Microsoft may still be planning to launch its own Windows Phone device

Nokia may be Microsoft’s favored partner for Windows Phone, but in the PC space it has always had favored partners like Dell and HP for a longtime and yet it went ahead and announced its own Surface tablets.
These tablets will probably encroach on the sales of its partners yet Microsoft had to set a benchmark in design. Admittedly with Nokia leading the charge with Windows Phone and its new Lumia smartphones, there is no crisis of design. That said, our colleagues at BGR Classic are hearing that Microsoft may still be planning to release its own Windows Phone hardware.
The device is question will reportedly compete head-on with the likes of the Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S III, but it is likely that the phone will not be launched in the first wave of Windows Phone 8 releases. Additionally, it has been noted that Microsoft could release this phone under the ‘Surface’ brand.
While we have seen Nokia, Samsung and HTC unveil their Windows Phone 8 devices, the companies have been very coy about showing the Windows Phone 8 software in its entirety. This is probably at the behest of Microsoft which has to date not released the SDK for developers and is saving a lot of features for the public unveil which is scheduled for later this month.
Read