Windows Phone 8 Device Availability: Phones Hit Europe This Weekend, U.S. In November

Windows Phone 8 is coming to European carriers this weekend, coming to the rest of the world in November, with devices from Lumia, HTC and Samsung including the 920, 8X and Ativ S hitting online stores and retail shelves. The mobile OS has been anticipated for a while now, but this is the first we’ve heard of a specific street date, so now you know when you can actually get your hands on Microsoft’s latest hotness.

Verizon will be getting the 8X and 822 by Thanksgiving. AT&T will get the Lumia 820, 920 and HTC 8X by November, and T-Mobile is getting the Lumia 810 and 8X by November 14. Sprint appears not to have gotten on the Windows Phone 8 launch train. The Lumia 920 goes on sale at Rogers in Canada, tomorrow

Europe gets the big advance, however, as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said on stage at the event that all the phones he showed off today (the HTC 8X, Ativ S, Lumia 920) would be available to purchase in European countries beginning well ahead of U.S. launches this weekend. And the Lumia 920 goes on sale at Rogers in Canada, starting tomorrow. That means U.S. users will have at least a couple weeks to read over first impressions and reviews before decided to “go all in” on Windows Phone 8, as Ballmer is fond of saying.