There’s a lot of speculation at the moment about when the Windows Phone 9 revamp will arrive, along with expectations about what may be offered. Today we want to look at some recent reports regarding Windows Phone 9, as it seems the next big upgrade for Windows Phone could be for tablets and phones combined.

It’s fair to say that the Windows Phone operating system has never taken off in the way that was hoped for, although there are some decent handsets available that run it. Maybe the next iteration, WP9, will be the catalyst that sparks more success though. It’s reported that a working group has been established to come up with a blueprint for Windows Phone 9, and importantly rather than a mere upgrade it seems that Microsoft is going back to basics and starting virtually from scratch.

Those working on the project are apparently attempting to create one OS that will be suitable for smartphones and tablets, and it’s possible that the Metro UI will either be reworked, or could be abolished altogether for WP9. Unwired View reports on news from renowned Russian commentator Eldar Murtazin that the group should be able to present both the new UI and the feature set for WP9 to management early in fall. However, the launch of the next major Windows mobile OS is not likely to release until some point in 2015.

It’s certainly the case that Microsoft needs to come up with something fairly radical to increase its mobile market share and perhaps an amalgamation of Windows RT and the Windows Phone ARM platform is a logical move. However, not everybody agrees as discussed by ZDNet. The site talks about the rumors of WP9 catering for both phones and tablets but feels that while this would have been a reasonable idea when Windows Phone was first created, the move is simply too much of a “radical change” to consider now.

ZDNet makes the point that huge amounts of time and money have been invested by Microsoft partners and also customers in Windows Phone and Windows 8, and a move to combine the OS for both tablets and smartphones would cause real tension. Such a move is felt to be a lot for partners to cope with, while phone customers could be left behind which would cause a huge amount of frustration against Microsoft.

It could certainly cause a lot of confusion to customers and businesses if devices shifted platforms, and taking this into consideration we wonder if Windows Phone 9 for both smartphones and tablets would be a wise move after all? We’d like to hear your thoughts on this, so do feel free to send us your comments.