Windows Mobile 7 to include social media hub

Microsoft is planning to build social media into the heart of its Windows Mobile 7 operating system, according to a job advertisement for a senior program manager placed by the company.

First spotted by news site MobileTechWorld, the ad talks about plans to "build a 'Mobile Social Platform' that provides rich APIs to both internal and external applications and to not only enable but also inspire them to build compelling social experiences."

Thankfully, the ad gives a couple of examples of what this will actually mean in practice:

"Imagine seeing all the newsfeeds from all the networks you care about in a single hub on the phone. Or imagine the phone instantly telling you what your friend is doing and where he is when you get a call from him."

The ad also says that several WinMo 7 teams within Microsoft are "developing social experiences".

The move should come as no surprise: numerous handset firms are already working on baking in social networking to the fabric of their phones.

Motorola's new MOTOBLUR software will do this, initially on the company's Dext Android handset. INQ has made social media phones its USP, while Nokia has also been investigating putting social feeds front and centre on its latest handsets.

With Windows Mobile 7 not expected to be available in handsets until sometime next year, though, we're a way off finding out just what Microsoft has planned.