Windows Phone 7 devices coming this fall will initially work with GSM carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, but will not include carriers of CDMA technology, which include Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel.
" Microsoft chose to focus on delivering a great GSM version to the world first, and then a great CDMA version in the first half of 2011," a Microsoft spokesman said Friday via e-mail.
Microsoft is "placing high-quality customer experiences above all else," he added.
GSM is widely used throughout the world, although in the U.S., CDMA represents about half the nation's wireless customers.
Finland-based Nokia, the largest maker of mobile phones globally, announced a push into the U.S. market earlier this week, and also said that it will not focus on further CDMA phones for the U.S., preferring GSM technology and development for 4G phones running LTE, a faster wireless standard.
The first phones running Windows Phone 7 are expected to go on sale next month, according to various reports. An Oct. 11 launch date has also been reported.
Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft's attempt to recapture smartphone and mobile phone sales, especially to consumers, after several quarters of disappointing sales with its older brand, Windows Mobile. The OS maker is expected to take a 4.7% share of the smartphone market for 2010 and 3.9% by 2014, according to a recent Gartner forecast.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com .
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