HTC 7 Mozart and 7 Trophy set out to conquer the WP7 world, 7 Pro coming to Sprint next year

By Vlad Savov  Courtesy of Engadget

HTC's kicking the Windows Phone 7 era off in style today with no less than three new phones scheduled to debut on October 21 in Europe: the HD7, the 7 Mozart, and the 7 Trophy. Both the Mozart and Trophy offer a WVGA LCD screen, a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 chipset, 576MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, and 720p video recording. Where the 7 Mozart sets itself apart is in having an aluminum unibody construction wrapped around its 3.7-inch display, together with a more advanced 8 megapixel imager and a Xenon flash. The 7 Trophy makes do with an LED flash illuminating 5 megapixels' worth photons, but it does also come with HTC's promise to be the most aggressively priced WP7 handset from the company. It'll be a Vodafone exclusive across the big red network's global footprint, while the Mozart will be exclusive to Orange in the UK, France, Spain, and Switzerland, exclusive to Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and available on a choice of carriers elsewhere. No peep of an American release for either handset, however.

For the home crowd, Sprint is set to deliver a HTC 7 Pro with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out and tilts -- you can see it pictured in the gallery below -- at some point in the first half of 2011. It too goes with the same old 1GHz Snapdragon, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel cam plus 720p video, and WVGA display resolution (on a 3.6-inch screen), but it gets a bump in storage to 16GB. Full spec sheets for all three phones, along with HTC's big Windows Phone 7 announcement, await just past the break.

MONDAY, 11 OCTOBER, 09.30 EST (New York)

HTC GOES BIG WITH MICROSOFT; LAUNCHING FIVE NEW WINDOWS PHONE 7 SMARTPHONES

HTC brings its trademark innovation and design to a fresh, new Windows Phone 7 portfolio – HTC 7 Surround, HTC 7 Mozart, HTC 7 Trophy, HTC 7 Pro and HTC HD7

NEW YORK – October 11, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones and long-time Microsoft partner, today unveiled five new Windows Phone 7 smartphones: HTC 7 Surround, HTC 7 Mozart, HTC 7 Trophy, HTC 7 Pro and HTC HD7. This strong and diverse family of phones features Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 platform and embodies the stand-out design and innovation for which HTC has come to be known. Each new phone includes a variety of cutting-edge technologies and a series of unique HTC applications that can be accessed through the new HTC Hub that complements the Windows Phone 7 Hub and Tile experience.

"Windows Phone 7 is an entirely fresh mobile experience, on which HTC is excited to be going big. We see tremendous customer opportunities with the integration of Microsoft's most popular services like Xbox LIVE and Zune," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. "The value Microsoft is bringing to mobile customers around the world sets a new benchmark for the industry. HTC will be introducing five new HTC Windows Phone 7 smartphones at launch to support our customers with a broad variety of choice."

"HTC has been a partner with Microsoft since we launched our first phones nearly a decade ago, and we couldn't be more excited to continue this journey with the launch of Windows Phone 7," said Andy Lees, President of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft. "Windows Phone 7 characterizes a new direction for Microsoft and its partners, and HTC is stepping up to support this in a significant way by bringing five new Windows Phones to market."

Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7 has been carefully crafted to help people get more done in fewer steps with a unique Hub and Tile interface. The Windows Phone 7 Hubs offer quick and easy access to a person's latest and most valuable information and include People, Pictures, Games, Music & Video, Office and Marketplace content. Windows Phone 7 also integrates with many popular Microsoft consumer services such as Xbox LIVE, Windows Live, Bing and Zune.

HTC Windows Phone 7 portfolio
HTC has brought its innovative design and creativity to its new Windows Phone 7 smartphone portfolio by embracing distinctive materials and unique design elements while providing an exciting set of cutting-edge features and technologies. With the new HTC Hub, HTC is providing an exclusive series of applications and utilities that include a new weather and stocks application and a new photo enhancer that enables a person to apply special effects before sharing photos with friends.

HTC 7 Surround
Whether it be gaming, movies or music, HTC 7 Surround is the ultimate multimedia device. With a unique slide-out speaker and integrated kickstand with integrated Dolby Mobile™ and SRS WOW HD™, the HTC 7 Surround delivers high-fidelity audio and virtual surround sound that enable people to share their favorite music and videos with their friends in style. No longer are they forced to use headphones for a great
surround sound experience because the HTC 7 Surround speaker makes the listening experience natural and comfortable.

HTC 7 Mozart
Crafted from a single piece of anodized aluminum, the HTC 7 Mozart feels great in the hand and takes HTC's unibody design aesthetic to the next level. The slim, solid and smart HTC 7 Mozart sounds as good as it looks and integrates Dolby Mobile™ and SRS WOW HD™ for high-fidelity, virtual surround sound. With Microsoft Zune integration, people can synchronize the HTC 7 Mozart with their PC, enabling them to take their music and video library with them wherever they go.

HTC 7 Trophy
HTC 7 Trophy harnesses the power of Xbox LIVE. Gamers will enjoy the speed and responsiveness of fast action gameplay supported by the phone's high-performance 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and controlled through the vivid WVGA 3.8" touchscreen. High-fidelity, virtual surround sound - through SRS WOW HD™ - brings a rich audio experience whether the user is playing a game, watching a video or listening to their favorite music.

HTC 7 Pro
The development of the HTC 7 Pro was inspired by power users who want to combine the ultimate in business efficiency with the ability to take full advantage of their leisure time. The sleek handset slides opens and tilts to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard for fast, comfortable typing, while productivity features such as the ability to sort, scan and manage Outlook email, open and edit the latest Office documents on the phone and keep track of the markets with HTC's stocks application, offer new ways to maximize the business day.

HTC HD7
HTC HD7 owners can enjoy their favorite videos and movies in cinematic-style thanks to the large 4.3" high-resolution screen, while its kickstand allows them to sit back and enjoy the action handsfree. For those who refuse to compromise on their mobile gaming experience, the HTC HD7 realizes the power of Xbox LIVE,bringing gameplay to life in a way that takes console gaming beyond the home.

Availability
The five new HTC smartphones will be available through mobile operators and retailers across major European, Asia-Pacific and North American markets from late October.

North America
• HTC 7 Surround will be available exclusively in the United States with AT&T as the HTC Surround.
• HTC HD7 will be exclusively available in the United States with T-Mobile.
• HTC 7 Pro will be available in the first half of 2011 with Sprint.
• HTC 7 Surround will be available exclusively with Telus in Canada.

Europe
• HTC HD7 will be available from Telefonica O2 in Germany and exclusively in United Kingdom and Ireland.
• HTC HD7 will also be available with Telefonica Movistar in Spain. • HTC HD7 will be available from Bouygues Telecom in France.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be exclusively available in France, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain with Orange.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be exclusively available in Germany with Deutsche Telekom AG.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Austria with Deutsche Telekom AG.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Austria with Orange.
• HTC 7 Trophy will be available exclusively in Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland with Vodafone.
• HTC 7 Mozart and HTC HD7 will be broadly available in Italy.

Asia-Pacific
• HTC HD7 will be exclusively available with Telstra in Australia
• HTC HD7 will be exclusively available with Telecom New Zealand.
• HTC HD7 will be exclusively available with Singtel in Singapore.
• HTC HD7 will be exclusively available with Maxis in Malaysia.
• HTC HD7 will be available with Taiwan Mobile in Taiwan.
• HTC HD7 will be available in Hong Kong with CSL, 3 and China Mobile.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be exclusively available with Telstra in Australia.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be exclusively available with Starhub in Singapore.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Hong Kong with CSL, 3 and China Mobile.
• HTC 7 Mozart will be available with Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan.
• HTC 7 Trophy will be exclusively available with Vodafone in Australia and New Zealand.
• HTC 7 Trophy will be exclusively available with M1 in Singapore.

Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!)

By Thomas Ricker  posted Oct 11th 2010 9:34AM

It may have "Windows" in the branding, but Windows Phone 7 is not the desktop PC experience shoehorned into a cellphone. Microsoft tried that with Windows Mobile... and we all know how that turned out. Today, eight months after the Windows Phone 7 OS unveiling in Barcelona, we're finally seeing the official launch of the retail hardware: nine new WP7 handsets available October 21 in select European and Asian markets and early November in the US. The phones will find their way to over 60 cellphone operators in more than 30 countries this year. Microsoft tapped Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung to deliver the Snapdragon-based handsets with a carrier list that includes AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Vodafone, TELUS, América Móvil, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, and Telstra. And that's just for the first wave -- Microsoft has even more handsets coming in 2011 including the first for Sprint and Verizon in the US. Here's the lineup of 480 x 800 pixel (WVGA) phones announced today:

• HTC 7 Surround -- The 3.8-inch T8788 with slideout speaker for AT&T and Telus
• HTC HD7 -- Schubert comes of age as a 4.3-inch HD2 cousin for T-Mobile and beyond
• HTC 7 Trophy -- the 3.8-inch Spark headed to international carriers
• HTC 7 Mozart -- another heavily leaked int'l player with 3.7-inch display
• Dell Venue Pro -- 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider for T-Mobile we broke as Lightning
• Samsung Focus -- AT&T's 4-inch Super AMOLED slate we broke as Cetus
• Samsung Omnia 7 -- the i8700 is a 4-inch Super AMOLED jobbie for Europe
• LG Optimus 7/7Q -- the E900 is the official 3.8-inch global workhorse
• LG Quantum -- AT&T's 3.5-inch landscape slider first seen as the C900

• HTC 7 Pro -- a 3.6-inch QWERTY slider for Sprint (2011)

"Glance and Go," is the slogan Microsoft is using to differentiate itself from an already crowded smartphone market. Something we've already seen alluded to in that leaked AT&T ad. As Ballmer notes, "Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience - one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a 'glance and go' format." He's referring to WP7's customizable Live Tiles, of course. Xbox Live integration is another biggie with EA Games just announcing its first Xbox Live-enabled wares coming to Windows Phone 7 in the fall including "Need for Speed Undercover," "Tetris," "Monopoly," and "The Sims 3." The other big differentiators are the slick Metro UI, integrated support for Zune media and Zune Pass subscriptions, Bing search and maps, Windows Live including the free Find My Phone service, and Microsoft Office Mobile.

Now quit stalling and jump past the break for the full list of handsets per carrier and country.

North America

AT&T
• HTC Surround, United States
• Samsung Focus, United States
• LG Quantum, United States

T-Mobile USA
• HTC HD7, United States
• Dell Venue Pro, United States

TELUS
• HTC 7 Surround, Canada
• LG Optimus 7, Canada
América Móvil
• LG Optimus 7, Mexico

Europe

O2
• HTC HD7, United Kingdom, Germany

Orange
• HTC 7 Mozart, including France, United Kingdom
• Samsung Omnia 7, including France, United Kingdom

SFR
• HTC 7 Trophy, France
• Samsung Omnia 7, France

Movistar
• LG Optimus 7, Spain
• HTC HD7, Spain
• Samsung Omnia 7, Spain

Deutsche Telekom AG
• HTC 7 Mozart, Germany
• Samsung Omnia 7, Germany

Vodafone
• HTC 7 Trophy, including Germany, Spain, United Kingdom
• LG Optimus 7, including Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

Asia Pacific

SingTel
• HTC HD 7, Singapore
• LG Optimus 7, Singapore

Telstra
• HTC 7 Mozart, Australia
• LG Optimus 7Q, Australia

Vodafone
• HTC 7 Trophy, Australia

Windows Phone 7 to launch Monday amid crowded smartphone market

Success of new mobile OS considered vital to Microsoft

Microsoft will unveil devices running its new Windows Phone 7 operating system for the first time at an event in New York Monday that some experts predict will be a make-or-break product launch.

They aren't exaggerating.

Analysts say Microsoft's success with Windows Phone 7 (WP7) isimportant to its mobile initiatives as well as to the overall future strength of the software giant, which is best known for its desktop operating systems and office productivity software. Analysts regard the WP7 announcement as important to the entire company.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, this announcement is an 11" to both Microsoft in mobile and Microsoft overall, said Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst. "This is where the rubber meets the road. It's huge."

Microsoft must prove it has overcome its dismal performance with the current Windows Mobile OS and the failure of a youth-focused Kin phone linethat launched in the spring but was killed two months later.

More daunting is how well WP7 can distinguish itself with consumers against Apple's iPhone and an array of Android devices, as well as the persistence of Research In Motion's BlackBerrysmartphones with the corporate crowd.

"With WP7, Microsoft is trying to catch up to everyone else in mobile," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group Research. "In many ways, I think they've missed the mobile window, not to play with words. Windows Mobile has left a bad taste in people's mouths, and now, trying to get customers to try Microsoft and WP7 again will be difficult, especially with the popularity of Android and Apple."

Microsoft needs to replace those failed products with a "cool and sleek" set of WP7 devices "that will draw people in," Llamas said.

Microsoft is being quiet about the final lineup of devices that will be shown Monday, although a spokeswoman said there will be devices -- plural -- shown by Microsoft with AT&T, following a press conference with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega. And Microsoft has not restricted itself to smartphones; some observers expect more news on Microsoft's plans for tablet computers.

Device makers HTC, LG and Samsung are expected to show off their new products at the launch event. Plenty of YouTube videos have been generated showing the distinctive "hubs" and "tiles" motif that will be used to distinguish WP7 from other interfaces. One video shows the incorporation of five popular apps: Netflix, Twitter, Flixster, OpenTable and Travelocity. Another video, demonstrating HTC's 3D customization of WP7, has received more than 400,000 hits on YouTube.

Also on Monday, Microsoft will offer some hands-on experience with its consumer lineup, including WP7, Kinect, Bing, Xbox and "others," a spokeswoman said. A "global portfolio" of WP7 devices from various manufacturers will be shown in a separate location. On Tuesday, third-party developers will meet with Microsoft to learn more about WP7 on its final lineup of devices.

Aside from Microsoft's problems with Kin and its previous Windows Mobile OS, there are other questions over WP7.

How will developers react?

Developers, so far, have downloaded more than 300,000 copies of tools to help them build WP7 applications. Experts noted that the applications already written for the existing Windows Mobile OS must be heavily rewritten for WP7, and some developers are unhappy about that. While some large third-party development houses, such as Travelocity, will build applications for WP7 phones, it's less clear whether small development shops will be able to handle the development process.

"The jury's out," said Paul Reddick, CEO of Handmark, a mobile application developer, who commented this week at CTIA in San Francisco. "Coming out of this economy, developers don't randomly build stuff."

How many apps will be ready for WP7?

Microsoft is not saying how many applications will be available to WP7 on Monday through its online Windows Phone Marketplace. The question is an important one, since too few could spell disaster, Llamas said, pointing out that the Palm Prelaunched in 2009 with only 32 applications.

"Microsoft deserves congratulations for 300,000 downloads of the developer tools, but I would hope they have more than the 32 apps that Palm Pre had," Llamas said. "They need a goodly number, although I don't expect 100,000."

What carriers will support WP7?

Other than saying AT&T will attend the Monday event, Microsoft hasn't specifically named the first wireless carriers of its phones, although in February it called the four major U.S. carriers its "partners" in WP7. AT&T, a GSM carrier, is expected to be joined eventually by T-Mobile, another big GSM carrier, as well as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, which both run on CDMA.

However, Verizon carried the botched Kin, which apparently has strained its relationship with Microsoft. A Verizon executive earlier this week said Verizon's business customers aren't sure what to expect from WP7. "It's fallen off the radar for enterprise customers," said Michael Tighe, Verizon's executive director of business solutions.

The carriers are key to any phone's success. Verizon Wireless was accused of hurting the Kin by selling the Kin phones, which did not run games, with a full smartphone monthly data subscription starting at $70, something that caused young buyers to balk. AT&T presumably will not face that problem, since WP7 specifications are expected to support a range of typical smartphone apps.

Llamas said Verizon, the nation's largest carrier, could come back on board with WP7, however, possibly with a faster LTE wireless version in 2011.

How can WP7 compete with Android and Apple?

The biggest concern for WP7 has a lot to do with marketing and convincing buyers that it can be distinctly different from the iPhone or Android devices, Llamas said.

Most of the preview videos of the interface show that WP7 is cleaner than the confusing interface of the Kin, but buyers will also note that WP7 offers a touch screen of about the same size as an iPhone's, with a virtual keyboard that could well be an iPhone's.

The hubs-and-tiles concept could resonate well as a way of presenting access to pertinent information right from the home screen, analysts have noted. (The tiles are actually running with real-time information on a home screen, without the need to open a full application, for example.)

Llamas also said that Microsoft will benefit from having an installed corporate base for the Windows desktop and Windows Mobile, and from the fact that WP7 will allow access to corporate e-mail through Exchange and a variety of security protections.

Still, there appear to be many things about WP7 that make it similar to other smartphones. "How is WP7 differentiated from Apple and Android and BlackBerry?" Llamas asked. "What space is Microsoft carving out? That is the multibillion-dollar question for Microsoft."

What are WP7's chances of success?

Today, the Windows Mobile OS gives Microsoft a 6.8% share of the global market for smartphones, a share that IDC expects will rise to 9.8% by the end of 2014 with WP7 and future generations.

That will put Microsoft in fifth place in 2014, which might sound unimpressive except that smartphones sold by all vendors will double in number, exceeding more than 500 million in four years, Llamas said. Gartner has been more pessimistic about Windows Phone's success, saying it will command only 3.9% of the market by 2014.

"What will constitute success for WP7?" Llamas asked. "Would it be a million sold in three days like Apple? No. Will WP7 turn heads? Yes, I think so. But this is not going to be an overnight sensation. It will take a lot of seeding and grooming by Microsoft, so look for them to do a very convincing marketing campaign. Marketing really matters at this point."

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at  @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.