There's a story circulating courtesy of The Wall Street Journal that Microsoft will indeed unveil Windows Mobile 7 during a Feb. 15 news conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Unnamed sources "familiar with the matter" elaborated further to the WSJ's Nick Wingfield, saying the operating system's user interface was reminiscent of that of the Zune HD.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is indeed headlining that press conference, and they tend not to trot him out for anything less than a major product launch--certainly they'd be less inclined to put him in front of a microphone if all Microsoft planned on debuting was an upgraded version of Mobile 6.5. So count that as a point in the Journal's favor.

Mobile 7 would indeed be the complete reboot of the smartphone OS franchise that Microsoft is apparently looking for, if it drops the Mobile 6.5 interface for something sleek-looking like that of the Zune HD. It does raise a few points of concern and interest to me, though.

The first involves mobile applications.

Microsoft launched its Windows Marketplace for Mobile in October in conjunction with the release of Mobile 6.5, in order to take advantage of the general trend of smartphone app stores. Although Microsoft executives said over the summer of 2009 that they hoped to begin with a storefront of 600 apps, the actual number upon launch was 246.

About a week ago, I asked Microsoft how many applications were currently in Marketplace. They declined to tell me, saying something about how the number is continually growing, so I headed over to the Marketplace Website, where I hand-counted 718 for U.S.-based Mobile 6.x phones (the site also offers a variety of apps in languages other than English). That's a far cry from the numbers available for either the iPhone or devices running Google Android.

What I'm wondering, though, is if any of those apps developed for Mobile 6.x will run on Mobile 7. If so, how many? Will developers have to go in and rewrite applications in order to make them run on Microsoft's new mobile OS? If so, what's their incentive?

The second is about devices.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, "Project Pink" will also be debuted early in 2010. For those of you who don't follow Microsoft closely, Pink is a long-gestating branded smartphone project. The rumor mill has even suggested at various points that Microsoft is actually developing two devices under the project's umbrella, code-named Turtle and Pure, which would feature a sliding form factor reminiscent of the Sidekick.

In theory, Project Pink would be running Mobile 7, along with any number of new Windows Phone devices that Microsoft is planning with its OEMs. New hardware, a new mobile OS that likely incorporates a substantial touch-screen element thanks to the Zune HD-style interface ... it would all be light-years ahead of Mobile 6.5, and therein lies the issue: Microsoft would be increasing the size of its device and software ecosystem at a time when it should probably be thinking about streamlining and refining its mobile offerings.

In other words, it'll be interesting to see how Microsoft tries to juggle all this. The company intends Mobile 7 to be a reboot, something that'll let it get back in the game against Google Android, RIM's BlackBerry line and the iPhone OS. Unless it executes well, though, there exists the chance that Microsoft could simply muddy its mobile situation even further.