Windows Phone 7 Unveiled

by Jordan Yerman | October 11, 2010 at 10:11 am

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Microsoft Reveals Windows Phone 7, New Handsets (AT&T, T-Mobile)

Microsoft has unveiled the long-delayed Windows Phone 7 operating system, along with a slew of compatible handsets during a launch event in New York City.
The following Windows Phone 7 handsets were revealed:

HTC Surround (AT&T)
Samsung Focus (AT&T)
LG Quantum (AT&T)
HTC HD7 (T-Mobile)
Dell Venue Pro (T-Mobile)

Microsoft has seen the other smartphone heavy-hitters decimating its market share, bogged down as Redmond is with an unstable operating system. Kin (remember Kin?) was pulled within eight weeks of release. Microsoft is hoping that Windows Phone 7 will reverse its fortunes.

Windows Phone 7 Woos App Developers

The real battle, though, is for the hearts and minds of developers: the key to success of a smartphone platform lies in the quality and diversity of its applications.

Windows Phone 7 apps are compared more closely to iPhone apps than to those on the Blackberry or Android platforms, and Electronic Arts' Windows Phone 7 games will be Xbox Live-enabled. However, Windows Phone 7 is released without copy/paste capability, which even the iPhone can do these days.

For starters, Microsoft has made it relatively easy to build an app for Windows 7 Phone, says Darren Cross, head of business development at Fandango. This is something Windows 7 Phone has borrowed from the Xbox, which has famously pro-active developer support for game-makers; Microsoft even holds events for game devs to gather and learn new stuff from Microsoft hands-on. ("They're there just as much as you want them to be," says Fandango's PR director, Harry Medved.)