Software giant admits it has a long way to go in the smartphone race as handsets from HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell gear up for a global launch.
Microsoft on Monday lifted the lid on a raft of phones powered by its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system, as the software giant aims to catch rivals RIM, Apple and Google in the smartphone race.
Addressing the media on both sides of the Atlantic from an event in New York, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer insisted the company had "taken a very different tack" to its competitors.
(photo: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shows off nine handsets from the likes of Dell, HTC, Samsung, and LG at the launch of Windows Phone 7)
Ballmer showed off nine devices developed by four handset makers HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell which will all launch before Christmas, spread across various markets including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Singapore and Australia.
Ballmer said 60 operators in over 30 countries have so far committed to carrying WP7 phones.
In the U.K., all five of the country's mobile operators, - Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and 3UK will offer Windows-powered smartphones from 21 October.
Microsoft's U.K. managing director of consumer and online Ashley Highfield said WP7 was "representative of a renewed focus, by Microsoft, on the consumer."
The company's new operating system offers tight integration between phone functions such as the camera and the music player, and social networks including Facebook, allowing users to share content without having to navigate between different applications.
The user interface has also been designed in a way that presents information without the user having to open an application and navigate to it.
"It's less stop and stare, and more glance and go," said Highfield.
Microsoft's fresh take on the smartphone user experience impressed one analyst.
"Windows Phone 7 looks to have positioned Microsoft on the edge of a smartphone renaissance," said Tony Cripps, principal analyst at Ovum, in a research note.
"Its all-important user experience looks to have brought some genuinely new thinking to a smartphone market in which all operating systems feel somewhat similar in use," he said.
However, Cripps warned WP7 could also be Microsoft's last throw of the dice in the mobile market.
"If Microsoft does fail to make the headway we'd expect with Windows Phone 7, it may decide that it's not worth the time, expense and uncertainty of heading back to the drawing board again," he said.
However, as well as enthusiasm there was also a refreshing dose of humility from Microsoft's representatives, who admitted that earlier versions of their mobile OS didn't offer particularly compelling experiences.
"We know this is not going to be an easy journey," admitted Highfield, adding that Microsoft wants to "change the perception of some of those people who have perhaps not been so encouraged by our products in the past."
Indeed, according to Gartner, Windows Mobile's share of the global smartphone OS market was just 5% at the end of the second quarter, down from 9.3% in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile rival platforms from Apple, RIM and Android together accounted for 49.6% of the market in Q2, compared to 33.8% in the second quarter of 2009.
