14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is almost there with Windows Phone 7, the next generation of the company’s mobile platform, revealed Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone Engineering, at the end of the past week. Over the next few weeks Microsoft together with a variety of OEM partners will work to broaden the pool of testers trying out Windows Phone 7 devices. According to Myerson, a few thousands Asus, LG and Samsung prototype phones will be offered to early adopters and developers over the course of the next few weeks.
This move has been made possible by a new development milestone reached by Windows Phone 7. The new devices sporting the successor of Windows Mobile 6.5 will be offered to testers with the Technical Preview of the OS, and this is the first time that people outside of Redmond will get to try out the phones designed to take on Apple’s iPhone and the Android powered devices that have made inroads into Windows Mobile territory.
“Before release of this milestone, the software has undergone extensive testing – in daily use by more than 1000 people at Microsoft who have been using WP7 as their only phone for the past several months, and the more than 10,000 devices in our test labs. We’ve been testing usability, battery life, network connectivity, and many other metrics for a long time. As a result of that work, I hope you will find the experience to be of surprisingly high quality,” Myerson explained.
During the Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 last week, Microsoft wasted no opportunity to praise the upcoming Windows Phone 7. Kevin Turner, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer even took multiple jabs at Apple, mocking the issues affecting the new iPhone 4. Of course, the Redmond company needs to actually prove itself on the market, and the new Windows Phone 7 devices expected around October 2010 need to deliver on what the company promised just as Windows 7 did last year.
“So we’re almost there – but there is much work left to do. Together, with our early adopter customers, developers, OEM, and mobile operator partners we are in the home stretch. We are on the path to do exactly what we set out to do – create a different take on mobile phone software, an experience we think many people will find fun and refreshing, with a quality bar that we’re proud of,” Myerson said.
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