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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled a number of new features and capabilities of the firm’s Windows Phone 7 the firm plans for later in the year.
Taking the stage for a keynote address at the Mobile Congress conference in Bacelona, Ballmer said: "We know we have a lot of work to do."
The firm had previously announced a Windows Phone update which would deliver copy and paste functionality as well as faster application performance. Microsoft revealed that this update will be delivered in the first two weeks of march.
"We have a lot of energy, optimism and a sense of tremendous opportunity," Ballmer told Mobile Congress audience.
Beyond the ‘copy and paste patch’, Ballmer also unveiled a number of other enhancements including Twitter integration into the People Hub and Office document storage in the cloud via Windows Live SkyDrive.
Following on from the desktop PC launch of Internet Explorer 9, Ballmer announced that ‘next generation’ browsing would also come to Windows Phone 7 with a ‘dramatically enhanced’ Internet Explorer 9 web browser to be added to the mobile OS. The browser will offer HTML5 standards as well as hardware accelerated rendering.
Also coming in the ‘second half of 2011’ update is a planned upgrade of Windows Phone’s multitasking capabilities.
The company is planning on adding the ability to switch quickly between applications as well as running third party applications in the background. The firm is planning on telling developers how the new multitasking system will work at the MIX conference in April.
During the Mobile World Congress keynote, Ballmer invited Nokia CEO Steven Elop onto the stage. Ballmer described the move as a ‘natural partnership’ and stated his belief that Nokia would ship "absolutely phenomenal" Windows Phone devices.
