Mobile World Congress 2011

Microsoft today kicked off Mobile World Congress by giving people a glimpse of what the rest of the year will bring for Windows Phone 7. Among the updates are several new features, a booming app marketplace, and the integration of even more Microsoft products with the phone.

A concrete example of the company’s vision is the new strategic partnership with Nokia. “This partnership will combine the strengths of our two companies, and fuel our growth as we build the global Windows Phone ecosystem. This is a great win for us, for Nokia, and for our existing and new customers around the world,” said Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business.

Microsoft announced several new Windows Phone 7 features coming in 2011, including a “dramatically enhanced” browser experience based on Internet Explorer 9; additional multitasking capabilities; support for Microsoft Office documents in the cloud; and the addition of Twitter to the People Hub. The expanded capabilities announced today include:

• Copy and paste functionality via first major update, coming in the next month
• Twitter integration directly into the People Hub in 2011
• Support for Office documents in the cloud in 2011
• Dramatically enhanced Web browser experience based on IE9 in 2011
• A new wave of multitasking applications in 2011
• Targeting significant volume of Nokia Windows Phones in 2012

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