The next-gen version of Windows Phone to be called "Windows 10"

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In an event in the USA today, Microsoft announced the name and desktop features of its next-gen version of Windows, to be dubbed 'Windows 10', and the version that nominally integrates phone, tablet and laptop/desktop in one platform. According to Microsoft, Windows 10 will encompass "one product family, one platform, one store." So, in theory, come the end of 2015, we could be used to talking about Windows 10 on our smartphones.

Windows 10

Details are still very sketchy, and the requirements for Windows 10 are likely to be such that very little 2014 phone hardware will be upgradable. So it's not something most of us will have to worry about in the short term.

Will the software on our phones really be the full 'Windows 10'? Obviously not, Joe Belfiore confirmed that there won't be a 'desktop' in the phone interface (thankfully), and my bet is that the build for smartphones will be an evolution of what we have today, but with even more in common with the desktop in terms of compatibility/universal applications, and so on. 

What's next for the 2012/2013 Snapdragon S4-powered phones like the Lumia 920/925/1020? Maybe one more major OS update, WP 8.1 Update 1, maybe Update 2 in the Spring? But probably no more than this. It's possible that Snapdragon 800-powered phones like the Lumia 1520 and 930 might get a sniff of Windows 10, but at this stage it seems unlikely.... and a long way off!