Microsoft to wait until February for Win Mobile show-and-tell

The New York Times got Microsoft to admit what many of us have been guessing for the past week-plus: Microsoft isn't going to show or talk about what's next for Windows Mobile until next month at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

Too bad. The Consumer Electronics Show would have been a better launch pad, especially given that Palm's Pre news ended up -- to many --  stealing the show. Would a little sneak peek of Windows Mobile 6.5 or Zune Mobile have hurt anyone? (Other than the folks who decided Windows 7 Beta would offer a bigger bang?) And instead of touting education research -- why didn't CEO Steve Ballmer roll one of those stalwart Microsoft futures videos that used to be part of major show keynotes with hints about what's to come on the Win Mobile 7 and 8 fronts?

I know the Microsoft brass believes that secrecy is preferable to preannouncements. But especially in the consumer space, if you don't give customers something to get excited about, they are way quicker to switch to someone who will.

Microsoft needs to stop approaching Windows Mobile like Windows client. And it shouldn't assume that it will be able to bootstrap Windows Mobile using Windows -- like it is doing with Windows Live. I'm not convinced that the majority of phone users will care that Windows Mobile integrates better with Windows than Apple/Palm/RIM/Nokia does.

I recently offered five  suggestions as to how Microsoft might make Win Mobile a more credible combatant in the mobile OS wars. Got of your own to add?