Microsoft's upcoming version of the Windows Phone 7 operating system--dubbed Mango--will be ready for manufacturers in the fall. Phones with the new OS will let users toggle between applications, search for businesses in their area and search the Internet using voice commands, as well as use a number of productivity tools more easily.

If the capabilities of the new mobile OS sound familiar, it's probably because they strongly resemble features developed by other companies long ago, notes David Sarno at The Los Angeles Times. Location-based services are available already on the iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS via the Yelp app. Phones running Android can already perform voice Internet searches, and most smartphones let you toggle between apps. Where Microsoft appears to be diverging is in integrating these features into the browser, Sarno writes.

The unveiling of Mango reveals Microsoft's tactics and strategy for catching up in the smartphone OS sector, writes Steve Lohr at The New York Times. Apart from moving features from apps to the browser, Mango links search subjects with location data and related information, presenting a series of related results.

Mango will come with a number of features targeted to business users as well, writes Nancy Gohring of CIO. Users will be able to send protected messages that can neither be opened on other phones nor forwarded. A new Office suite will include updated versions of Excel, PowerPoint and other tools. And it will come with a Skype app so that users can use the calling service with the phone. 

For more:
- see David Sarno's post at The Los Angeles Times
- see Steve Lohr's post at The New York Times
- see Nancy Gohring's article at CIO

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