October 11th and November 8th are two dates to mark on your calendar. According to the Wall Street Journal, that October 11th event in NYC will be the official unveiling of Microsoft’s latest mobile OS. While focused in NYC, there will satellite events around the world, including one in London, to mark this critical launch for Microsoft.
Much controversy has surrounded this fall event. Initially reported as the launch for Windows Phone, Paul Thurrott came out last week and refuted this date; claiming it was a general fall event that Microsoft regularly holds. Despite this assertion, this October 11th date keeps surfacing in recent rumors and the WSJ is the latest media outlet to state that this is the launch event for Windows Phone 7.
While the WSJ did not report on a European availability date, earlier rumors suggest that Windows Phone 7 handsets will go on sale on or around October 21st. Most of the major European carriers, including all five in the UK, are expected to launch handsets from the five hardware launch partners which include Samsung, LG, Dell, HTC, and Asus.
While all the world’s eyes will be on Microsoft and Europe in the upcoming weeks, folks in the US will have to wait until early November to get their hands on the first Windows Phone 7 devices. AT&T will be one of the first carriers to offer WP7 handsets and expects to have three devices on tap from HTC, Samsung, and LG (presumably the HTC Mondrian, Samsung Cetus, and LG Optimus 7). The nation’s #2 wireless carrier will begin selling these handsets during the week of November 8th.
I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to these next few months, which will be chock full of exciting new hardware and software from Microsoft and its Windows Phone launch partners.
[Via WSJ]
