Microsoft officially released Windows Phone 8 (WP8) yesterday at an event in San Francisco. When it was originally announced way back on June 20th I thought it held a lot of promise. The newer software supported multi-core processors, higher resolution screens, and maintained the speediness associated with the "modern UI" (or the artist formerly known as Metro for anyone outside of Microsoft). Carriers were vocal about backing WP8 even though many of them had barely supported Windows Phone 7 (WP7). It sounded like all the pieces were in place for a strong WP8 launch and Microsoft seemed to have an excellent chance of solidifying the third place position in the smart phone OS war behind Android and iOS.
While WP7 never exceeded 5% market share in the United States, I thought WP8 might make it to the high single digit/low double digit range. As it finally launches more than four months after it was announced however, some puzzling decisions from Microsoft and Nokia have already condemned Windows Phone 8 to a slow, painful death.
