Microsoft: Holidays will usher in several Windows Phone 7 smartphones

Microsoft said during its developer conference this week in Las Vegas that multiple operators will introduce Windows Phone 7 Series devices in time for the holiday selling season and will work with several unnamed operators to jointly market the devices.

According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, Microsoft Director of Mobile Communications Aaron Woodman declined to say how many phones will be launched later this year, but he did say the company will have a "sizable" presence during the holiday season.

Microsoft unveiled Window Phone 7 last month during the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, but left out key developer details. This week, the software company showed off its Windows Phone 7 Series developer framework along with the Windows Phone Marketplace application storefront, which will allow users to try out apps before purchasing them.

Microsoft said Windows Phone 7 extends technologies like Silverlight and XNA to mobile application and game creation. Windows Phone 7 also supplies a Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location data as well as a Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the device, regardless of whether a given application is running.

For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)

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