Right smack in the middle of today's announcement of Microsoft Office 2010 was a teeny little paragraph noting that Office Mobile 2010 is already available to Windows Mobile 6.5 phones in beta form.If users of Windows Mobile phones thought they were going to have to wait a while for Microsoft to kick out Office Mobile 2010, today's surprise announcement is good news indeed. Speaking in an interview,Kurt DelBene, senior vice president of the Office Business Productivity Group at Microsoft revealed the details. He said:

We're excited to announce the public beta of the 2010 versions of Office, SharePoint Server, Visio, Project and Office Web Apps for business customers. Office Mobile 2010 has also reached the beta milestone. Starting today people can download the beta products by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/2010.

We are hoping to have millions of people download and test the products, as we depend on that feedback to shape the final product. To get the broadest range of feedback we are making this beta available in seven languages - English, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, French and German - more than any other Office beta program in the past.

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Office Mobile 2010 is also now available in beta, making the Office experience across the PC, phone and browser a reality. Office Mobile 2010 includes mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and new SharePoint Workspace Mobile 2010, and is available worldwide in Windows Marketplace for Mobile for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.

Wow, that's a bit of a bombshell for ya right there. I visited the Windows Marketplace for Mobile from an HTC Imagio I have laying around, and sure enough, there's Office Mobile 2010 for the taking.

It's interesting to see Microsoft's take on the social aspects of business productivity, as highlighted by the SharePoint Workspace Mobile concept. I am looking forward to seeing how Microsoft integrates the server-based service with its Windows Phone offerings.

In the mean time, feel free to help yourself to the beta software of Office Mobile 2010.