14 DAY TRIAL // The Windows 10 rollout scheduled to take place in late summer or early fall 2015 is also very likely to include a new version of Windows Phone that’s expected to bring us not only a large pack of improvements, but also a completely new name for Microsoft’s smartphone platform.
Information coming via Chinese website IThome reveals some of the changes that Microsoft could make to its future products, including a possible rename of Windows Phone.
According to this report, Windows Phone 10 could thus be launched as Windows Mobile, a name that Microsoft already used in the past, but several other designations are also on the table right now. For example, other people believe that Windows Phone 10 could also see daylight as Windows 10 for Phones, Windows 10 Mobile, or even simply as just Windows.
This last version, however, has slight chances to happen, as calling the smartphone platform just Windows would lead to even more confusion, but more signs are pointing to Windows Mobile as the next designation of the smartphone platform.
Old rumor, new details
This isn’t the first time we hear that Windows Phone 10 could launch as Windows Mobile, but the screenshot you see here is pretty much the first confirmation that such a change is at least under consideration at Microsoft right now.
Obviously, nobody can guarantee that the screenshot is legit and Microsoft is indeed planning to call its next smartphone operating system Windows Mobile, but we do heard that Redmond is looking into ways to boost the customer appeal of its mobile platform, so this new approach wouldn’t be really surprising.
2015 could mark a new key milestone
Windows Mobile was officially launched in 2000 and appealed to quite a lot of customers at that moment, mostly because it shipped with an interface that was more or less similar to the one of Windows on the desktop.
Sales, however, have never been really outstanding, so Microsoft decided to launch Windows Phone in 2010, not necessarily to replace Windows Mobile (because they’re mostly two different products), but to continue its efforts to expand in the hardware industry.
2015 could thus become the year when all these changes finally make more sense, so launching Windows Phone 10 as Windows Mobile would better align all efforts made by the software giant to compete with iOS and Android.
More details on this new approach are expected to be unveiled next month at the Windows 10 consumer event scheduled for January 21.
