The paper cited sources “familiar with the launch plans”, who stated that AT&T will start offering the phones to the public four weeks later. The launch event will be centred in New York City, with smaller satellite events taking place in other cities across the United States.

 

At launch three phones will be available with the new Windows Phone 7 OS, one each manufactured by Samsung, LG Electronics and HTC.

 

“This is critical to Microsoft's overall business,” said Avi Greengart, an employee of research firm Current Analysis. “They are being badly outflanked right now by their competitors.” He is of course referring to Apple and Google's domination of the smartphone market in recent months with the new iPhone and Android mobile OS.

 

The company can't really afford another blunder in the mobile segment after its disastrous attempt to create a youth orientated phone in the form of the Microsoft Kin earlier this year. The Kin devices were pulled from the market after only two months.

 

Microsoft is looking to poke its head back into the smartphone race with Windows Phone 7, reportedly applying strict guidelines on the specifications of devices which would use its new OS. The software apparently gathers inspiration from the user experience of the company's Zune portable media player, which sports an intuitive and easy-to-use interface.

 

Microsoft also faces an uphill battle in terms of mobile applications, with Apple, Google and BlackBerry sporting comprehensive online app libraries. The company released its mobile software developer toolkit months ago, so at launch the devices should have at least a few app's ready.

 

No details on when South Africans can expect to see Windows Phone 7 grace their smartphone displays are available as of yet.