Windows Mobile phones to become just Windows phones, say sources

Microsoft, which is planning to unveil its Windows Mobile 6.5 platform at the Mobile World Congress soon, has decided that, going forward, Windows Mobile-based handsets will be promoted simply as Windows phones without specifying an OS version number, according to market sources in Taiwan.

In additional news, Microsoft is expected to unveil a beta version of Windows Mobile 7.0 by the end of 2009 with plans to release the platform to device makers in April 2010, the sources indicated.

Sales of Windows Mobile-based handsets totaled about 20 million units in 2008, accounting for 13% of the global handset sales, said the sources.