14 DAY TRIAL // Gone are those days when mobile phones came to the market with support for only a small number of languages. Modern handsets, whether feature phones or smartphones, come with support for more than those up to ten languages that were included in some devices about ten years ago. However, it seems that Redmond-based software giant Microsoft is releasing its Windows Phone 7 operating system with support for only five languages, something that might result in it being pushed back in some markets around the world.
According to a recent article on mobiletechworld, Microsoft Netherlands says that the first Windows Phone 7 handsets are expected to arrive in the market there only in April 2011. When brought to shelves in the fourth quarter of the ongoing year, the mobile platform would come only with support for English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, and, since Dutch won't be among them, the launch of handsets in Netherlands would be pushed back.
It seems that users would still have the possibility to set the browser and search services for any location, but only those five languages are supported in the beginning. As for the Netherlands, rumor has it that Microsoft might try to push handsets to the market in 2010 via carriers, even if the OS won't include Dutch support. However, it seems that the company would plan to release a software update in order to bring support for more languages into the mix.
There are great chances that Microsoft would plan making a similar move in more markets around the world. Of course, this does not exclude the possibility that the release of Windows Phone 7 would be delayed in some countries around the world, based on the fact that the platform won't include support for more languages. Microsoft did not announce something official on the matter, but more info on this should emerge as the launch date of Windows Phone 7 approaches.