Microsoft hopes to bury iPhone, Android

Last month, a few hundred Microsoft Corp employees acted out their fantasy with a mock funeral for Apple’s iPhone at its Redmond, Washington campus. The new software is Microsoft’s last chance to catch up with Apple and Google Inc’s Android smartphones, some analysts say after squandering its strong market position in only a few years. The product is expeced to be released and in stores by the end of November or the middle of October. Microsoft is now fourth in the fast-growing U.S. market for smartphone operating systems with less than 12 percent, behind BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd, Apple and Google. Investors were not impressed with Microsoft’s last attempt to launch a new phone, the Kin, which was dropped after less than three months on the market. All three of those phone makers already offer Android-based phones, while AT&T is currently the sole carrier for the iPhone, which means none has too much riding on the success of the new software, which could be a problem for Microsoft.
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