Windows Phone Thoughts: Windows Phone 7 Availability and Windows Phone Live

"We are working closely with our partners to determine exactly where and how Windows Phone 7 will be available regionally this holiday season and beyond. I'm happy to say that Windows Phone 7 will be well represented in countries around the world this holiday. During initial availability, Windows Phone 7 will support 5 languages; English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The Windows Phone Marketplace will support the buying and selling of applications in 17 countries; Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and United States."

That's a fairly disappointing list, and I'm hoping it will expand fairly rapidly after WP7 hits the market - I mean, why Hong Kong, and not Taiwan or Korea (Japan, I can understand)? This blog post also mentions the Windows Phone Live companion site, which integrates with your WP7 phone to allow you a single spot to see your media, calendar and contacts; allows sharing of files; 25GB of Skydrive space; and the Find My Phone service - all for the great price of $0.00. Interested? Hit the link for more.