October Unveiling For Windows Phone 7?
Rumours are rife that Windows Phone 7 will be launched on October 11
Microsoft could be readying its Windows Phone 7 operating system for launch next month. The company said it would, but has not made public the exact date. Reports are now hitting the web plumping for October 11.
Most of the reports appear to trace back to the Pocket Lint website which claimed to have “a man on the inside of a large electronics firm” who said, “I’m told WP7 will be announced officially in early October. The exact date will have to come from Microsoft.”
Evidently better-informed sources set October 11 as the actual date and confirmed to the website that a launch party will be held in New York.
The Rumour Mill Turns
At eWEEK Europe we treat Internet rumours with caution, but it fits in with Microsoft COO Kevin Turner’s announcement at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in July. Turner revealed that October would be a likely release month. However, he added that would be in Europe and the US announcement would follow a month later.
Perhaps there will be a launch in the US to take the wraps off Windows Phone 7 and make a simultaneous availability announcement for Europe – or perhaps Microsoft has decided not to upset its home market by launching abroad.
It is expected that Asus, Dell, HTC, LG and Samsung will be present to unveil their hardware implementations of Phone 7. HTC has a phone launch set for next Wednesday but has not specified the operating system. Maybe this could be the European launch Turner mentioned.
Microsoft will also have to do something to make people believe that Phone 7 will offer more than cut-down Microsoft applications. The company has lost ground, even CEO Steve Ballmer said it had skipped a generation of phones. App support appears to be everything but Windows Phone, the Microsoft app store only boasts hundreds of apps, whereas Android and iPhone have hundreds of thousands.
From launch, whenever that may be, Microsoft has a guaranteed 90,000 user base because all of its employees worldwide will be provided with a new phone. In our own survey, we had two votes from European readers wanting to buy from Microsoft so make that 90,002.
