Windows Phone Thoughts: Goodbye Windows Mobile, Hello Windows Phone?

"Microsoft, which is planning to unveil its Windows Mobile 6.5 platform at the Mobile World Congress soon, has decided that, going forward, Windows Mobile-based handsets will be promoted simply as Windows phones without specifying an OS version number, according to market sources in Taiwan."

This certainly isn't the first time Microsoft has renamed their mobile device platform. Here is a list of names it has gone by over the years, and since I am doing this from memory, I may have missed a few. Feel free to add those I skip into the discussion thread. I am only including those based on Windows CE. I know MS had other efforts before that, but let's ignore those.

• Handheld PC - first device based on Windows CE
• Palm-sized PC - the first PDA style device. Actually called Palm PC until the real Palm sued that name out of existence.
• Pocket PC - first successful device running Windows CE.
• SmartPhone - non-touchscreen device
• Windows Mobile added to the name.
• Pocket PC and SmartPhone dropped. Now known as Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Standard. Windows Mobile Classic was the name for non-phone devices
• Windows Phone (rumored)

If this rumor is true, something we may find out next week at Windows Mobile Congress, we'll see how long it lasts. I have never seen Microsoft rename a product so many times, much less in just twelve years.