Windows Mobile, the grand-dad of all smart phone Operating Systems is slated to get an update to version 7. Not to sound like I’m in the dark, but does anyone still use a Window’s powered smart phone? With Nokia dominating worldwide cell phone sales then there’s RIM, the iPhone, and various versions of Google phones out there who would want to use such outdated technology. Unless like their desktop version, Microsoft’s mobile OS will finally find it’s own? Perhaps.

There are easily five or more competing smart phone OS’s available today. Symbian, RIM, Apple, and now Google appear to be the top runners. Microsoft used to be and anyone who owned an MS Mobile powered phone will tell you all about bugs. So why persist if market preferences have moved on. The best guess is that MS has found a way to stabilize the OS and make phones powered by the device run faster than ever. One can hope.

The smart phone and the PC appear to be heading toward not so distant collision course. If MS, Apple, or Google realize this, they will be thinking not about separate OS’s, but a single unified platform. Google appears to have grasped this with the announcement of Google powered netbooks (more to follow soon). Microsoft and Apple would be smart to see this trend.

The new Windows Mobile OS may end up being their best ever, but this MS after all. They’re constantly upgrading and tweaking any of the OS’s. Own a PC with Vista? Then you know what I mean. Apple appears to have the only company releasing stable OS’s because they use intensive in-house testing and only occasionally release upgrades. The rest use massive consumer bases as their test beds (why no-one’s rebelled against this is a massive surprise on its own).

No matter how well Windows 7 Mobile performs, be assured that you’re phone will be downloading upgrades on a regular basis. It wouldn’t be a Microsoft experience otherwise. Bet on it.

While the tech world lathers about the new Apple Touch Pad, some new and interesting developments occurred in China. Foremost, they will not hinder use of Google’s mobile technology. Further within the report, it appears that China won’t get in the way of it’s citizens selling Google’s Android. Does that mean that they won’t interfere with anyone buying the things? Perhaps not.

This all comes at the tail end of criticism by President Obama’s administration (U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton) and Google themselves. Google threatened to leave the country. So what?

Well, if you’re Google, you know that a high percentage of your products’ components are manufactured in China. Those components are exported for final assembly in Taiwan and else where through HTC (makers of the Android G1) or others. Being Google, you also have pull on Motorola and they in turn manufacture a great deal of their phones in the Middle Country (China).

The orchestrated leveraging is perhaps a milestone, but how you ask? If a country, like the U.S., can’t make China move then how does a rather influential search engine (now cell phone platform and software) maker do it? Economically. It’s a sure thing that Google’s departure would have minimal damage on China’s GDP, but the fact remains that they made China change their minds. This here is a lesson in economic and political diplomacy.

But it also underlines a growing world-wide reliance on Google. The company is no longer just a search engine. It’s software and cloud computing infrastructure is really the future of computing.

Now, to be fair and clear, Google appears to be a tough company. Unlike the Microsoft of years ago, they appear to be singly minded in getting their way because they provide content for free. They make their money through adverts and now cell phones. It’s likely that we’ll see a Google touchpad (iPad killer) within a year or two and it will come with all the bells and whistles of the it’s competitor, but at a better price point. That’s where Google excels.

It may be temporary, but note that this may be the first time that a public company made China play nice.

In 2007, Google acquired a company called GrandCentral. The purchase seemed to herald Google’s move into what may otherwise be a unique business. Subsequent to that they changed the name of the application to Google Voice. Today they announced that they’d this interesting technology would be available to smartphone users. So what gives?

The GrandCentral application allows Google to offer users a unique phone number to which anyone can call and you can route to any phone of your choice. In fact, it can route to a land-line, a cell phone, office number, and so on. You can even use the service to make the call for you with a click of your mouse and your phone will ring when the call connects.

So what’s so cool about this? Besides having a universal voice mail system – for free? Remember that they assign you a unique phone number? You can use this number for any reason say for instance to start up a small business with low initial expenses, but with a separate phone number for now. You can set up a Google Voice account and have all your small business calls routed to your Google Voice number. Now, this isn’t an ideal small business strategy if your business grows and you want to write off your business calls because you might need a dedicated phone number to reference when tax time comes around. The benefit is to get yourself started while masking your current phone number. For that reason, I’ve signed up and will look to use my Google Voice account until I’m ready to use a dedicated number to make and receive calls.

Of course there’s also Skype for that as well.