Hands On With Microsoft’s New Windows Phones

Our own Josh Zelman grabbed some video of the new Windows Phones announced today, including the $50 Samsung Focus Flash. These are Microsoft’s initial stabs at attacking the mid-range market in advance of Nokia’s upcoming WinPho models.

The new phones include the Samsung Focus S and the HTC Radar HTC, priced at $199 and $99 respectively. These are clearly subsidized prices and an effort by Microsoft to grab a bit more than the current 2% market share they now control.

I honestly believe that things are going to look a lot different in the next year or so as these WinPhones slowly grab market share and Windows 8 makes the mobile OS much more compelling – presumably eroding (albeit slightly) the iOS and the Android markets. We live, as they say, in interesting mobile times.