A roster of new mobile phones powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 has become available worldwide starting with October 6th, 2009, with Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer promising at a Paris event that this is nothing more than the beginning. Concomitantly with the introduction of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 devices, Microsoft is also giving the green light to the rebranding of WM 6.5 powered mobile phones, as Windows Phones. Both Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, and Ballmer launched the new Windows Phones at two separate events, one in New York and the other in Paris, France, where the Microsoft CEO is on the second day of its five-country European tour.

“These phones are only the beginning of a stream of mobile innovations that will be coming from Microsoft and our partners,” Ballmer promised. “Over the coming months you’ll see a regular drumbeat of exciting new devices from our partners and updates to our software to keep pace with evolving customer demands around browsing, touch and multi-touch capabilities, to name a few. So stay tuned.”

Manufacturers including Acer, HP, HTC Corp., LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba Corp. all have worked with Microsoft in order to embrace Windows Mobile 6.5. In this regard, a variety of devices are available to customers worldwide including HTC Pure, HTC Imagio, Samsung Intrepid, HTC Tilt 2, Samsung Omnia II, MDA Vario V, HTC HD2, HTC Touch2, Toshiba TG01 W, HTC Touch Diamond2, LG GM750, TMN Bluebelt and others. For a more complete list of the new Windows Phones you will be able to buy in markets around the world as of October 6th, please visit this link.

“We really have a commitment to the three-screens strategy (PC, laptop, television) and to delivering great end-to-end experiences for users,” said Todd Peters, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Marketing Group. “With the improvements in mobile hardware and the hard work we are doing with Windows Mobile, we’re providing users with elegant end-to-end experiences, and connecting them to things that matter the most to them.”

Windows Phones have been optimized in order to offer a PC-like experience. In this regard, Microsoft has packed applications such as Windows Live, Microsoft Office, Windows Internet Explorer, Adobe Flash Lite and Windows Media Player into the operating system. In addition, the Redmond company has streamlined access to online services including: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Windows Live.

“Our lives increasingly have become this complex mash-up of our professional and personal worlds, so we need a better way to connect to the people we care about and an easier way to connect to the information that matters to us,” Bach noted.