Windows Phone 8 Officially Launched, SDK Available Tomorrow

Microsoft officially released Windows Phone 8 last night. The company's next generation mobile operating system is expected to accompany those who make the move to Windows 8 and capture a market of people who are looking for something new, something different. The event was headed by Joe Belfiore who heads the company's mobile division before CEO Steve Ballmer came on stage to wrap up the event. Microsoft itself announced a number of major features in Windows Phone 8 back in June.

Belfiore announced a handful of new features in Windows Phone 8 which had been kept a secret until last night. To their credit, these didn't seem to have been leaked until the announcement.

There are now 120,000 apps on the Windows Phone Store (previously called Marketplace) and Microsoft claims that it also has 46 of the top 50 apps available on any platform, so anyone thinking of picking up a Windows Phone shouldn't be too concerned about missing out on the popular apps and games.

The lock screen of Windows Phone 8 will be able to display far more information than it is now possible with Windows Phone 7 and it will also feature Facebook integration so people can use it to show photos from their Facebook accounts.

Aside from that, Windows Phone 8 can use NFC to share contacts and web pages to phones running Android, but there seems to be a technical barrier to allow photo sharing across mobile platforms, which is a shame.

A significant new feature in Windows Phone 8 is Kids Corner. This allows Windows Phone 8 owners to assign apps and functions to one screen and let their children or other people to use their phones without having to worry about their data being tampered with. In other words, this is an isolated guest access. A boon for parents everywhere.

Another one is Rooms. It is essentially the ability to manage conversations, shared calendars, and notes, to limited circles. It's a lot like the concept of circles in Google+. Rooms is made to work with people who use iPhone and Window Phone 7 as well but they will not be able to take advantage of the full set of abilities of Rooms.

Of course, being a personal device, it only makes sense that today's phones hold your details for credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards, and so on. Microsoft built that inside Windows Phone 8 in a feature called Wallet.

Skype's integration with Windows Phone finally arrives. The app will work in the background all the time so it will be able to detect incoming calls and messages and Belfiore claimed that it will not drain the battery. Why Microsoft just didn't build Skype into the phone's standard phone and messaging feature is for another discussion but this deep integration is certainly a welcome move.

Data Sense is set to help people manage their mobile data usage so as to avoid excessive overage charges. This feature allows people to find out how much data each app in the phone has been using, to set a limit, and to offload data from cellular to wifi as well as detect whether there are any nearby wireless hotspots that people can hook up to. On top of that, Data Sense compresses websites so people can browse faster and access more websites within their cellular data limitation.

There are more features that were announced, such as XBox Music, free Pandora subscription for a year (whether this works worldwide remains to be seen but we're skeptical), and SkyDrive with Office integration.

Microsoft also quietly revealed its marketing campaign for Windows Phone by launching the first of its three personality videos featuring Belfiore, Steve Ballmer, and Jessica Alba. Separately of course. Ballmer also said at the launch that Microsoft will be going very hard in pushing Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 to the market that people will be seeing their ads and messages wherever they go.

We're hearing word locally that there may be a full launch of Windows Phone 8 from one, if not all, of the first three Windows Phone 8 manufacturers soon, so we'll be paying special attention to any development of that rumor.

Windows Phone 8 devices will be available internationally in November while developers can expect to download the SDK (finally!) beginning tomorrow during build conference, Microsoft's developer event, which is being held in Redmond, Washington, until November 2, 2012.

Wowzapp, The global Windows hackathon is also set to happen in Jakarta 10 days from now. It will take place at Microsoft Indonesia Auditorium at tower 2 of the Indonesia Stock Exchange building on November 9 - 11, 2012. Registrations are open.