Windows Phone 7 is Released to Manufacturing

Microsoft have reached a big milestone with their new smartphone operating system, Windows Phone 7.  Today, Terry Myerson the Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone Engineering has announced that it has been finalised and released to manufacturing.

This means that the version of the operating system Microsoft have released today, is the same version that will appear on the first generation of new Windows phones this fall.

In a statement on their blog, Myerson said...

“Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released. We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback.”

Microsoft has a lot riding on the success of this new mobile OS, but reports so far indicate that it will give Apple's iOS and Google Android a serious run for its money.

The only possible problem will be the continued use of the Windows name which, while completely understandable, might put people off if they've used and hated Windows Mobile.  Once they see the new OS though they'll almost certainly be wowed, but if that translates into hard sales figures remains to be seen at this stage.

Update: Microsoft recently has released Windows Phone 8, the next installment of Windows on a phone. The new Windows Phone 8 uses the Metro design interface that Microsoft is also using in its Windows 8 operating system. Reception of the new phone version has been positive, sales on the other hand are not that good yet, with both Android and iPhone devices selling better right now (end of 2012).

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