Microsoft's 'glance and go' Windows Phone 7 confirmed for UK debut on October 21
Despite launching on more than 60 mobile operators in over 30 different countries across the globe, if there was one thing Microsoft looked to highlight at its Windows Phone 7 splash today, it's coherency.
No doubt aware of the fragmentation issues that has blighted Android and, to a certain extent, iPhone of late, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took to the stage at the firm's New York event to stress that the platform is designed to be 'always delightful'.
No matter what handset you own, what carrier you're attached to, or what apps you run, the experience should be both identical and intuitive.
A sense of stability
"We have a beautiful line up in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets," Ballmer said, unveiling 9 different variants in all, from HTC, Dell, Samsung and LG.
"Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone experience one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a glance and go format."
Ballmer's incessant claim that users will be able to do the most wide-ranging of tasks in as short a time as possible is not only based on the platform's UI which places search, and even voice search, at the heart of everything it does but also the fact that third parties too are buying into Microsoft's ethic.
As such, of the two third party apps debuted by Joe Belfiore corporate VP of Windows Phone both IMDB and eBay's apps came with the same structure and appearance that graces the OS throughout.
Blast off
Such cohesion will be important, given Microsoft is attempting to launch in several major worldwide markets in the space of just a few weeks.
Each market, too, will come with their own line up of devices, supported and sold by different operators.
The platform's UK debut backed by all five major carriers received the Stephen Fry seal of approval at the London event (see below).
Fry didn't shy away from his previous criticisms of Microsoft, but added that, with Windows Phone 7, the American giant finally 'gets it', because the platform goes beyond mere functionality and is actually fun to use.
Any UK consumers he won over will be able to pick up the HTC HD7 on O2, the HTC 7 Mozart on Orange, the Samsung Omnia 7 on Orange, T Mobile or Three, and the HTC 7 Trophy and LG Optimus 7 on Vodafone.
Said devices will begin to roll out on October 21, with Windows Phone 7 later hitting the US on both AT&T and T Mobile in November.
Game for games
But it's the game side of Windows Phone that, even for no gamers, is likely to catch the eye, simply because Microsoft is investing so much time and money in it.
At both the events in New York and London, the firm demoed the kind of integration with Xbox Live users can expected to encounter at launch, with the ability to alter avatars in much the same manner as on Xbox 360 with the added ability to add objects you've been awarded in play highlighting the consistent experience Microsoft is aiming for.
Both events also gave demo time to The Sims 3 from EA itself announced as a gaming partner for the platform, with Tetris and Need for Speed: Undercover also forthcoming and Belfiore also showed off an exclusive AT&T title ilomilo that will later launch on Xbox 360.
In all, there have been more than 500,000 downloads of Windows Phone 7's development tools, the company announced.
Attention will now rightly turn to the platform's consumer debut to see if the roster of studios it has amassed have made the right decision, or if, ironically, consumers will simply glance and go.
You can read a liveblog of Microsoft's London event by clicking here.