Windows Mobile 7 to be announced at Mobile World Congress, “sets the bar forward”

Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division President Robbie Bach has been talking about Windows Mobile 7 at a January 7 Financial Analyst Briefing at CES.

Bach said to expect in WM7 “things will be talked about at MWC.” and regarding the consumer-focussed OS he said:

“I’ve seen it and played with it,” (Windows Mobile 7 will) “set the bar forward not in (just) an evolutionary way.”

Bach further said Microsoft intends to step up its “go to market approach” so that it will be “more engaged” with its mobile OEMs. We know Microsoft has spoken a lot about speeding up the release cycle of both its OS’s and actual devices, reducing it from a common 2 years to as short as 6 months.

Mary Jo Foley, who reported on the discussion, believes Mobile World Congress will also see Microsoft announcing improvements to its My Phone service, which should integrate even more deeply with Windows Mobile phones, for example allowing ring tones to be changed directly from the web interface, applications and themes to be installed, and better integration with Windows Live and Live Mesh.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is between the 15th and 18th of February 2010 and will be held as usual in Barcelona.