14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone 7, the latest mobile operating system version that Redmond-based software giant Microsoft brought to the market during the ongoing year, is expected to become available for purchase on handsets in China starting with the second half of the next year.
It appears that the mobile platform would be included in devices coming from companies like Lenovo, Huawei Technologies and ZTE, and that it would be specifically tailored for the market.
According to a recent article on DigiTimes, the Chinese-edition of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) should be present on the local market mainly on handsets released by the aforementioned China-based mobile device makers.
However, these won't be the only companies to join the Windows Phone 7 bandwagon during the next year, it seems.
While the currently available Windows Phone 7 handsets came from companies like HTC, LG, Samsung or Dell, mobile phone makers like Asus, ZTE and others would also come up with their own devices based on Microsoft's new mobile OS.
At the MWC show in Barcelona next year, Asus is expected to announce officially the introduction of its E600 Windows Phone 7-based mobile device, sources familiar with the matter suggested, according to the aforementioned article.
Moreover, it seems that Microsoft is confident that the Chinese-version WP7 would drive the demand for the OS upwards.
What would be interesting to see is how committed would Chinese makers be to the new Windows Phone 7 OS, since most of them already focused on the development of devices based on Google's Android platform.
Windows Phone 7 hasn't enjoyed a great adoption until now, but, considering the fact that it was brought to shelves only about two months ago, we can say that it still hasn't reached its full potential.
Next year announces itself to be a pretty interesting year for Windows Phone 7, with at least two updates in store for the platform (a major one too), with new devices added to the mix, and with expanded availability around the world.