The past year has been a remarkable one for smartphones, with the meteoric rise of Google's Android OS, the restart of Microsoft's mobile strategy with its much-ballyhooed release of Windows Phone 7 and the continuing success of Apple's iPhone, buoyed by its new availability to Verizon subscribers. Never has there been so much choice in the smartphone market. As a result, hype and overstatement have been the order of the day.
The last week has brought nothing but good news for Microsoft and Windows Phone 7. Between Nokia's hardware commitment, Angry Birds on the way and Microsoft's own announcement of a roadmap for vital features such as multitasking, Windows Phone 7 seems to be catching a second wind in 2011.
HTC is one of three mobile phone manufacturers to partner with Microsoft for the launch of Windows Phone 7, the company's new mobile operating system. Exclusive to Telstra, the HTC 7 Mozart comes equipped with a 3.7in SLCD display and an 8-megapixel camera. It is also the only Windows Phone 7 device to feature a Xenon flash.
Windows Phone 7 is inching closer to market. Microsoft has sent the operating system for its brand of mobile phones to the labs of carriers for testing, as well as to developers of applications for the phones, which are expected to reach the market in time for holiday shoppers.
Microsoft is so desperate to prove Windows Phone 7's worth in the fiercely competitive smartphone market the company's already giving technical previews to the press, months before the platform's holiday launch.
Microsoft used its annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Washington, DC this week to reveal more details about the impending Windows Phone 7 smartphone platform. While Microsoft's smartphone market share has been plummeting, Windows Phone 7 could emerge as the best smartphone platform for businesses, and help Microsoft regain ground it has lost to RIM, Apple, and Google.
The Windows Phone 7 operating system won't arrive for a few more months (expect a splashy debut as the holiday season nears) and Microsoft is using the extra time to dole out morsels of information about its upcoming mobile OS--one with the unfortunate task of competing with Apple's iPhone and a bumper crop of Google Android-based phones.
Today's reports of a managerial shakeup at Microsoft -- specifically the departure of two key executives from the company's entertainment division that makes mobile phone software, Xbox game consoles, and Zune media players -- is a yet another strong indication of Redmond's internal turmoil. Robbie Bach is retiring as chief of Microsoft's entertainment group, and J. Allard, seen as one of the visionaries behind the successful Xbox platform, is also leaving the company.
A shakeup in Microsoft's gaming and devices business finally splits two groups that should never have been together, and could unleash the company's mobile device efforts. Whether CEO Steve Ballmer's decision is timely or too late remains to be seen.
At Microsoft's MIX10 Web developer conference, a series of presentations, question-and-answer exchanges and briefings are pulling into the light more and more <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/58515 ">details</a> of Windows Phone 7 and the development environment.
Amid all the hoopla surrounding the introduction of Windows Phone 7 Series this week in Barcelona, Microsoft's core customers have been almost totally left out.