Windows Phone 7: The potential post-Mango roadmap

We’ve been covering Windows Phone 7’s Mango update so extensively here on TNWmicrosoft that several details about what will come after the update due late this year have slipped past us.

We are here to inform you of what we have learned, and what you need to know. According to a fascinating report on WinRumors, this is what appears to be the future of Windows Phone 7 post-Mango:

Windows Phone 8 is called ‘Apollo.’ It should land in late 2012, roughly one year post Mango. This is in keeping with what we already knew, that Microsoft is planning to follow the iOS method of big releases on a schedule, as opposed to the Android approach.

But in between Mango and Apollo, there might be something else cooking. Sure, we just said that major releases would roughly be yearly, but a different update called ‘Tango’ has just popped to the surface.

In a DigiTimes entry, the following statement was made: “Compal has signed with Microsoft for licensed use of the Mango platform and Tango, a platform to succeed Mango, the sources noted.” As Apollo is set to land in 2012, and follows Mango, Tango could only fit in between the two.

Tango in mid-2012? It could happen.

On the other hand, Apollo and Tango could be the same product, with simply two names to confuse the press (and you). Alternatively, it could be that the update was once called Apollo, and is now dubbed Tango to follow in the naming structure set forth by Mango. We don’t know. We are trying to find out, but Microsoft is not going to budge an inch on the matter.

So there you have it, what we know about what is coming after Mango. It’s not much, but it is a start. Sound off in the comments as to what you think about all of this, we want to know.