Microsoft plays catch up with Windows Phone 7

After languishing on the sidelines as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android made repeated news, Microsoft finally announced its new smartphone platform -- the Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft knew that the newest battle is for the phone. It had to reduce its ambitions trying to get out of the hole it had created for itself with Windows Vista. Once it did so with the release of its latest OS, Windows 7, it turned its attention to the phone.

It is reported that Microsoft moved engineers from other departments to work Windows Phone 7. The final version will hit the market at the end of 2010, in time for the holiday season.