Microsoft dropped a semi-bomb by stating that its next-generation mobile operating system -- Windows Mobile 6 -- will be coming to T-Mobile USA shelves in the second quarter of 2007, according to Microsoft. This just-released information -- which had previously been embargoed by the software giant -- was given after an extensive pre-briefing on its capabilities to wireless industry analysts and press this week. Based on information from Microsoft officials, the latest version of Windows Mobile will be given first to T-Mobile here in the U.S. before any other wireless carriers get their official mitts on it. The question then becomes: Will T-Mobile USA immediately make the OS upgrade available to owners of current-generation WM5 devices? After all, there are "ten thousand" changes in WM6 from WM5 according to Microsoft. We hear some massive testing by T-Mobile USA in the near future.

[Thanks, TJ]

Microsoft's finally ready to take the wraps off Windows Mobile 6, the long-awaited successor to Windows Mobile 5 (what else?) that's been baking in the oven for a while now as "Crossbow." The platform formerly known as Pocket PC Phone Edition has become Windows Mobile 6 "Professional," while its more pocketable little brother, the Smartphone, has become "Standard" and plain ol' Pocket PCs are "Classic."

Major new features include:

- HTML support in email
- Windows Live for Windows Mobile
- File transfer capability in Windows Live Messenger
- New versions of mobile Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with rich editing
- Remote wipe capability for stolen and lost devices
- Call history in contact cards
- Tight Vista integration
- "Calendar ribbon" for more easily viewing schedule by day or week
- New versions of .NET Compact Framework and SQL Server built-in

No carrier or manufacturer announcements have been made at this point regarding availability or upgrades -- all eyes are on next Monday for that. Stay tuned for details to come fast and furious from us ahead of some fanfare at 3GSM in Barcelona, including full hands-ons with the new OS in both Standard and Professional form!

Where there's a will, there's a way and these hackers prove it day in and day out. Wouldn't you like to have the latest Crossbow OS instead of waiting around till launch? Well, you won't get the whole OS, but trickin out your current Windows Mobile 5.0 phone to look like the soon-to-be-released doesn't sound too bad either. The latest hack has everything from the welcome screen down to the phone pad to look like Crossbow. As always, be cautious installing the update the let us know how the process goes.

Although we got a small glimpse of Windows Mobile 6 during yesterday's HTC Vox preview, and we've known this thing was coming for a good while, it looks like some textual slippage has revealed that "Crossbow" just might coincide quite nicely with Cupid's weaponry. In a long list of MSDN Events and Webcasts, it looks looked like we'd be hearing all about WinMo 6 from none other than Jim Wilson on February 14th. Of course, the link has now been updated to hopefully cover up the leak, but thanks to Google's caching abilities and a sweet screencap, we've got the proof in front of us, friends. Unless something goes terribly awry, Microsoft will be making this OS official within a matter of weeks, and you can probably still look forward to hearing Mr. Wilson cover the system during his MSDN geekSpeak on Valentine's Day.

[Via Modaco]

Some of us are still trying to keep straight in our brains the difference between Windows Mobile Smartphone, Pocket PC, and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices, but with the impending arrival of Crossbow, that ship has apparently sailed. In the realm of new Windows releases, Vista has obviously been garnering the lion's share of the attention, but Windows Mobile 5 is about to ride off into the mobile platform sunset in favor of Windows Mobile 6 -- codenamed the aforementioned Crossbow -- and the naming convention to differentiate between its various flavors is riding with it. Smartphone (read: phones without touchscreens) is rumored to be replaced by the slightly less colorful "Standard," Pocket PC Phone Edition becomes "Professional," and the plain ol' Pocket PC becomes "Classic," perhaps to reflect the fact that phoneless Pocket PCs have been all but shunned to niche markets in recent years. With all due respect to Microsoft and its hardware partners, they could call it "The Stopgap Version To Hold Us Over Until Photon" for all we care; let's just get some product moving in the pipeline, eh?

Is your Sprint PPC-6700 or Verizon XV6700 feeling down, running poorly, or are you just sick of the bad performance? Fret not Windows Mobile lovers, hope may be in sight. As both carriers have given up on supporting the device and won't be releasing any updates to correct performance issues, a well-skilled hacker comes in to save the day and release AKU 3.3 for each phone. He's also been working on AKU 3.5 and Crossbow. If anyone is brave enough to install these unsupported updates, drop us a line.

Every time we see Crossbow, we're reminded of something else... oh yeah, that's right, Windows Mobile 5. Don't get us wrong, it looks a little slicker, but the i760's attraction is more likely to lie the hardware itself -- not the ultra-mild update to the Pocket PC Phone Edition guts we've loved (and hated) for the past couple years. We expect this thing to hit Verizon stores before the first half of the year is out, but with Verizon, Samsung, and Microsoft all potentially weak links in the delivery chain, we're having a bugger of a time staying positive. Don't let us down, folks!

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

What a better way to usher in the Crossbow Age than with this hot little number from Samsung? Roc A Fella and HTC Kid have again hooked us up with some details on the CDMA rendition of its i760 Pocket PC phone, taking on a decidedly different appearance from its GSM cousin by pushing the keypad to the right and the directional pad to the left. It looks like Verizon is all lined up to get this bad boy come Q2 of next year, packing a little next-gen Windows Mobile action in the process (though what we've seen so far suggests it ain't much more than a reskin). Specs (for those who can't be bothered to peep the image) include 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM, 802.11b / g, microSD expansion, and a sliding QWERTY keypad. Mix in just a touch of that glorious EV-DO broadband, and it looks like we've got yet another winner in Verizon's '07 bumper crop -- if Crossbow stays on schedule, that is.

[Thanks, htckid]

After observing that Crossbow (the next version of Windows Mobile destined to find its way into handsets) appears to be little more than a moderate reskin of the Winodws Mobile 5 we all know and love, our excitement sorta tempered; instead, we started hunkering down for the real prize, Photon -- a major rewrite that's still a ways off yet. Even so, we can't help but feel a twinge of joy at seeing the beautified platform doing its thing on a Hermes in the wild, especially considering that the Hermes is basically a year old. If nothing else, it gives us hope that the lives of the handsets in all our pockets right now might be extended a bit. Don't get us wrong, we'll be compulsively upgrading our hardware ad infinitum right alongside many of our readers -- but we suspect a Hermes with Crossbow will resell for a touch more on eBay than a Hermes with old-skool 5.0, y'know?

[Via PDA247]

The speculation is over kids, mobile-review got themselves a copy of the next major release of the Windows Mobile OS and slapped up a review for all to see. Codenamed "Crossbow," the mobile OS is expected to hit sometime in the first half of 2007 under what can be assumed to be a Windows Mobile 6.0 moniker. Although, as the review points out, a full numeric update is a bit generous as it could just as well be dubbed Windows Mobile 5.0 Second Edition given the lack of new features. For that, you'll have to wait another few years for Photon which will finally unify the Pocket PC and Smartphone divisions -- it's the former (a near-RTM development version) under review. So, now that your expectations are fully deflated, what are we looking at? To start with, most of the new functions in Crossbow are meant to play nice with the 2007 release of Office and Exchange. Just to run down the highlights, we're getting a fully revamped Outlook Mobile app with new Vista-inspired sounds and themes, Windows Live integration featuring Live Search Mobile, Live Mail Mobile, Live Messenger Mobile (which, ironically, was first available on Symbian S60 3rd edition deivces) all available direct from the Today screen, VoIP (SIP) support bundled into the phone-related part of the system, and Smart Dial 2.0 integration for fast search through contacts just like WinMo 5.0 SmartPhone edition. We're still looking at a typical 64MB ROM / 64MB RAM footprint and a minimum 200MHz CPU. Overall, the system performance is speedier throughout due to continued efforts at optimization started with AKU 3.0. There are few more changes of course but what we're looking at here is not an attempt to leapfrog the competition, rather, Crossbow is an effort just to keep the pace which ain't all bad. Oh, and good news for HP and E-Ten device owners, you'll likely have the option of updating to the new OS via a firmware update -- everyone else had best get to pestering their manufacture or trolling the torrents for the bump.

[Thanks, Eldar]

If you've been thinking that Windows Mobile 5 could use a little spit 'n polish (and not much else), new screen shots coming in from GpsPasSion seem to confirm our hunch that that's pretty much how Crossbow rolls. The successor to Windows Mobile 5 -- whose real name and version number is not yet known -- looks less like a new operating system and more like a skin every time we lay eyes on it. To be fair, that's not to say there's nothing notably new here: these Smartphone caps indicate the presence of honest-to-goodness Word, Excel, and Powerpoint apps, Windows Update (FOTA perhaps?), and the previously-revealed Office Communicator stuff. It also looks like Crossbow's refined UI might finally rely on the presence of a 320 x 240 display to do its business, and rest assured, 220 x 176 will not be missed.

[Thanks, Paul]

Though Gigabyte's not much of a mobile presence here in the US, folks in Asian countries might want to listen up: the spec sheet on their g-Smart i200 Pocket PC phone makes it sound like the best thing since... well, the i120 and i300. The 512MB of internal storage is hot, the promise of Crossbow (if it's available by the device's launch in Q1 '07) is pure gold -- but what's really got us all fired up are the integrated dual tuners (DVB-H and DVB-T) and 2.69-inch VGA display. Yep, we said it: VGA. Everyone waiting for the promise of compromise-free mobile web browsing and remote desktop connections can come out of hiding, because this bad boy could very well be the phone you've been waiting for. The TV-out and DVR functionality don't hurt, either. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to book our flights to Taiwan.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Here ya go WinMo lovers, a screen shot of the purported next generation Windows Mobile OS codenamed Crossbow, courtesy of MS Mobile News. Sure, it could just be a WinMo 5.0 theme for all we know but if this is the full Pocket PC homescreen above, then we can expect a glossier look, continued softkey support, and a smattering of oh so Vista icons when this, and the SmartPhone version are released in the first half of 2007. As we already heard from Microsoft, Crossbow will feature a new version of Office Communicator and "strong links with Office 2007 and Exchange 12." If all this still leaves you aching for the hotness of Photon, well, suck it up son 'cause that's not scheduled to hit until the first half of 2008.

Brighthand appears to have unearthed a few details on what's up with Windows Mobile 5.0 and beyond, as laid out in a Microsoft "Tech Days" presentation given in Switzerland (which we can only presume they didn't expect to make it into the wild -- oh come now, sillies). There isn't much to work with here, but the document makes mention of "Crossbow," what might otherwise be remarked as WinMo AKU3. We know, we know, you probably still don't have AKU2 yet, but with Crossbow you might be able to look forward to "Great mobile messaging," "Advanced Business and Enterprise propositions," a "Strengthened phone experience," "Faster, easier application development and distribution," and a "Q1/Q2 '07 Marketing Launch."  Yeah, that doesn't really tells loads. As for Photon: "New, Flexible Shell," "Modular Containers," "'Yamazaki' CE kernel," and "Q1/Q2 '08 Marketing Launch," meaning it could be mid to late 2008 to see the true successor to WinMo 5.0. Dems the breaks, ladies and gents, we're just letting you know what we find.

[Via MGN]

Update: Reader Uni points out you can snag the PowerPoint presentation here.