhone increasing the possible clientele of Microsoft as well as acquiring a stronghold over a section of the market that Apple seems to have been ruling over for the past few years. Meanwhile, news of the WinMo 7 sure helps the tourism industry of Maldives!

Via: Techtree