Windows Phone 8, the natural evolution of the Microsoft mobile platform, has been announced in June but it is only recently that we’ve seen the platform and its features in its entirety at the Windows Phone 8 event on October 29. It’s predecessors didn’t quite manage to grab a significant market share but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is confident the platform will soon turn into a solid third ecosystem and alternative to Android and iOS.

While expecting Windows Phone sales to grow really fast, Ballmer acknowledged that “we are still relatively small”, but “with the work we have done with Nokia, HTC, Samsung and others … there is now an opportunity to create really a strong third participant in the smartphone market”, the CEO said while on stage in Tel Aviv for the local Windows 8 launch.

Microsoft is prepared to spend some serious cash in advertising and marketing, and, as Ballmer stated, Windows 8, the Surface tablet and Windows Phone will enjoy more of those than any previous Microsoft product.

Source: Reuters