Windows 8 mobile: Ready to battle Apple?

Microsoft yesterday unveiled its best software upgrade so far through its Windows 8 Mobile to try and take on the dominance of Android and Apple in the smartphone industry.

To start with a cool new start screen with customizable tile sizes for Windows 8 and a complete payment mechanism through a well integrated Near Field Communication and capability to work on dual core processors, creating the ability to multitask and consume less battery.

But is it sufficient to take on the dominance being enjoyed by iOS and Android?

The upgraded software will only be available on new phone models and Nokia which has been going through depressive sales figures has already announced that it will be using the new Windows 8 OS on its new phones.

Huawei Technologies Co, a leading Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company along with HTC Corp and Samsung too have announced that they would use the new OS on their smartphones.

According to Joe Belfiore, a Microsoft vice president with the NFC technology users will be able to use phones to make payments. Through its digital wallet users will be able to store credit card and other payment details and get deals through the wallet. They can even store coupons and frequent flier miles.

Microsoft is planning to team up with various mobile operators to maximize its productivity.

Although Apple’s introduced a similar feature through Passbook in its latest upgraded iOS6 that will be released later this year, it doesn’t include the NFC technology and only relies on displaying bar codes to redeem purchases.

The new Start Screen will allow users to customize their tiles into small, medium and double size tiles and choose from more than ten colour options for their tiles. Users will also be able to remove the gutter space in between tiles.

Currently, only 2.2 per cent of the smartphones shipped worldwide in the first quarter of 2012 ran Microsoft's software. What Microsoft is targeting is to get anywhere closer to 23 per cent that Apple achieved and Andoid’s 59 per cent share.

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