Microsoft’s big Windows phone 7 announcements is right around the corner, but that didn’t Steve Ballmer from making a quick appearance on the Today Show this morning. During the short interview, Ballmer talked up the “delightful” and intuitive new UI on the Windows Phone and quickly showed off some of the various form factors that manufacturers are going to be unveiling shortly. Among the three phones featured, the HTC Mondrian was shown off a music/media device with its unique slide-out speaker. We’ve only got a few short minutes until Microsoft kicks of their press conference, so we’re hoping we’ll have a lot more news coming today.

Though HTC has been plagued with component shortages for the HTC Desire, EVO 4G, and DROID Incredible over the past few months, HTC is hoping to finish out the year with an incredibly strong fourth quarter.  Industry sources are reporting that HTC is planning to introduce a total of six new handsets in Q4 which will help them boost their sale numbers for the year and ship nearly 8.5 million phone in the fourth quarter alone. 

HTC’s new handset lineup will most likely include the HTC Vision, Vanguard, and Emerald running on Android along with the HTC Mondrian, and Mozart which are expected to be running Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 platform.  The HTC Ace (HTC Desire HD) isn’t included in the list since it is expected to go on sale some time in Q3. 

HTC has already experienced two amazing quarters this year, beating their own and analyst expectations both times.  With six new phones on the horizon, we are hoping that HTC has finally been able to sort out their component supply issues, which could be their only obstacle in reaching their sales target. 

source: DigiTimes

News on the Windows Phone 7 front for HTC has been quite sparse as of late, but as the expected launch date for the platform nears, things may pick up quite a bit. Conflipper has just dug up some more evidence that HTC is hard at work in developing a few new phones on the Windows Phone 7 platform. A few XML files on HTC’s site have revealed hardware profiles for the HTC Mondrian and Mozart. The profiles don’t reveal much, but the details do include specs for 800 x 480 displays, touch-screen only form factors, A2DP Bluetooth support, and Internet Explorer Mobile 7.

With only about four months to go before Microsoft officially launched Windows phone 7, we’re pretty sure we will be seeing a lot more news on the topic. HTC has had an incredible first half of the year, relying for the most part on Android. With a complete redesigen of Microsoft’s mobile OS, HTC will definitely be looking to make a huge splash with their first few WP7 handsets.

Source: WMPoweruser

Those of you who are sick of all the Android news of late might be excited to hear that HTC may be working on their first Windows Phone 7 handset already.  Yes, it’s disappointing that the HTC HD2 will not be getting the new OS, but HTC has something better in the works.  A leaked Windows Phone 7 Rom made its way to in the internet over the weekend.  Hidden inside were a new code name, image, and a few specs that I’m sure will make some people quite happy.  The hard working folks on XDA-Developers extracted the name: HTC Mondrian (Mondrian was a Dutch painter known best for Neo-Plasticism) from the ROM, along with details on a 4.3 inch WVGA Optrex display and a Snapdragon processor.  Details sound a lot like the HTC HD2, but the code reveals that the Snapdragon processor will feature the 1.3GHz Scorpion core which will definitely give it a huge boost in powered over its older sibling. 

The image discovered in the ROM is most likely not what the HTC Mondrian will look like.  As you can tell, it resembles the HTC HD more than it does the HD2.  HTC has mentioned that they are committed to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform, but we don’t have any indication when they plan on releasing any WP7 powered phones. 

Source: WMExperts