It is rumored that Microsoft will showcase Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress later this month. Many website have now posted details about the upcoming smartphone OS from Microsoft. And it looks like Microsoft has taken a page out of Apple iPhone playbook for development of their new OS, which can be a good thing for the company.

Like the iPhone, Windows Mobile 7 won’t support Multitasking and use push notifications in place of it. Microsoft will provide servers to support push notifications for various applications. Windows Mobile 7 will also not support Flash and instead include support for Microsoft’s Silverlight 3.0 with mobile specific features. Application downloads would be only through Windows Mobile Marketplace and there would be no support for manual installation. Syncing will be handled by Zune desktop software like iTunes is used by the iPhone. Windows Mobile Marketplace will be integrated in Zune desktop software.

Windows Mobile 7 user interface codenamed “METRO” will be very similar to Zune HD to improve touchscreen support. The new UI will have completely new home screen and won’t allow custom interfaces like Sense and TouchFLO used by smartphone manufacturers to differentiate their phones.

Browser on the new OS is based on IE 7 with some features from IE 8. According to the rumors, it’s faster than Safari browser on iPhone 3G but slower than iPhone 3GS. And it looks like Apple will have another iPhone OS and iPhone hardware update before the Windows Mobile 7 ships, which can be bad news for Microsoft’s mobile browser.

Windows Mobile 7 will not offer backwards compatibility with .NET Compact Framework and hence all the old applications for Windows Mobile 6 or 6.5 won’t run on WM7. Zune and Xbox 360 integration along with full support for social networking will be at the forefront of the new OS.

Devices based on Windows Mobile 7 would start shipping by Q4 2010 and Microsoft believes that analysts / journalists will be surprised as Microsoft is actually ahead of late 2010 or early 2011 launch schedule for WM7. Why would anybody be surprised, Windows Mobile 7 was supposed to ship in early 2009. Microsoft is already late by one and a half year (actually 3 years if you compare to iPhone launch in 2007), and still WM7 won’t have features like multitasking and Flash to outcompete iPhone.

We should find out more about Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress that starts on 15th February.