IT was Valentine’s Day in Barcelona and Steve Ballmer was full of love.

As he paced up and down in front of a capacity crowd at the world’s biggest mobile conference, Microsoft’s energetic chief executive declared: “I love the mobile industry and I love our operator partners.”

The mobile industry hasn’t always loved him back. A few years ago, as Microsoft struggled to get its mobile-phone software business off the ground, Ballmer’s company was viewed with suspicion by network operators and handset manufacturers alike. Even companies the size of Nokia were wary of suffering the fate of Netscape, the browser software firm that was suffocated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Microsoft responded by playing down the scale of its ambitions and stressing its willingness to be a good partner.

Now, with Windows Mobile finally starting to motor, Ballmer is preparing to stamp his foot on the gas. That means a big new advertising campaign and, more important, an increased push through the 250,000 companies, large and small, that help Microsoft promote its software.

Speaking to The Sunday Times soon after his keynote speech to the 3GSM World Congress last week, Ballmer said: “The mobile device is, front and centre, of top-shelf importance to Microsoft. It’s going to be a strongly growing part of our revenues. The phone will be at the centre of digital entertainment.”

That helps explain why Ballmer is so pleased to be working with Virgin Mobile on the launch of its mobile television service planned for later this year. Virgin will start with handsets developed by HTC, the fast-growing Taiwanese company that has been the most enthusiastic supporter of Windows Mobile.

“I’m excited about the Virgin Mobile deal because it gets us in the game,” said Ballmer. “I can’t think of a partner better than Virgin Mobile to take this stuff to market.”

Ballmer said he could not imagine himself watching a full-length television programme on a mobile phone, “but I can imagine my kids doing that”.

He could also imagine other services that would attract him. “I would like to have a service that goes through live TV and picks clips from the news and sends them to me on my phone. When I’ve got five minutes, let me check out what was on CNBC today on technology.”

This sort of possibility will soon be here. It is one of the features promised by Windows Vista, the latest version of the computer operating system that Microsoft will launch later this year.

The rapid spread of broadband, the deployment of 3G mobile networks, and the improving storage and processing capability of phones is ushering in a new “digital lifestyle”. The ability to access any content on any device anywhere is almost upon us.

As mobile phones become mini-computers, they require more sophisticated software and this gives Microsoft its opportunity. These “smart phones” remain a small part of the overall mobile-handset market, but sales are growing fast — even though they are much more expensive than conventional phones.

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