Windows Phone Launch Day – US Launch November 8th, with 9 devices. Over 60 mobile operators across the globe!

What an exciting morning!  Today we unveil Windows Phone 7 to the world including launch devices.  Everything we have been talking about this past few weeks with developers comes down to this moment.  Here is where press will have a first hands on experience with the devices, the operating system and your apps.  In just a few weeks consumers will be able to walk into the store and begin buying devices and applications. 

From today’s Press Release:

Microsoft Corp. today joined its partners in revealing nine new Windows Phone 7 handsets that will be available this holiday season from leading mobile operators in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. With more than 60 mobile operators in over 30 countries worldwide committed to bringing Windows Phones to market, the millions of people around the world looking for a phone that plays as hard as it works will have a variety of phones from leading device-makers to choose from.

“We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “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.”

What Devices will be available at launch?

Engadget has a great write-up of all the new phones you can checkout here.  Among them?

• 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 -- 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)

AT&T has also updated their website with a list of devices they will have available.

We have also updated the official Windows Phone website with details on what devices are available on which carriers.

Be sure to check it all out here.

What are some of the  third party applications?

Engadget has more details on some of the applications we showed today.  Ebay? Yes. IMDB? Yes. Twitter? Yes. Netflix? Yes!

Check out more of the details here.

Anything I missed?

A few other things caught my eye during the announcements as well. 

• We are officially going to have Copy and Paste in early 2011.   This will be a FREE update to EVERY Windows Phone 7 device across EVERY carrier in the world.  Unlike some of the other platforms out there we control all updates to our operating system.  No more carrier lock in.
• Electronic Arts is officially supporting Windows Phone 7.  This means Sims 3, Monopoly, Need for Speed and Tetris are all there.
• The new Windows Phone 7 Ad Campaign is brilliant.  I truly want to congratulate the folks behind it.  You can check out our consumer Ad approach here and get a sneak peak of some of the Ads.
• Zune 4.7 is out (Windows Phone 7 support) and is available for download right now.

-Dave