Earlier this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a phone loaded with prototype Microsoft software was pickpocketed from the coat of an unnamed executive.

The phone, which was loaded with an early version of Windows Mobile 6.5, was reported given to Australian telecoms giant Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo for testing purposes. Trujillo then handed the device over to another executive, whose pocket was picked later that day at an evening function, according to the Telegraph.

A Telstra representative said, “One of our product executives was given the phone to test the system. He had it with him at an organised evening event and it was stolen from him – we don't know by whom.”

“I'm not clear on what the security implications of the theft will be,” said the Telstrar spokesman. “That is for Microsoft to say.”

The features of Windows Mobile 6.5 aren’t exactly super sensitive internal Microsoft information, but it is pre-release software that isn’t meant to get beyond the control of the software giant.

"We have nothing to say on this subject at this time," said a spokesman from Microsoft's London office.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is seen by some as Microsoft’s attempt to reinvigorate its software to keep up with the likes of Apple’s OS X for iPhone, Google’s Android and Palm’s WebOS. It’s unknown if this early version of Windows Mobile 6.5 could be extracted and uploaded to the internet, but there’s no doubt that users of Windows phones will be eager to check out the upcoming OS as soon as possible.

Source : Tom's Hardware US