There's new competition on the field.

Monday, October 11, was the long awaited launch event for the newest edition of Microsoft's smartphone operating system — Windows Phone 7. This new OS, which will be available in the 2010 holiday season (with no specific release date) is direct competition to Google's Android OS and Apple's iOS.

While the outlook for this new iteration is generally optimistic, previous editions — most notably Windows Mobile 6 — were received in quite the opposite fashion. Though many found version 6 an improvement over Windows Mobile 5, it put up a weak fight against the other competitors. Perhaps the poor reputation acquired by earlier versions was reason for the rebranding from "Windows Mobile" to "Windows Phone."

Despite past performance, some hands-on reviewers are calling WP 7 the REAL iPhone killer, and saying it may even have enough force to overtake Android.

To cover the media centre, WP 7 makes use of another one of their notable failures — Zune. Whether its lack of success can be blamed on poor timing in an already saturated market, or an inferior product (though many side-by-side comparisons preferred the Zune), most everyone can agree the Zune never stood a chance against the ubiquity of the almighty iPod. Windows Mobile 6 utilized both Windows Media Player and a custom "Music Player" application, so this change of direction is an interesting choice on Microsoft's part.

Let's not forget about apps! After all, what would a smartphone be without apps? Oh right — it'd be Windows Mobile 6 in its early days. It wasn't until this time last year that apps became available for the first time through Windows Marketplace. Prior to WP 7, finding an application for a Windows Phone, even from popular services such as Twitter and Foursquare, was almost out of the question. In the rare case a third-party application was available (PockeTwit, Twikini, WinMoSquare) they were often inefficient, buggy and severely lacking in features and support. WP 7 seems to be changing this trend, and developers are flocking to get their apps ready for Windows Marketplace in anticipation of WP 7's release. Without apps from popular developers, there is almost no way WP 7 can stand a chance against Android and iOS's huge repository of downloadable applications.

Speaking of applications, how would you like to play XBox right on your WP 7 device? Microsoft has chosen to go full-force with their gaming system, which will let customers pick up their last save on their phone right where they left off on their home console, and vice versa. This alone could be a sure sale for hardcore gamers who no longer have to leave their gaming at home. While it is unclear how many games will be supported on WP 7, Microsoft certainly put up an impressive front, demonstrating Ilo and Milo in full 3D. Could this be competition for Nintendo's 3DS as well?

Windows Phone 7 certainly seems like it could be adequate competition for Android and iOS, but until these new devices become available in a few months, all we can do is wait and hope WP 7 can finally put Microsoft on the mobile playing field.