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Spotify, the frankly awesome music-streaming service, will be on Windows Phone 7 at launch. It is available now for Windows Mobile 6.x (now confusingly named Windows Phone), and will be in the Windows Marketplace ready to go when the new Windows 7 handsets ship. Spotify is an ad-supported, all-you-can-eat music player which offers instant access to millions of tracks and, on the Mac at least, manages to be faster and more responsive than the awful iTunes.

The announcement, from the Spotify blog, shows that Microsoft continues to get things right with its new mobile OS. The Windows Phone 7 app will support the same functions as the iPhone and Android versions, with offline playlists and streaming over 3G as well as Wi-Fi. To use the WinMo and Windows Phone 7 versions you’ll need to subscribe to the paid version of Spotify, which also removes ads and lets you store files locally on your computer.

As Windows Phone 7 won’t have an App store, we’re assuming that the handsets will come with the app pre-installed.. It’s possible that Spotify will be in the Windows Phone Marketplace for the WP7 launch. There’s one big question, though. Spotify is currently only available in select European countries, and not at all in the U.S. The phones will be likely be shipping in Europe on October 21st, and the U.S on November 8th. Could this mean that Spotify is finally hopping across the pond?

Spotify debuts on Windows Phone [Spotify]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

After offering previews of its Windows Phone 7 platform last month, Microsoft seems ready to take the next step to get it to market.

The company seems to have set shipping dates for the platform and Europe will be the first to get it.

At a conference, Microsoft’s chief operating officer Kevin Turner told attendees that the company is looking to transition to Windows Phone 7 around October in Europe and November in the U.S.

“We are back in this game,” says Turner in this video posted on Engadget. “And this game is not over.”

In the next three to five years, 450 million smartphones will be sold, he says. That’s double the smartphones sold today.

“When you look at this (Windows 7) phone and some of the UI (user interface), it’s not like any phone you have ever seen from Microsoft,” says Turner. “And I think that’s a good thing.”

Microsoft is working with companies such as Samsung and LG for the hardware.

Over the last three years, Microsoft’s Windows mobile operating system has been eclipsed by rivals such as Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone OS. For the three months ending May, RIM’s BlackBerry OS ranked first with about 41.7 percent market share in the U.S., followed by Apple at 24.4 percent and Microsoft at 13.2 percent, according to Comscore. Android OS came in fourth at 13 percent but Android has been moving up the ranks steadily gaining points while its rivals are losing share.

Microsoft is betting Windows 7 phone will help turn the tide. The new Windows 7 OS has a snazzy new user interface, integration with Zune market for games and music, and search by Bing. (Check out Gizmodo’s in-depth look at Windows Phone 7.)

In the U.S., AT&T has said it plans to be the “premier” carrier for the platform. AT&T has been slow to embrace Google’s Android platform and it will be interesting to see the size of the bet it will place on Microsoft.

Photo: (brendanlim/Flickr)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews