Windows just released a statement about its competitive plans for 2011. They elaborated a number of new updates for the Windows Phone 7 that will arrive in the coming months. The company also highlighted the new partnerships mainly with handset maker, Nokia. The company is set to offer more competitive and faster systems and hopes that the mass market will recognize the position of the Windows Phone 7 in the mobile market. Here are some of the snippets of what the company is planning come 2011 and 2012 and other future plans.

2011 is a notable year in the mobile industry. Instead of hardware, there is great attention over the ecosystems. Right now, there is the move to create a diverse option of intuitive ecosystems that are designed to offer a strong relationship between applications, services, software and hardware. The movement has become very fast. It was just 1 year ever since Windows Phone 7 was shown to the public. Windows Phone 7 offers everything that Microsoft can offer from Xbox Live, hotmail, Bing, Office and Windows Live and integrate all of them with applications such as Facebook.

The team aims to offer a system that is most convenient to use for mobile phone users for the most intuitive mobile experience. In the recent Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer announces different features that consumers will be expecting within the year. The first major update will be available for free for all users within the first 2 weeks of March where they can get added features like copy/paste and snappier performance updates. Another update is the availability of the CDMA networks that allows more customers in other networks. There will also be integration of Twitter in People Hub by the second half of 2011. Windows Phone 7 will also have cloud storage for Office Documents. There is also new generation browsing with the Internet Explorer 9 for more intuitive web browsing. Lastly, there is a better multitasking capability. The additional features will be available across 2011.

Microsoft is gearing towards stronger partnerships between mobile phone makers, developers and operators. These strong partnerships aim to increase innovations and lower price points and finally access the mass market and affect market shares in the long term. Recently, the company already sealed the deal with Nokia as one of its handset maker partners. Microsoft aims to put their skills in software and service expertise together with the hardware know-how of Nokia as well as mapping and imaging. The system will also be backed by Microsoft’s, most powerful labels like Xbox live, NAVTEQ, Bing and Nokia.

The partnership with Nokia and other handset makers really enriches the mobile ecosystem to provide more options for developers, operators and most importantly for consumers. The company will be offering more information regarding its other partnerships in the coming months and by 2012, Windows based Phones will be in full swing in the market, geared as a competitive option for the current hits in the mobile ecosystems battle.

According to the CTO of Verizon, Tony Malone, he is skeptical that Windows Phone 7 can be on an equal level as the iOS and the Android OS. As much as he wishes that there are more options for the sake of competition, he is still not convinced that Microsoft’s smart phone OS offering can provide the necessary competition. As of the moment, Microsoft is in partnership with Nokia and that might be the reason also why Malone is not really getting into the WP7 offerings since Nokia is not a handset partner of Verizon. It is still too early to make judgments and until we find strong devices from Nokia with Windows Phone 7, this page will remain open for possibilities.

In Tony Malone’s own words:

“I do want a strong third OS out there,” Melone said. “It gives the carriers more flexibility and balances the interests of all the parties. But I still have doubts whether Microsoft will get the traction they are hoping for with Windows Phone 7.”

“If you look at our device pipeline for 2011, we have very strong relationships with LG, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and now Apple,” he said. “So I think it would take a really compelling device from Nokia or any new vendor to break in. It doesn’t mean that it can’t happen, but it would have to be really good.”

Via engadget

HTC Smart is one of the new handsets that was showcased at the MWC and CES. HTC Smart is equipped with the Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform, a total novel one. Being in the nascent stage, this platform will take its time to become capable of offering numerous applications.

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The Samsung Bada OS is one of the many things that will be making debut on MWC this year. The first Samsung phone running Bada is Wave. The proof that it will be showcased in MWC is shown by a billboard in Barcelona, where the event is to be held. It was for a long time called as S8500.

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The secrets of MWC (Mobile World Congress) are slowly poring out. One of them being the Windows Mobile 7 that is going to be called as ‘Windows Phone Series.’ The replacement of ‘Mobile’ with ‘Phone’ isn’t new to our ears and was quite expected.

So ‘Series’ is a word that’s holding our inquisitiveness. Maybe  taht cud mean more versions, more variety or a ‘customization’ venture. Let’s see what MWC has to say about this.

Via Engadget