The Windows Phone 7 goes on sale today. AT&T and T-Mobile have a variety of models, ranging from the Samsung Focus and HTC Surround debuting on AT&T and the HTC HD7 becoming available on T-Mobile.
They’ve got 1GHz Snapdragon processors and Microsoft requires the hardware to include an accelerometer, compass, GPS, ambient-light sensor and proximity sensor. The devices must have at least 256MB of RAM, 4GB flash storage, 802.11 b/g wireless Internet connectability and a four-point capacitive touch screen. All three phones cost $199 with a two-year contract.
Microsoft will have an up hill climb against entrenched smartphone platforms like Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, the iPhone and Android. Microsoft plans an expensive marketing campaign that promotes features designed “to get you in, and out, and back to life.” Microsoft is spending a billion in advertising the new system.
One of Windows Phone 7′s major differentiators is that it organizes many tasks into six “hubs”: People, Pictures, Music+Video, Games, Office and Marketplace. Things that may require multiple apps on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android can be done in one hub on Windows Phone 7.
But apps sell smartphones, and Microsoft’s app marketplace currently has only some 2,000 apps. compared to the 100,000 on Google’s Android marketplace and 250,000 on Apple’s App Store.
Windows Phone 7 apps are written in .NET, the same software framework for programs for Windows. .NET is popular, with hundreds of thousands of developers writing to it. Microsoft’s .NET developers also have been willing to pay for Visual Studio and other tools needed for writing Microsoft apps.
“There will be lots of apps, because there are loads of .NET developers who love Visual Studio,” said Al Hilwa, analyst at IDC. “There were lots of developers who learned new platforms to capitalize on the iPhone. That phenomenon may not be repeated, so it’s nice if you can latch onto an existing developer community.”
AT&T will launch with the Samsung Focus first and start selling the HTC Surround and the LG Quantum in the next few weeks. T-Mobile is going to market for the holiday season with the HTC HD7 and Dell Venue Pro. Other devices will launch on Telus in Canada and on America Movil in Mexico.
