The precise date when Windows 7 and Windows Mobile 7 will be launched is unknown yet, but the periods when this will happen are beginning to narrow down.

Windows 7

Microsoft said loud and clear that it will release Windows 7 by the end of the year, but the software giant did not specified when. According to a Bloomberg report that cited a well-known Taiwanese analyst, the operating system will be launched somewhere in late September or early October.

The prominent analyst is Ray Chen, the president of Compal Electronics. During a conference in Taipei, Mr. Chen told an audience containing mainly analysts and investors that the most probable release date for Windows 7 will be sometime in the aforementioned period of time.
Mr. Chen added that the anticipation surrounding the launch of Windows 7 will most likely lead to an increase in PC sales, a segment hit quite hard by the economic recession. However, on a wider perspective, the PC sales worldwide aren’t expected to do very well in the next couple of years, the analyst added. 

Mr. Chen may be right. Previous releases of Microsoft operating systems have boosted PC sales. The main cause was the fact that many PC users quickly realized that their computers were to underpowered for the new OS upgrades.

However, with Windows 7 it may not be the case. It is well-known that Microsoft’s new OS is more of a correction of Windows Vista and not exactly a resource-hogging OS. As soon as PC users realize that their laptops or desktop computers can run the Windows 7 just as smoothly as they did on Vista, the demand for new hardware will hit low levels again.  

Windows Mobile 7

The new version of the OS for mobile phones will most likely launch in 2010, said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. During a strategic update session, the Microsoft executive also disclosed the fact that the new version of Microsoft Office will not come earlier than 2010.

The fact that WM 7 will launch next year came as a bit of a surprise. Most industry experts were expecting the release date for the mobile OS to be later due to the fact that Microsoft launched the Windows Mobile 6.5 on February 13 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

"We've got Windows Mobile 7 coming next year. We're getting more and more synergy with Windows, so the browser improvements, et cetera, should be quite rapid," said Mr. Ballmer.

However, the Microsoft CEO didn’t give any details about the planned enhancements and capabilities of the next mobile OS. Ballmer also said that Microsoft does not plan to make its own smartphone arguing that this is not Microsoft’s strategy. The software giant prefers to sell its OS to a broad range of device makers “to encourage choice, choice in devices, choice in the operators.”