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Yet another expected Windows Mobile launch - postponed?

When NewsWireless ran a rumour that Windows Mobile 7 would be launched earlier this year, the Microsoft announcement failed to materialise, with officials perplexed where the rumour could have come from. But now, it has apparently admitted that there were plans for a launch "soon" and they are postponed.

According to Ina Fried, the release date was hoped to be in the first quarter of 2009, before the expected launch of the next iteration iPhone by Apple. That won't happen: 

"Although Microsoft has not publicly said when to expect Windows Mobile 7, partners who had expected to have a final release in their hands by early next year have been told now that it won't be ready until the second half of next year, sources told CNET News.com."

 Among the features widely expected to be part of the release is advanced gesture recognition, said Fried:

"...Perhaps along the lines of the iPhone, but possibly also using the camera as a means for reading gestures."

Fried added that "Microsoft's Tellme unit, which focuses on speech input, has also been working on Windows Mobile 7 features."

However the suggestion that the launch will be "too late" to counter new devices from rivals like Blackberry and Apple, is probably over-stating things.

Industry sources suggest that Windows Mobile is making big inroads into the smartphone market, and may already have a bigger share than Research In Motion has; and Microsoft does have crucial advantages in the important corporate markets of owning Exchange, the central email system, which ties in very closely with Windows Mobile devices.