The first smartphone based on the new "Mango" edition of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform
was unveiled on Wednesday in Tokyo.
Developed by Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications, the IS12T has a 3.7-inch screen and a 13.2
megapixel camera. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are included in the CDMA-based phone, which is
also waterproof. It will be available in Japan only in September or sometime after.
The phone is the first of several anticipated handsets due over the next few months that
Microsoft hopes will signal its return to the smartphone market as a serious player.
It was hoping for the same thing a year ago when Windows Phone 7 launched to replace Windows
Mobile, but that didn't happen.
In the words of Steve Ballmer earlier this month....
STEVE BALLMER "Phones, we've gone from very small to very
small, but it's been a heck of a year. (Laughter.) And you're going to see a lot of progress
in that market competitively as we move forward."
Ballmer's confidence is perhaps being boosted by a wide-ranging tie-up with Nokia, the world's
largest cell phone maker. The two companies announced earlier this year that they would
collaborate on development of phones and technology for Windows Phone 7.
The company is also working with Taiwan's Acer and China's ZTE.
The Mango release, which Microsoft officially declared ready to ship on Tuesday, adds some
500 improvements to the original platform, according to Microsoft.
They include an email "conversation view" that is said to make long email discussions
more efficient, a "threads" feature that brings together text, instant messages and Facebook
chat together, and Internet Explorer 9 for faster Web browsing.
But perhaps Microsoft's biggest challenge is gettings its phones and message in front
of potential buyers. With new Android phones appearing almost weekly and an update to the
iPhone anticipated in the coming weeks, the smartphone market is getting noisier.
Still, Microsoft's message is expected to get through. IDC predicts Windows-based smartphones
will account for 20 percent of the market in 2015, second only to Android.
In Tokyo this is Martyn Williams, IDG News Service.
