Software giant Microsoft on Monday announced the development of a new interface and an app store for its new smartphone platform, Windows Phone 7 Series.
Microsoft is looking at reinventing its smartphone operating system, Windows Mobile, with the newly announced Windows Phone 7 Series, promising a different software development kit, user interface and application store, notes wired.com.
Although Windows Mobile was globally the smartphone operating system of choice, the platform lost significant ground to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android OS.
According to Charlie Kindel, manager of Microsoft’s Windows Phone App Platform and Developer Experience program, the revamp means a brand new interface that is able to integrate applications and multimedia in hubs, making life easier for both users and third-party developers to create apps.
The application store, possibly named Windows Phone Marketplace, will also showcase trial versions of developer’s applications, allowing users to try them before purchasing. Microsoft is expected to keep 30% of each application sale.
“Our focus is on making the tools friction-free for developers to get in as easily as possible”, said Kindel.
The basic framework of hubs on Windows Phone 7 Series’ start screen will look something like this: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace and Office. Developers can contribute with their own apps into Microsoft’s standard hubs and also create their own hubs, according to Kindel.
Already leaked in February, documents on Windows 7 Phone Series indicate the use of XNA programming tools in developing games for multiple Microsoft platforms, including Xbox 360 and Windows 7. Another significant addition is a Silverlight coding toolkit for rich internet applications, Microsoft’s own alternative to Adobe Flash (giving it an edge over iPhone which doesn’t support Flash, says wired.com).
However, other features are reminiscent of the iPhone, with pinching, swiping, double taps to zoom and push-up notifications.
Microsoft has also reinvented the hardware interface. The Windows Phone 7 Series phone will include seven standard physical buttons for controlling power, volume, screen, camera, back, start and search.
According to an analyst from technology consulting company Altimeter Group, the user interface seems interesting and very different from the current offerings, but consumers and developers will have the final word.
