Microsoft's mobile platform is no longer enterprise-centered. It takes its cues and priorities from Microsoft's research on one issue: What is needed to make an emotionally compelling user experience for consumers.

The marketing mantra is that Windows Phone is the phone anyone can use for personal and business needs, desires and passions. "With Windows Phone 7, we said 'let's build a really compelling user experience' and we did an overhaul of many parts of the operating system," Brix says. That "experience" can then be enhanced and focused to meet specific enterprise needs. "Windows Phone 7 won't necessarily have all that Windows Mobile 6.5 has [for the enterprise]," he says.

The success of the iPhone and the fast-rising adoption of Google Android-based phones seem to justify that new focus and its relevance for enterprise users. And Brix says that Microsoft has been "kind of surprised [at the] ton of interest" in Windows Phone, expressed by independent software vendors (ISV) targeting business users.

2. Full break from previous Windows Mobile applications

Say goodbye to backwards compatibility and multitasking.