Microsoft confirms WM 5.0 successor "Crossbow"

[Alexander Turcic]

Microsoft officially confirmed today that the company is working on the successor of Windows Mobile 5.0, code-named "Crossbow". According to IDG:

Crossbow will have strong links with Office 2007 and Exchange 12, Microsoft's pending new office application suite and e-mail server, said Pieter Knook, senior vice president for the mobile devices and telecoms sector. Crossbow would be the successor to Windows Mobile 5.0, released in May 2005.

Crossbow will take aim at the Symbian Ltd. and BlackBerry operating systems. The OS will contain a new mobile version of Office Communicator, an Office 2007 enterprise communications application, that includes instant messaging on public and private networks, Knook said.

The official revealed no launch date, but it's not a top secret that Microsoft aims to make Crossbow available to OEMs in Q4 2006 and to launch the first commercial products through Q1/Q2 2007. Crossbow will still be based on the old kernel of Windows CE 4.2. For more revolutionary changes we'll probably have to wait until "Photon" is launched by the end of 2007 which will be based on the next release of Windows CE (5.0 - "Yamazaki").