Microsoft has introduced an update to its Windows Phone operating system, code-named "Mango”. The latest mobile platform will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers with 500 new features and will offer fast browsing with Internet Explorer 9.
The software giant demonstrated the speed of Web browser IE9 by comparing the time it took to load a Web page on a Mango device, on a BlackBerry from Research In Motion, on an iPhone 4 and on an Android device from HTC.
The Windows Phone ecosystem seems to expand with the recent Mango update through a chain of new partners Acer, ZTE and Fujitsu. Microsoft delivered Mango ready handsets will support additional languages including Chinese, Dutch, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese and Russian and will be shipped this fall from Samsung, LG and HTC.
When Mango-powered phones do eventually hit stores this fall they'll likely be facing competition from a new iPhone from Apple and the latest versions of handsets running Google's Android software.
Microsoft has partnered with Nokia for developing a Mango handset. Back in February, Nokia had made up its mind to adopt Microsoft’s platform for its smartphones.
Though industry analysts embraced the arrival of Windows Phone 7 smartphones, general public failed to connect with them. With Mango, Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and Internet to achieve higher level of efficiency.
With a mixture of new capabilities, the Mango update provides some differentiation for Microsoft's platform, but many of the touted additions are merely keeping pace with the competition.
Mango emphasizes social networking by integrating Twitter and LinkedIn feeds and features the latest innovations from Microsoft's search engine Bing.
A Bing search for a movie, for example, will show movie times and theater locations and the option to connect to a Fandango application to purchase a ticket.
Mango organizes information around the person or group people want to interact with, not the app they have to use. In addition, it can show multiple email accounts in a linked inbox and is also capable of displaying the thread of a conversation -- whether it be by text, Facebook chat or Windows Live Messenger -- in a single window.
A recent research study reveals Android will capture nearly half of the global smartphone market with a 49.2 percent market share. However, iPhone market share is expected to remain stable at 18.9 per cent in 2012. On the other side, Windows will account for 5.6 percent of the smartphone market at the end of 2011, which may supposedly rise to 10.8 per cent in 2012.
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