Windows Phone 8 Launch Event

Yesterday’s launch of Microsoft’s new smartphone operating system is a significant milestone for the company. Many have been waiting for this day, maybe for some, more so than the Windows 8 launch that occurred last week. Either way you look at it 2012 marks a major year in history for the company – seeing the Windows Server 2012 RTM, Office 2013 RTM, Windows 8 RTM and now Windows Phone 8 with next releases of server applications such as Lync 2013, Exchange 2013 and SharePoint 2013 expected very soon; the work Microsoft have done is unprecedented in my view.

If you haven’t heard or seen much about the new Windows Phone 8 product please take some time to watch the launch event and get ready for a software experience that is completely unique and different to what is on the market today. Watch the webcast of the Windows Phone 8 launch event from San Francisco, which started at 10 a.m. PT Oct. 29, 2012 – (4 a.m AEST Oct. 30th).

Jessica Alba even made an appearance for the event helping with a testimonial, she had been using the Nokia Lumia 920 which has been flagged as the premiere hardware for Microsoft’s go to market strategy.

Key take-aways:

• Phones start shipping first weekend of November to Europe regions
• Telstra is expected to start offering the official release of the Nokia Lumia series by the end of November
• Microsoft Stores in the U.S will stock all phones, colours and options
• By December we would expect more hardware and global coverage across many carriers
• Data Sense feature is dependant on carrier, information about Australian telco support is unknown at this stage
• Windows Phone 7 will receive an update to Windows Phone 7.8 sometime in near future

I will blog some more on the compelling features that might put your current non-windows smart phone in perspective.