window7 smartphone.

More Business stories
Cannot play media.You do not have
the correct version of the flash player.
Download the correct version
Microsoft has launched Windows
Phone 7, its latest attempt to break
into the lucrative smartphone
market.
Until now the company has failed to
provide a credible challenge to rival
operating systems from Apple, Google,
Research in Motion and Nokia.
Mobile phone operators predict
smartphones will have a 70% market
share in just three years.
Microsoft says it has made Windows
Phone 7 more user-friendly, rebuilding
the operating system from bottom up.
The phone system's experience is built
around so-called hubs that aggregate
content like contacts, pictures,
documents, and music and video. The
content on the phone is then
synchronised both with storage
services on the internet and the
owner's computers at home.
At launch Microsoft's new phone
system will be available on nine
phones, and with 60 operators in 30
countries.
In the UK the phone will launch on 21
October, while the US launch will be in
early November.
Fry approval
Stephen Fry, the UK actor, well-known
Apple fan and smartphone buff, made
a surprise appearance at Microsoft's UK
launch of Windows Phone 7, where he
described the new operating system as
a "joy to play with".
Previous mobile operating systems
from Microsoft have failed to make an
impact with customers; their limited
functionality, fiddly user interface and
lack of applications to customise the
phones had resulted in a steady loss of
market share.
The new mobile phone software is
indeed startlingly different from
Microsoft's previous attempts. This is
probably most highlighted by the
disappearance of the menu button; the
company's old "Windows Mobile"
software was notorious for leading
users into increasingly technical sub
menus to execute even simple tasks.
Using the new software has a much
more natural flow to it, although some
key functions - like "cut and paste" -
are missing, but promised to arrive as a
software update in early 2011.
Andy Lees, the man in charge of
Microsoft's mobile phone division,
called the system "a new beginning",
with his team building a new
operating system and user interface in
just 18 months.
Taking a dig at rivals like Apple and
Google's Android, he told the BBC that
Windows Phone 7 was neither a
"closed system" nor an anything goes
system, with the operating system
providing a structure and coherent
user interface for partners to build on.
Mr Lees said he could not say for sure
how many applications would be
available when Windows Phone 7 hits
the market, because so many were still
in the pipeline for approval.
However, key apps like Twitter,
Facebook, eBay and railway timetables
have been fast-tracked to be ready for
launch.
Nearly half of all apps would be for
gaming said Mr Lees, and he
announced that videogame giant
Electronic Arts was a launch partner for
the new phones.
Rivals
While Nokia's Symbian operating
system is still the smartphone market
leader, Apple has rapidly gained
market share with its iPhones, while
phones using Google's Android
software are forecast to overtake
Apple soon.
Research in Motion, meanwhile, has
seen its Blackberry phones gain
popularity beyond its stronghold of
business users.
"There's a huge amount resting on the
launch of Windows Phone 7 for
Microsoft, its device and operator
partners, and for the ecosystem market
in general," said Tony Cripps of
technology consultants Ovum.
"If it fails to claw back market share
lost to iPhone and Android, then
Windows Phone 7 may well mark the
point at which Microsoft turns its back
on smartphones forever."
Consumer success
Microsoft is pitching the phone firmly
at consumers, integrating it with its
popular XBox live service for video
games, and the much less popular Zune
music service.
Xbox live currently has 23 million
subscribers, and Microsoft hopes that a
seamless integration will entice them
to take their Xbox Live world into the
mobile space.
The Zune music subscription service is
currently being rolled out in dozens of
markets, and will be available in the
UK from the end of October.
In the UK seven of the new phones will
be launched on 21 October, while the
US line-up will include nine phones
that will hit the market in November.
The software will be launched with
established partners like HTC, Samsung
and LG - three phones makers who
have experience building phones for
the Windows mobile platform.
Another launch partner is computer
maker Dell.
Crucial for Microsoft's success will be
whether the new phone software
manages to surpass rivals in terms of
usability.
Ovum's Tony Cripps says the operating
system shows promise: "On the face of
it Windows Phone 7 looks to have
positioned Microsoft on the edge of a
smartphone renaissance.
"Its all-important user experience
looks to have brought some genuinely
new thinking to a smartphone market
in which all operating systems feel
somewhat similar in use."
In the US the Windows phones will
first launch on the AT&T and T-Mobile
networks, while around the world
Microsoft has signed up partners like
Telefonica, Orange, T-Mobile,
Vodafone and SingTel.
Microsoft hopes to build on the recent
success of its Windows 7 operating
system for desktop computers, the
revamped search engine Bing, and the
broadly positive review for its new
browser, Internet Explorer 9.
However, Mr Lees said that Microsoft
had no plans to launch a Windows
Phone 7 tablet computer. Instead,
Microsoft would roll out Windows 7 for
tablets to provide a full computing
experience.
Microsoft launches Windows
Phone 7 smartphones
By Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC
News website
Microsoft's Ashley Highfield shows
Rory Cellan-Jones the mobile operating
system's features.
Related stories
HTC pushes its
Android
momentum
Nokia starts
smartphone
fightback
Steve Ballmer will have a quite a
battle to win over the millions who've
already bought into the Android or
iPhone or Blackberry versions of the
mobile world ”
Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent
Read Rory's text in full
More o