A Microsoft executive said this week the company shipped more than 2 million copies of its revamped operating system, Windows< Phone 7, in the most recent quarter. The careful admission at once triggered another spasm of misconstrued, misinterpreted, mistaken, and misanthropic speculation on the success or failure of Microsoft's smartphone platform.
Microsoft has reportedly traced the cause of random, high spikes in data usage by some Windows Phone 7 handsets to a widely accessed "third-party solution." Microsoft is working with that so-far unidentified vendor, according to SeattlePI.com.
Microsoft's download servers for brand new Windows Phone 7 applications has sparked widespread Internet chatter among developers and focused new attention on the best ways to protect smartphone apps from being hacked.
Many businesses will not be able to support Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, which began shipping in the U.S. today. Like the competing Google Android, Windows Phone 7 does not support on-device encryption to protect data stored on it. Many businesses require such encryption to be able to access corporate data through EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) policies and automatically block connections from devices that don't support device-level encryption.
As the first U.S. Windows Phone 7 handsets go on sale Monday, Nov. 8, Microsoft shrewdly has created an application environment that will make the phones instantly useable for many of the e-mail, social networking, photo, video and work tasks people do every day.
Pre-orders for Windows Phone 7 handsets in some European markets have already sold out, according to some news reports. The issue seems to be the collision of high consumer interest with small inventories, at least of some of the new phones.
Microsoft gave a peek at the first Windows Phone 7 products earlier this month when it formally announced its follow-on Windows Mobile in the race for smartphone glory vs. Apple (See: Windows Phone 7 vs. Apple iOS), Google and RIM. Microsoft’s current Windows Mobile OS recently fell behind Google Android in market share among U.S. smartphone subscribers, according to ComScore.
With still two weeks before Windows Phone handsets go on sale, the Windows Phone Marketplace has already reached 1,000 applications and games, according to some brief blog reports.
Windows Phone 7 was officially launched in New Zealand in Auckland's Aotea Square today.
Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 7 OS for handheld devices on Monday, taking a step forward in the company's efforts to strengthen its position in the still-growing smartphone market. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the first phones to run the OS, and named the network operators that will distribute them.
Microsoft’s much anticipated Windows Phone 7 will be launched initially on the Vodafone network later this month.
Microsoft plans to phase in a limited number of Windows Phone 7 applications, starting with the formal unveiling of the first handsets next week. By starting small, Microsoft plans to give precedence to "first mover developers" at the outset, then increase the number Windows Phone applications it accepts, and finally, activate the full range of self-service features for submitting apps online.
Microsoft filed patent infringement complaints against Motorola and its Android phones in the International Trade Commission and U.S. federal court Friday, indicating that the software giant may hope to use its strong patent position as one way to set its mobile software apart from the competition.
Forthcoming Windows Phone 7 devices are expected to have most of the required features of today's smartphones -- an application store, a 5-megapixel or better camera, a touchscreen, gaming -- but there's one it won't have, and that's tethering.
Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS will regain some of the smartphone market share it has lost recently - but will still be in last place in 2014, according to research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.