Microsoft announce next version of Mobile Phone Operating System

15. Feb, 2010 0 Comments

Today Microsoft launched its latest version of its mobile phone operating system. The new OS is called Windows Phone 7 series. The user interface has been redesigned to include Microsoft services like Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service. Microsoft made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

While Apple, Symbian and RIM (Blackberry) have the lions share of the market, Microsoft currently have around 9% according to research firm Canalys. The previous version, Windows Mobile 6.5 was launched in October 2009.

The new operating system has the services that are at the heart of mobile phones at the moment, search, social and location.

The new operating system seems to be built around 6 hubs, people, pictures, games, marketplace, music and office. The first phones using the new OS will be available later this year from manufacturers including Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony Ericsson.

Microsoft will impose certain specifications on the hardware suppliers such as being multi-touch and having a hard button that will bring up Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. Manufacturers will also be restricted to using the tile interface which means the interface will be less customisable which may not appeal to users. The other operating systems such as Apple allow heavy customizations of the interface.

Microsoft may gain some users with this new release but they have laid their plans early with other players in the market set to make announcements on their next releases later this year.