The first solid details on when we can actually expect a Windows Phone 7 phone to be on the market have finally surface, with Microsoft claiming that the platform will officially launch in October in Europe.
Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said that the “transition” to the software company’s new platform will begin in two months and that Europe will be the first region to get their hands on it, reports TechTree.com.
The US will follow shortly thereafter, with Phone 7 devices expected to be available in November.
Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s evolution of a fledgling mobile platform that has become almost completely obsolete in a world of iPhones and Android. With a new face and a new set of features, Microsoft changed the long-running “Windows Mobile” name to “Windows Phone,” which I think actually sounds a bit clunkier but whatever.
Luckily, Microsoft still has quite a bit of pull in the world and has managed to snag HTC, Samsung, LG, Dell, and Asus for Windows Phone 7 product support, but it’s going to take nearly a miracle to become a serious contender against the current mobile heavyweights.
Windows Phone 7’s appeal is that it is a high-end platform with strict hardware requirements. Microsoft wants to avoid the fragmentation problems that Google has caused with Android’s murky specifications that have led to confusion about which apps can run on which devices.
However, we still don’t have a product name. There’s no flagship Windows Phone 7 handset yet and it’s now just a couple months before this platform officially launches. It’ll be tough for Microsoft to do worse than its most recent Kin phones, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
