Steve Ballmer, the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, made a number of significant announcements in a strategic update session on Tuesday. The Microsoft CEO announced that the next major iteration of Windows Mobile or Windows Mobile 7 will be launched in 2010.

Steve Ballmer announced that the next version of Microsoft Office will not be shipped until 2010. He also announced a netbook-like version of Windows Server, called Foundation Edition.

Surprising everyone present at the session, the Microsoft CEO announced that Windows Mobile 7 will be released next year. It was little surprising because the Windows Mobile 6.5 was released by Microsoft on Feb. 13 at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

Speaking of Windows Mobile 7, Ballmer said, "We've made a nice release announcement last week of Windows Mobile 6.5. We've got Windows Mobile 7 coming next year. We're getting more and more synergy with Windows, so the browser improvements, et cetera, should be quite rapid."

Denouncing the rumors that Microsoft is planning to bring out its own phones, Ballmer simply stated that Microsoft will not be producing its own phones.

Ballmer said, "People ask me, will you build your own phone? It’s not our strategy to build our own phone. It's our strategy to sell software that we can use and support across a wide range of device manufacturers to encourage choice, choice in devices, choice in the operators. We have a positive price on our software. Google does not. I don't know how it is a sustainable thing to not have a positive price. And don't tell me you think it's search, because even when they win the Android business, they have to pay to have their search installed on that phone, just as we do, that's a competitive bid that the operators mandate. So we're going with a real price, with real investment, with a professional approach, and a positive price on software-based model."

The Microsoft CEO stated that the fact that Windows Mobile was the foundation for low-cost phones, makes him feel proud. Ballmer opined that while the phone market may contract, the market for smart phones will grow. Ballmer said, "Smart phones will grow, in my opinion, even as the phone market as a whole decreases."