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Microsoft is bracing itself for the challenge to Windows from Google, and sees the shift of Android from cellphones to netbooks as a key battleground. CEO Steve Ballmer has given the first official indications that Microsoft regards Android as a key threat, not just to Windows Mobile but also on the full PC.

With Android being demonstrated on netbook and mobile internet device platforms like Qualcomm Snapdragon, and Dell even pushing an ARM/Linux combination into a fully blown PC, Ballmer knows it needs to pay special attention to the burgeoning netbook sector.

In a speech to analysts in New York this week, he confirmed that Windows Mobile 7 will appear in January, and stressed that it will be optimized for netbooks, even though that trend is eating into revenues and profits on higher end, higher value PCs. "We will have high market share on netbooks," Ballmer said, though admitted to the segment would "certainly have an economic effect on PC sales". He is hoping netbook users will upgrade low end Windows versions in order to gain new PC-class features.

Ballmer confessed to analysts that, because of the netbook and MID phenomena, he saw Android as a threat to full Windows, not just the mobile OS. He expects to see a full desktop version of Android emerging in 2010 to cater to the trend, set by Dell, to include low power, instant-on features in PCs via Linux.

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