Windows Mobile 7, the next-generation operating system Redmond-based Microsoft is expected to push to the mobile phone market sometime next year, seems to be something more than we would've expected. Previous reports already pointed towards the great amount of changes the software giant plans to deliver to its mobile client with the upcoming flavor, and it seems that they might prove true after all, considering the fact that there are 1,000 people at Microsoft working on the development of Windows Mobile 7.

A recent post on geekzone.co.nz states that this is the number announced by the Redmond company during TechEd this week in New Zealand. One should agree that the number seems pretty impressive, and that it can only suggest that Microsoft is indeed poised to make some big changes to the mobile operating system's future. Moreover, the company is also listing on its site a number of 65 available jobs, all connected with the development of Windows Mobile.

Here's what one of them states: “'Social Networks' and 'Mobile Phones' are two rapidly evolving socio-cultural phenomena that deeply impact the way in which people interact with each other.[...] The Windows Mobile 7 Communications group is building experiences on the phone that present your content - friends, pictures, messages, events - to you in immersive and engaging ways. Our vision is to bring social networks to life by integrating them into the core experience of the phone. For example imagine seeing all the newsfeeds from all the networks you care about in a single hub on the phone. Or imagine the phone instantly telling you what your friend is doing and where he is when you get a call from him.”

There is nothing much that can be added here, except maybe for the fact that Microsoft is set to walk the same path with Windows Mobile 7 as other companies already did with some of the already available OSes on the market. The next-generation flavor of the OS is expected to turn into a “Mobile Social Platform,” the software giant states, adding that “there are several WM7 teams developing social experiences.” Added to the already rumored features that will come with the next iteration of Windows Mobile, such as over-the-air updates or non-touch gestures support, these pieces of information just made our hopes grow higher.