Windows Phone Thoughts: Microsoft Puts Apple, Google Services In Its Mobile Strategy Sights

"It's clear the software giant is shooting at the cloud in order to target a major weakness of Apple and a major strength of Google. Microsoft is offering consumer-oriented cloud services that Apple lacks, while providing enterprise features, such as remote wiping or locating a missing phone, that are not built in to Android."

Brian X Chen, writing for WIRED'S Gadget Lab, has provided a nice summary of some of the key focuses of Microsoft's Mobile Strategy associated with their new Windows Phone 7 platform. He points out a number of the key aspects to be aware of. These include over-the-air Wi-Fi syncing and a feature to track a missing phone, a free website for publishing content and syncing, and a Find My Phone service. On the surface, these appear to be a fairly competitive set of features heading out of the gate, but we'll have to see how they perform in actual use before we commit to a final judgment.