02/16/2010
Barron’s
Microsoft (MSFT) on Monday unveiled Windows Phone 7, the company’s much-anticipated new operating system software for mobile devices. The company launched the new software today in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, the industry’s big trade show.
The company said manufacturing partners have started building devices based on the phones; the first devices based on Win Phone 7 should ship for the 2010 holidays.
The new OS uses a “live tile” metaphor, showing dynamically updated information – you can have tiles for e-mail, calendar, pictures, individual people (with links to Facebook and other social networking apps), playlists and other applications and information types.
The OS is designed to have three hardware buttons: start, search – with a direct link to Bing – and back.
The phone arranges information in six “hubs”: people, pictures, games, music and video, marketplace and office.
Microsoft said carriers that have committed to support “WIndows Phone 7 Series” – a new naming convention, taking the place of Windows Mobile 7 – include AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Sprint, Telecom Italia, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, among others. Hardware supporters include Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, Hewlett-Packard, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm.
