Microsoft on Wednesday launched the latest version of its operating system for smartphones,Windows Phone 7.5 - code-named 'Mango' in India, almost a year after the OS was launched globally. Consumers will finally get to use Windows smartphones, as devices from HTC, Samsung and Acer, on Windows Phone 7.5 will hit retail stores around Diwali.
While HTC's Radar is expected to be priced about Rs 24,000, Acer's Allegro will cost about 16,000, giving competition to Android based smartphones, already a success in India. "Microsoft's vision is to play a role in a large spectrum of devices, the mobile phone is the key device in markets such as India," said Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft India.
Microsoft has set minimum hardware requirements for a phone to run Windows Phone 7.5, and a set form factor with three keys, in contrast to Google, which has let vendors customise Android.
Since the Android platform is free and there are no restrictions on the type of device that can run Android, it is now the fastest growing smartphone platform. Google reports that it activates over 5,00,000 Android devices every day. Microsoft says it will follow a middle path in contrast to Google and Apple, whose business strategies are at extreme ends.
Although Windows Phone was not officially released in India, HTC and Dell have already launched their own Windows Phone devices earlier this year. However, there was no access to the Windows Marketplace (Microsoft's App store for Windows Phone) for users in India.
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