Microsoft is debuting its new Windows Phone 7 operating system next week and it might be the last chance Microsoft has to get back into the mobile game. AT&T is its ‘preferred partner’ or whatever that means. So T-Mobile will be going ahead with its own Windows Phone 7 (WP7) launch and a phone from HTC running the new OS.
Confusion already over who gets WP7 first isn’t a good omen. Neither is the fact that previous versions of Microsoft’s mobile platform are incompatible with the new one. Apps written for either won’t work on the other. Microsoft is charging ahead without an exclusive carrier, with no apps and a hacked together Zune marketplace. That is not exactly a recipe for success.
