The biggest news of the day is Windows 10 rolling out to PCs. But with the day generating plenty of Microsoft related traffic, there’s other news trickling out as well, including news that Windows 10 Mobile is almost feature complete. Even bigger news is that Microsoft has hinted at a Surface phone. These pieces of information come from interviews with Joe Belfiore and Terry Myerson by the Verge (via Windows Central).
Belfiore told the Verge “The phone is significantly feature complete, but we’ll continue to polish and tweak and iterate the things that still need to work. We’ll put features in right up near the end. But in general, the broad feature set is set.”
Being close to feature set complete and releasing the OS are two different things but it is a significant step in development. Once feature sets are completed, teams can focus on bug fixing and other under the hood improvements. We reported earlier today that Microsoft says Windows 10 Mobile will be released to mobile operators “this summer”, and to consumers “later this year.”
In a separate interview (same article) with the Verge, Terry Myerson said Microsoft will release one or maybe two premium Windows 10 Mobile devices this year. He also hinted at Surface branding being used for phones.
“We are going to focus on a few great devices and the most notable being that premium consumer category. The direction we will head is the premium-branded lineup.” He later added “the goal is to have one Microsoft device family that plays this role in the Windows ecosystem.”
That one device family could be referring to the Surface line. We’ve already seen the Surface brand be attached to two types of tablets and the Surface Hub. A natural progression would be to have it attached to phones as well. It seems even more likely due to the fact that the man in charge of Surface, Panos Panay, is now in charge of “premium Microsoft devices.”
Further reading: Lumia flagship, Microsoft, Surface Phone, Windows 10 Mobile
