It was just over a week ago that Microsoft announced that it was rolling Windows Phone 7.5 out to most all of the devices in the wild, meaning many folks out there are still digging around in Mango and discovering all of the goodies that the Redmond firm packed inside of it. If you've had WP7.5 for a while now or are just one of the folks that always like to look toward the future, though, you'll be glad to hear that we've now got a timeframe for when the next major version of Windows Phone will be arriving. Speaking with Engadget, Michael Halbherr, Executive VP for Location and Commerce at Nokia, said that Windows Phone Apollo is due to hit in the "middle of next year" and that it'll be a "very different game" compared to Mango. Halbherr didn't reveal any features that might make the Apollo cut, but he did mention that he's been working to get Microsoft to get NFC support baked into Windows Phone.

The last time we heard about Windows Phone Apollo, the rumor mill pegged the OS as coming sometime in late 2012, so it's good to hear that the update is due even sooner than we expected. There may not be much known about precisely what features Apollo is going to contain, but hey, if a Nokia exec is describing the update as a "very different game," then I'm excited to see what's inside. Can you Windows Phone folk out there think of anything specific that you'd like to see included in Apollo?

UPDATE: The folks at Engadget have updated their original article, explaining that their Microsoft sources have informed them that the mid-2012 timeframe given by Halbherr is inaccurate. The sources didn't mention when Apollo might actually be arriving.

Via Engadget