Windows Mobile 7 to launch in 2010

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said the U.S. software giant would release the next generation of Windows Mobile in 2010.

Ballmer also said the company wouldn't ship the next generation of Microsoft Office until 2010, PC Magazine reported Thursday.

The release of Windows Mobile 7, however, is "somewhat of a surprise," PC Magazine said. The company released its Windows Mobile 6.5 earlier this month.

"We've made a nice release announcement last week of Windows Mobile 6.5," Ballmer said in a transcript of a company meeting released by Microsoft. "We're getting more and more synergy with Windows, so the browser improvements, et cetera., should be quite rapid," he said.

Ballmer also said Microsoft had no plans to move into the mobile phone hardware business.

"People ask me, will you build your own phone? (That is) not our strategy," Ballmer said.

"It's our strategy to sell software that we can use and support across a wide range of device manufacturers to encourage choice, choice in devices, choice in the operators," he said.