MWC 2010 - What did we learn?

Well another Mobile World Congress has come and gone. So what did we learn? Let's take a look at some of my favorites from Engadget:

• Opera makes crazy fast browser for iPhone, App Store most likely disagrees
• RIM thinks cellphones are the future of the internet. Invests in new browser based on emerging rendering engine "web-kit" or "WebKit" or "WebKitty" or something like that...
• HTC thinks good things do some in small packages
• Microsoft creates new operating system, calls it Windows 7. Err, Phone Series.

In what was mostly just "okay" things popping up, the show-stealer was Microsoft. Going against everything Microsoft has traditionally held dear, Windows 7 Phone Series is a fresh start. A new beginning in a market that Microsoft used to easily dominate.

Sacrificing backwards compatibility and hardware vendor creativity, Microsoft has decided that they will dictate general design and interaction with the fledgling OS. This is a huge deal to me because Microsoft has traditionally boasted that they merely create a foundation and that the artwork is done by their partners.

This is quite the gamble for them, but now is the time for separation. Perhaps the version numbering is a sign of the potential success of this platform, as Windows Mobile 6.5 is the outgoing OS in Microsoft's stable. Windows 7 made many people confident that Microsoft can build a modern OS that is both easy-to-use and reliable. It has become it's lucky number, but will 7 be a hit for the phone, too?