Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 8 Apollo

SAN FRANCISCO, USA – Microsoft officially unveiled the Windows Phone 8 Apollo operating system at the Windows Summit on June 20th, following the launch of the Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 RT and Windows 8 Pro.

According to the developers of the new version of the operating system, there is an exchange of functionality between the Windows Phone 8 and the PC operating system of the company, Windows 8.

This is no surprise, as the Windows 8 also took much from the functionality and interface of earlier versions of Windows Phone. The interactive tiles interface is one of the most obvious examples. Under the hood, however, there are even more similarities brought by the Windows NT core to the new operating system - multi-core processor support, two new screen resolutions – 1280×768 and 1280×720,  support for removable microSD memory cards, NFC wireless sharing, Internet Explorer 10, digital wallet feature, built-in Nokia Maps and better third-party development kits.

The Windows Phone Marketplace passed the 100 000 apps mark recently and it is developing rapidly, and with the added support for native C and C++, in-app payments, integrated internet calling, dedicated Company hub and the multitasking enhancements, also add their part for increasing the popularity of the new OS with developers.

The first devices running Windows Phone 8 are still to be introduced and existing devices will not be able to run on it, but Microsoft is planning to release Windows Phone 7.8 as a software update, with the new Windows Phone 8 Start screen for owners of Windows Phone 7.5 handsets.