Orange throws its weight behind Microsoft's Windows 8

France Telecom Orange has placed some of its eggs firmly in the Microsoft basket by declaring that the Windows 8 operating system will be extremely important for its multi-screen development plans.

Microsoft Windows Phone 8

Orange is supporting Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. 

According to a report in Light Reading, the new Microsoft operating system, and its sibling windows Phone 8, provides a much-needed alternative to devices running Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

"We want to provide as much choice as possible for our customers: Windows 8 is the new actor in a market dominated by Apple, with Android as the challenger," Danièle Cohen, director of convergent devices at Orange, told Light Reading.

"The strength of Windows 8 is that it will be on many devices from many OEMs and ODMs and that gives it great potential," Cohen added.

Orange France is currently selling two HTC and two Nokia Windows Phone 8 devices and an Asus Windows 8 tablet; Orange Poland is selling an Acer tablet running Windows 8.

Orange has a long history of supporting Microsoft mobile operating systems. In October 2002 the operator launched the SPV smartphone built by HTC and powered by Microsoft's Windows SmartPhone 2002. The SPV met with muted customer response, however.

Today, Microsoft still has some way to go before it can prove its latest mobile platform is a global winner. Microsoft captured 2.4 per cent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2012, according to research firm Gartner.

For more:
- see this Light Reading article

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