In his keynote address at the Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows phones called the Windows Phone 7 Series. These phones are going to feature Zune like UI with full Xbox LIVE integration for rich experience.

Windows Mobile 7 / Windows Phone 7 UI has been leaked just a few hours before the official announcement. These shots were captured when the sheets covering these banners were lifted for a very brief moment on Microsoft’s booth at Mobile World Congress. Without any further delay, here is how the latest version of Windows Mobile/Windows Phone is going to look like.

The year 2010 started in a big way with major technology events starting from Google’s Android Conference in January where Nexus One was unveiled. International Consumer Electronics Show was the next to follow where devices like HP TM2 and HP Slate were announced. Then came the BIG Apple Tablet event which was held on January 27th where Steve Jobs announced the much hyped iPad.

Some Photoshop magic on the Windows Phone logo posters hanging across the streets in Barcelona has unveiled the name “7 Series” underneath the main logo. This hidden name probably refers to the upcoming Windows phone handsets, which will be powered by Windows Mobile 7.

Folks at PPCGeeks have grabbed first exclusive details on the upcoming Windows Phone 7 (or Windows Mobile 7) related announcement ahead of this month’s MWC (Mobile World Congress). Without any further delay, here is what Windows Phone 7 is rumored to feature.

The Windows Mobile enthusiast site named WMPoweruser has learned that HTC Obsession, which we reported about earlier is set to launch later this year on AT&T and T-Mobile US as HTC Diamond3. Their report confirms that the smartphone is scheduled to ship sometime in June this year, however this date is likely to slip to Q3/Q4 launch in 2010.

John Starkweather from Microsoft surely couldn’t keep his words when he said: “Microsoft is not building a Zune-specific phone”. A number of speculations took our attention in the last one year or so when Microsoft was rumored to release ‘Pink phones’ with Zune services and an App store.

According to the latest Windows Mobile 7 findings by WMExperts, HTC Obsession could very well be the first Windows phone which will ship with Windows Mobile 7 come this fall. Microsoft may even show it off at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, where they are highly expected to unveil Windows Mobile 7 for the very first time.

The highly respectable blogger Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-review.com in a twitter conversation has revealed that he got his hands on one of the earlier production builds of Windows Mobile 7. According to him, the OS has been built from scratch, the UI is simpler than Zune HD and that none of the existing Windows Mobile apps worked on it. It has got these horizontal navigational movements which seems to have been heavily inspired from Android 3.1/3.2 (?) and iPhone OS.

According to the sources at Digitimes, Microsoft is set to launch Windows Mobile 6.6 (codename Maldives) sometime in February of this year. If this rumor regarding Windows Mobile 6.6 turns out to be true, then we could see it debut as early as next month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

In a recent interview given to an analyst at CES 2010, Robbie Bach, the President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft has given out an insight on what can we expect from the much awaited Windows Mobile 7. From the looks of it, it seems like Windows Mobile is finally going to get a complete makeover to make it more consumer oriented, user friendly and modern(ish). It wont act, look or feel anything like the current versions of Windows Mobile that we known as of today.