Setting the standard
One of the things that most struck us about the launch of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS at MWC 2010 was its decision to standardise the hardware platform. It's very difficult to positively influence the end-user experience with not control over the hardware, and this is one area where Apple has a distinct advantage.
So Microsoft announced that there will be a minimum spec for handsets using the new OS, listed a number of OEM and MNO (mobile network operator) partners, but only one chip partner - Qualcomm.
Now, according to a report on ZDNet, a couple of Microsoft ‘developer evangelists' in Australia have let slip that the handset form-factor will will also be standardised in a podcast. The podcast has since been taken down, implying the revelations are legitimate and Microsoft had a word.
The first chassis looks like being the one targeted at the iPhone/HD2 high-end touchscreen smartphone market. It will have a 1GHz chip - which implies Snapdragon, although they also said it will have a dedicated graphics processor. We figure this still refers to Snapdragon, and possibly the Adreno core. This is expected to be the chassis available at launch later this year.
Number two will have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and there were few details about number three. On this scant information, we would expect the emphasis of the other form-factors to be more towards productivity, as opposed to multimedia and entertainment. Following current trends, number three could be a lower priced, entry-level version.
UPDATE - 17:20 24 February 2010 - This was all we could get out of Microsoft on the matter:
"Thank you for your enquiry. We have nothing further to announce at this time. With our breadth of device and operator partners for Windows Phone 7 Series we are working to ensure customers will have a wide range of choice at launch."
