Announced yesterday as a new hardware partner with Microsoft and Windows 7 Mango, Chinese manufacturer ZTE will be looking to release its first Windows Phones during Q3 this year.
Reuters are reporting that ZTE’s plans are to get their first Windows Phone-based mobiles out into the market during Q3 this year, so anytime between July and September.
ZTE are the second biggest network equipment manufacturer in China, and already manufacture Android mobile phones and both 3G and 4G dongles, so it’s no surprise Microsoft have chosen them as hardware partners for the latest Windows Phone 7 software, Mango.
Jeffrey Fan, vice-president for ZTE spoke to Reuters: “We are already working on a smartphone based on Mango and it will be launched in Europe,”
You may not have heard of ZTE before but you might want to read up on them. Last year they leapt to fourth place in the size rankings for mobile phone manufacturers, ranking behind Nokia, Samsung and LG, but before Apple and RIM (Blackberry).
If you missed Microsoft’s announcement on the new Windows Phone 7 Mango software yesterday, check out the following articles to catch up:
– Windows Phone “Mango” – Integration is key to apps experience
– Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE to release Windows Phone 7 handsets
– Microsoft officially announce Windows Phone Mango
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Source: Reuters