Microsoft just announced the next iteration of their Windows Mobile platform called Windows Phone.  This thing is going to be killer.  Also with Microsoft putting a restriction on the types of phones that are allowed to carry the 7 series, this ensures that the user will get nothing but a great experience. I'm digging the home screen.  The big buttons show the most used apps.  No fancy widgets, no excess of application icons, just items that you only need and use.  If you're into facebook, this has pretty much full integration with the os without having another app to launch.  This is a step, no a leap above the previous windows 6.5.3.  It has the elements of the Zune interface with some added new styles as well. Another thing is the search.  I really love it.  I think for a mobile it's better than google's/apple's integration.  It also seems to encompass more tasks than a regular search engine.  If you have to ask me, the phone's web search is like six apps in one. There are drawbacks though.  One is that it's doesn't seem like to have multitasking as of now.  There won't be flash at launch too.  Also, it seems to be geared towards the social person and not the power users.   Then again, it's too early as there were reports that there would be two version of the Windows phone. There would be one for the casual consumer and one for the business/power user where the later would have multitasking.   The biggest drawback though is that the Windows Phone 7 series won't be in stores until the 4th quarter of this year.

Also check out this live demonstration:

Courtesy of  Windowsteamblog.com