Windows Phone 7 Upgrades to be Possible After All? [Microsoft Says Windows Mobile 7 Upgrades Up to OEMs to Decide]

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We talked more than once here on TFTS about Windows Phone 7 and the fact that most of the current Windows Mobile 6.5 phones will not be upgradeable to WinMo 7 later this fall when the new OS becomes available. Microsoft has issued special hardware requirements which will have to be met by all future Windows Phone 7 phones. That’s a move that should, at least in theory, improve our whole Windows Mobile experience.

But now we hear that Microsoft is willing to let OEMs upgrade their existing Windows Mobile phones to Windows Phone 7. Alex Reeve, Microsoft’s UK Mobile Business Group Director, said, when asked about Windows Mobile 6.5 to Windows Phone 7 upgrades:

It’s early days yet, and that’s really for our hardware partners to think about.

We’re not interpreting that as an official confirmation yet. But at the same time I think it’s safe to assume that some of the best Windows Mobile 6.5 phones out there will have what it takes to run the next OS version.

I am particularly thinking about the HTC HD2 which happens to be the best WinMo handset available today in terms of specs and features. A doctored photo was showing the device running Windows Phone 7 just during MWC 2010 and while the photo has been proven to be a fake we did hear from Microsoft that an HTC HD2 upgrade to Windows Phone 7 might be possible later this year.

Now we have one more statement to back all that up so we can only hope that HTC will indeed consider offering its HD2 customers the much anticipated upgrade to Windows Phone 7.

On the other hand, HTC will probably make hotter handsets than the HD2 which will run Windows Mobile 7, so maybe they will want to sell those instead of offering an upgrade for the HD2.