While Windows Phone junkies are still waiting on their Mango fix to arrive, details about Redmond’s next update are already starting to emerge. Tentatively dubbed “Tango”, the update will likely be wedged between its fruity predecessor and the forthcoming Windows Phone 8. Details are still scarce, but ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley has a few ideas about where Tango will take us that Mango won’t.
According to her anonymous sources, Tango is “all about Nokia.” It certainly fits in with the gamble that Nokia is taking on Windows, although there isn’t much to show for it so far. To date, Nokia’s Searay prototype is their only Windows device to make an appearance, but a slew of budget models may well be in the works.
That same source also mentioned that Tango may be used to gain a much-needed foothold in the low-cost Asian market. Though a grain of salt should always be taken with these sorts of claims, it does fit with Microsoft and Nokia’s February promise of inexpensive devices coming down the pipeline. It’s an intriguing mix — low cost hardware and a solid OS have the potential to make quite a splash — but it raises the question of where Microsoft thinks their best chances are.
Microsoft is already making their push into Japan, with Fujitsu and carrier KDDI launching the world’s first Mango-powered phone. China is a distinct possibility, but if Microsoft makes a play there, it’ll require a bit of work to make sure their new users are getting the experience they deserve. The Windows Marketplace has yet to be officially launched in China, leaving clever users working off of the US Marketplace stuck without access in recent days.