Windows Phone 8 Apollo unvieled

The E3 and Apple’s WWDC out of the way, we turn our gaze towards Microsoft’s Windows Phone Developer Summit on June 20-21. There’s no doubting the ingenuity and class of Windows Phone (WP) as an OS. In fact, while it offers fairly limited customisation options to its users, it’s still got a few tricks up its sleeve; and we’d have to admit that what it does, it does well. However, Windows Phone 7 (WP7) has had some strict restrictions when it comes to hardware, and some feel that it’s those restrictions that have held back manufacturers like Nokia and Samsung from providing more in their WP7 devices.

Expected, at the Windows Phone Developer Summit, is the announcement of the next version of the WP OS, WP8. Codenamed Apollo, a video leaked earlier this year offered what little is known about this major evolutionof the OS, especially in light of the OS’s biggest contribution to Windows 8: the Metro interface. Having seen a remarkable reception to its admittedly beautiful user interface, Microsoft took the best of Metro to their desktop OS. Unsurprisingly, then, it’s expected that both Windows 8 and WP8 will find a lot in common. It’s also expected that Microsoft will finally reveal how their acquisition of Skype will fit into WP8.