CES begins next week in Las Vegas and by all measures a show that's about new and often expensive gadgets is totally at odds with the economy. There will be lots of new TVs, perhaps laptops, green-tech innovations and other gadgets that will mostly not be bought in 2009 as consumers focus on necessities rather than "toys." There will of course be a few "hits" that capture the imagination.

CES as a trade show is accompanied by lots of "noise" which is somewhat self-defeating for the individual products and exhibitors, which often get lost amid the din of announcements. Regardless, most of the products -- though not all -- will ultimately go unnoticed or un-adopted by cash-strapped consumers. 

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is delivering the keynote on Wednesday. He will likely preview Windows 7, which hopes to put the PC OS back on track after a rocky period with Vista that saw the company spend $300 million on an ad campaign to bolster its brand. 

From our point of view the question is what will he say about Windows Mobile and/or the smartphone market? Windows Mobile 6.5 is reportedly slated for mid-2009. It will be an important update given that 7 (Windows Mobile 7) won't be ready until sometime in 2010. Windows Mobile faces pressure from RIM, Apple and Android in the US market. It needs to add features and usability that get consumers' attention and make it more competitive. If Windows Mobile remains primarily a business users' platform it will continue to lose ground.

Along those same lines it's also quite likely that Ballmer will announce an "apps store" for Windows Mobile apps ("Skymarket"). There are lots of Windows Mobile apps but consumers mostly don't know how to get them given the current absence of a centralized location for downloads. This will be a fairly important development/announcement, assuming it comes.

This next year, 2009, emerges as an important one for the Windows Mobile Platform to improve usability and gain traction in the consumer market. (I would also like to see Microsoft promote voice search/Tellme/Call-411 but it's not likely to do that from the podium at CES.) Let's see what Ballmer says and whether the company can rise to the increasing challenge it faces in mobile.

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Related: Android on netbooks in 2010. This should come as no surprise given that Android has always been envisioned as a platform/OS that extends beyond mobile phones to a range of devices. 

The irony is that Google is taking a very Microsoft-esque approach with Android: software that can run on potentially any mobile hardware device vs. RIM and Apple's proprietary hardware-software integration. The difference is that Google doesn't make any money off Android, it just leads to more Google mobile searches and more ad revenues accordingly.