Midmarket: Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Smartphones on Display at CTIA

Microsoft demonstrated its upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series handsets at the 2010 CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, showing off what the company sees as its best attempt to start afresh in the smartphone space. As opposed to phones such as Google Android and the Apple iPhone, Windows Phone 7 Series aggregates Web content and mobile applications into themed "Hubs" such as "People" and "Games." Although Microsoft has baked functionality such as SharePoint and access to Office documents directly into the phone, these devices are meant to be more consumer-oriented than the company's Windows Mobile franchise. The question of whether businesses and consumers embrace these smartphones will have to wait until the devices are released near the end of 2010.