June 18 was a big day for Microsoft, as the company unveiled its brand new Surface tablet, a powerful new contender expected to rival Apple's market-leading iPad. The hype surrounding Microsoft, however, is not over yet. The software maker's Windows Phone Summit on Wednesday, June 20 is another thing to look forward to, as the event will offer a "sneak peak of the future of Windows Phones."
Microsoft is expected to officially unveil for the first time what its new major operating system update, called Apollo, has to offer. The invitations sent to the media came from Microsoft's Windows Phone unit, indicating that the company will be focusing on its mobile operating system. The "Save the Date" invites feature a mobile device with a background image of Golden Gate Bridge. Microsoft's Channel 9 will be webcasting the Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco starting at 9 a.m. PT.
Various rumors surrounding the event indicate Microsoft may announce Windows Phone 8, the next-generation mobile operating system widely expected to support multi-core processors. Should this prove to be true, it would be a significant step forward from the current single-core units such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs found in Nokia's Lumia series.
Rumored Features
The rumor mill has been churning in anticipation for a while now, and there have also been a number of leaks about Windows Phone 8. Some of the expected features rumored over the past few months, according to a list comprised by ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley, include support for four new screen resolutions, support for microSD card storage, as well as for NFC and "Wallet Experience." Other rumored features include core Windows elements such as kernel, networking stacks, multimedia support, and security; new data-tracking options; use of a proxy server for IE 10 Mobile; native BitLocker encryption and Secure Boot; a separate and enhanced Skype app, not integrated into the OS; replacement of the Zune PC client software with an upgraded mechanism more like ActiveSync (codenamed "Daphne," said one of Foley's contacts).
Although Microsoft has been rather tight-lipped regarding the event, company executives did offer some bits of information about the developer strategy and tools for Apollo. According to them, Windows Phone 7 apps will also be able to run on the next-generation Windows Phone, and Microsoft will continue to support XNA somehow. When it comes to plans for Silverlight support for Windows Phone 8, however, the company has been rather vague.
"We've also heard some developers express concern about the long term future of Silverlight for Windows Phone. Please don't panic; XAML and C#/VB.NET development in Windows 8 can be viewed as a direct evolution from today's Silverlight," wrote the company back in April. "All of your managed programming skills are transferrable to building applications for Windows 8, and in many cases, much of your code will be transferrable as well. Note that when targeting a tablet vs. a phone, you do of course, need to design user experiences that are appropriately tailored to each device."
