Windows Phone 7 Launches With 10 Phones Across 30 Countries: So Much For Keeping Things Simple

Today’s all about Windows Phone 7 (for better or worse). Microsoft is in New York showing off the goods, and Greg and John are there getting the goods. What I can say remotely is this: Microsoft is launching Windows Phone 7 across 30 countries, with one or two phones per country. Those of us in the U.S. are looking at an early November release date.

My first thought was: how typically Microsoft. How many phones does Apple make? One. How many Android phones are truly over with the average Joe? One. Matt made this same point nearly two years ago: simplicity is golden when it comes to product lineups.

And yet, here comes Microsoft with 10 phones in its satchel. Ten! Kinda dilutes the specialness, no?

Not to say that the first phones are “bad” or anything like that. Granted, Greg and John will have the hands-on, but the various specs don’t look too bad, and some of them actually look (that is, aesthetically) pretty decent.

This is how Microsoft describes Windows Phone 7:

The goal for Microsoft’s latest smartphone is an ambitious one: to deliver a phone that truly integrates the things people really want to do, puts those things right in front of them, and either lets them get finished quickly or immerses them in the experience they were seeking.

And that sounds great… if you didn’t already have a phone that does all that. I don’t hear too many people complaining that the iPhone or Android-based whatever doesn’t do what you really want they really want them to do. Can they make phone calls? Check. Text? Check. Browse the Web? Check. Run silly Apps? Check.

Make of that what you will.