Microsoft has been sitting out the smartphone OS wars since they began in 2007. Today’s Windows Mobile 6.5, while a modest improvement over its predecessor, just doesn’t compare to Google’s Android or the iPhone OS (at least in terms of most users’ evolving expectations) and its release did little to shore up Microsoft’s position in the smartphone market.

But it seems the guys and gals at Microsoft are getting ready to fire their first shot against their mobile competitors. 

Engadget Mobile is reporting that Robert Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft, recently informed analysts that Windows Mobile 7 would be making its first public appearance at the Mobile World Congress in mid-February. 

Windows Mobile 7 has been described by some as a complete reboot of the WinMo OS, with a new UI and significantly updated (or rewritten) underpinnings.  We hope so.  The new operating system has long been expected to be released in late 2010, but this statement by Bach is the first from a Microsoft bigwig as to when we can expect our first glimpse of exactly what Microsoft has up its sleeve.

For the sake of Microsoft’s smartphone future, the next version of Windows Mobile had better wow all but the most biased onlookers.