Microsoft Windows Phone 7 in India soon

IT bellwether Microsoft Corporation will launch its much-hyped Windows Phone 7 in the Indian market towards the end of this year. The company claims that Phone 7 has gained adoption worldwide, selling over two million units last quarter.

“I don’t think they (Microsoft’s headquarters Redmond) have finalised on the exact launch details. But, I am sure it will come to the market this year,” Amit Chatterjee, managing director of Microsoft India (R&D) Private Limited, told reporters here recently.

Chatterjee said, the Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) in Hyderabad, the company’s largest development centre outside the US, had so far registered over 20,000 developers to create applications for Phone 7. There are already over 7,000 applications on the apps store and 100 new are added to it every day, he said.

The software major is also gearing up to formally launch its search engine product ‘Bing’ in the Indian market. Bing, Chatterjee said, would be a different experience for the users and it would certainly not be a search product.

“Bing will be a decision-making engine. A user will be able to take a decision after using Bing instead of just searching what he wants on the Internet,” he said, adding the company had not been able to position Bing properly in the Indian market. “We always want to be quick but don’t want to rush things. We will bring out the product properly keeping the user experience in mind.”

MSIDC employs 16,000-odd professionals, engaged in eight focus areas, including mobility (phone), gaming and browsing. “We have set a target to recruit 150-170 freshers each year from campuses,” Chatterjee said.