Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft is scheduled to announce its first line of Windows Phone 7 products in a New York press conference next week.

Reporters this morning received an invitation to an Oct. 11 event, where Microsoft will announce which carriers and manufacturers will be making and selling handsets based on Microsoft’s next mobile operating system. The company will also preview the first line of Windows Phone 7 hardware.

It’s evident that AT&T is on board as one of the carriers. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega will be jointly hosting the conference to discuss the latest developments of Windows Phone 7, according to the press invite.

Despite Engadget’s report that T-Mobile will be a highlight of the Microsoft press conference, a Microsoft spokeswoman said T-Mobile is holding a separate press conference on Oct. 11 that is not part of the Microsoft conference. She declined to comment on whether T-Mobile would be among initial carrier partners offering Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s complete do-over of its mobile operating system previously dubbed Windows Mobile. Microsoft established an early lead on mobility with its older mobile operating system, but in recent years the company has suffered substantial losses in market share. Windows Mobile hasn’t been upgraded substantially in several years, and more user-friendly competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android OS have taken market share away from Microsoft. As a result, Microsoft scrapped the Windows Mobile project and redid the entire OS into a tile-based interface incorporating elements of the Zune media player and Xbox Live gaming.

Microsoft is also tackling its competitors on the patent front. On Friday, the Redmond company sued Motorola over alleged patent infringement in its Android phones, covering features such as “synchronizing e-mail, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.” And in an interview in the Wall Street Journal Monday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that Android sales will generate licensing fees for Microsoft.

Though the company will announce details about Windows Phone 7 at the Oct. 11 conference, multiple reports have claimed that the official shipping date of the first Windows Phone 7 devices is Nov. 8. Wired.com has heard the same date from sources familiar with the project.

See Also:

• Microsoft Blends Zune Media, Xbox Live Into New Phone OS
• Hands-On With Windows Phone 7 Series
• Microsoft Tells Windows Phone 7’s App Story
• Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy Takes Aim at Apple, Google

Horror, shock, surprise! Microsoft CEO and prime fanboy of all things Windows and developer-related, Steve Ballmer, will be the keynote speaker at Microsoft’s New York launch event for Windows Phone 7. He’ll be joined on stage by AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega and when the pep rally is over, we’re promised opportunities to finally handle the official incarnations of retail Windows Phones for ourselves. We know all this because Microsoft has just dropped a kind little invite into our inbox urging us to attend its October 11 get-together. We will, of course, be there live, but don’t forget Microsoft’s also holding a London event on that day, ostensibly for the same reason, so make sure to be up nice and early next Monday if you don’t wanna miss a thing.

As we reported last night, the company is also holding a gathering centered around T-Mobile WP7 handsets, though details are more scarce on that event. We saw an official invite from the folks in Redmond, but it looks like that showing may be smaller in scale. We have to imagine that AT&T and their GSM competition don’t want to share the stage, but as this is a Microsoft launch, anything is possible. Regardless, if there are multiple carriers showing hardware come October 11th, we’ll have all the goods.

Steve Ballmer and AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega to headline Windows Phone 7 launch event in NYC on October 11 — we’ll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there was any scrap of doubt in your mind, we’ll obliterate it for you right now — October 11th is the day Windows Phone 7 will be unveiled in the US, not just at a fancy London event… and wonder of wonders, T-Mobile’s the star of the show. Looks like AT&T won’t be launching Metro UI handsets all alone, eh? The event agenda clearly states there will be “an exclusive showing of T-Mobile powered Windows Phone 7 devices” at 3:30PM EST, and you can bet your britches we’ll be there live to cover the whole thing.

[Thanks, James T.]

Confirmed: Windows Phone 7 launches October 11th in New York City, and T-Mobile’s on board originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, two crazy bits of news here: first off, it seems Samsung intends to start making cellphones. Second, some of them will be running Windows Phone 7! Insane, right? Okay, we kid, but Sammy is just now getting official with the news that it has licensed Microsoft’s upcoming mobile platform for its own purposes, and that the company “plans to launch several models based on Windows Phone 7 this year in the US, Europe and Asia.” Of course, one of the most prominent WinPho 7 prototypes Microsoft has been trotting around this year has been a Samsung loosely based on the i8910 HD, so this should come as… well, absolutely no surprise whatsoever. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Shocker! Samsung licenses Windows Phone 7

Shocker! Samsung licenses Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it was only a matter of time — first the leaked press shots of this elusive HTC Spark (although possibly misidentified as the Mondrian back then — note the shinier earpiece in the leaked AT&T ad), and now the real thing is in the hands of some lucky hardware tester. Fortunately for us, this guy also happens to have a naughty friend over at xda-developers — you’ll see in his photos that HTC Hub is alive and well on this 8GB handset, but otherwise, there’s not much info coming out of here. Regardless, feel free to head over to the source link for more Windows Phone 7 eye candy — you’ll need to register first, though, so we’ve grabbed a few shots below to get things going.

[Thanks, Adam]

HTC Spark leaked in the wild, shows off plenty of WP7 goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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