DailyTech - Windows Phone 7 Launch Partners Announced

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Gadgets Windows Phone 7 Launch Partners Announced
Mark Kurlyandchik - July 23, 2010 8:28 AM

10 comment(s) - last by Exodite.. on Jul 23 at 7:17 PM

At least five handsets will be available at launch

Though a specific launch date has not yet been announced, news surrounding Windows Phone 7 is beginning to increase. Last week, DailyTech reported handsets sporting beta versions of the upcoming OS made their rounds for developers and reviewers. More recently, Pocket-lintconfirmed Microsoft's launch partners for Windows Phone 7, including Dell, ASUS, LG, HTC, and Samsung.

All five companies are expected to have a handset available at launch, speculated to be sometime in October.

The recent news confirms the existence of a number of Windows Phone 7 handsets in development, including Dell's Lightning, and the LG Pacific. Greg Sullivan, Microsoft's senior product manager, told Pocket-lint that at least five handsets would be available at launch, sporting both full-Qwerty and touchscreen configurations.

Sullivan also confirmed that Windows Phone 7 will not be carrier-specific, opting for Google's Android route instead of Apple's iPhone model.

"We want as many people as possible to be able to get it", Sullivan said.

He said he hoped the new OS would be a top contender among Android OS, Apple's iOS, and RIM's Blackberry OS.

"We will offer the best aspects of Android and the best of the iPhone, giving users the flexibility of different form factors, but with the rigidity of apps that are guaranteed to work on every device that is out there," Sullivan told Pocket-lint.

Microsoft is hoping its new smartphone OS will parallel the recent success of Windows 7, which earned it a record Q4 profit. The company's latest mobile offering, the KIN line, ended in failure when Microsoft pulled the handsets just two months after launch, thanks to paltry sales numbers.

Early reviews of Windows Phone 7, running on a Samsung device that Sullivan said would not be available at launch, have been mixed at best. The OS still lacks a copy-and-paste function and third-party multi-tasking. Facebook users are forced to combine all of their Facebook friends into the phone's contact list upon logging into the application. On the positive side, the OS has a decent version of Internet Explorer, an informative homescreen, nice camera results and music player.

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RE: Microsoft Phones

By Redwin on 7/23/2010 10:17:50 AM , Rating: 3

I agree, with Microsoft its really more a matter of how badly they want to do it.

I thought it was a little laughable the first time they said they were going to build game consoles and compete with Sony and Nintendo. Anybody who's played with an Xbox 360 isn't laughing any more, but MS lost billions for years clawing out market share with the Xbox platform.

If they were willing to spend 10 years losing billions of dollars a year in the mobile phone space to get market share, I am pretty sure they could do it; but its not clear yet whether they really want to make that sort of commitment.

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RE: Microsoft Phones

By Da W on 7/23/2010 2:05:28 PM , Rating: 2

I agree. Same with Zune HD, and to some extent Kin, they were test bed for windows phone 7 like the Original Xbox was for Xbox 360.

I'm a believer for that phone. Sure i would like to get the Droid X (that is until something better comes next week), but for the windows phone:
1. Zune integration seems nice. Read any review of the Zune HD out there and they will tell you it was supperior to ipod touch, but for lack of apps. Plus if you use Windows Media center, the ability to drag and drop your recorded TV shows and watch them in the bus the next morning is cool.
2. Office, and i don't plan on writing big excel macros on a phone, but watching power points on it is cool, more so if they have HDMI output. Still, for buisnesses, only that will be a supperior offering to Iphones or Droids.
3. Games. Even though there are none yet, they use the same XNA framwork that they do for Xbox. They say ported Xbox live games use 90% of the same code. Huge potential here.
4. As for the digital home, if you have a PC, some form of HTPC or media extender or an Xbox that you use as a media extender, the ability to sync all of that wirelessly with your phone is a plus apple and google don't have.

Copy and paste and multitasking will eventually come. I'm not stressed out if they don't have it out of the box. Same for apps, i'm sure all the top iphone apps that have been ported to android will also be ported to windows phone. And their next itteration of explorer will be HTML 5 and silverlight complient, and adobe is working to include flash.

Bottom line, there is a market for it. Even if 30 millions + people have an iphone or droid, there are still (6 billion - 30 millions) people left in the world without an iphone or droid. Potential market is still huge. I am more concerned about RIM.

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