Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's re-entry into the smartphone market - which is rumoured to be making its grand debut on October 11 - has finally gone gold and been sent off to handset-manufacturers. To celebrate the occasion, the Redmond-based company decided to hold a little celebration - a funeral, to be exact.
The Windows Phone development-team paraded in black behind a hearse carrying a giant iPhone, while others followed on floats and in fancy dress. The revellers also held banners claiming that we are approaching a ‘new era', that WP7 will ‘bury the competition' and a bizarre road sign saying "YIELD to Ballmer".
Of course, this was finished off with a full rendition of Thriller by those dressed as zombies.
We're guessing that the development cycle for WP7 has been fairly arduous, so those involved certainly deserve a chance to kick back and celebrate. Still, we have to applaud Microsoft's audacity here. With the critical and commercial failure of the Kin and the fact that it's been so long since the last version of Windows Mobile was released - or relevant - the software-giant has a lot to prove in the competitive smartphone arena.
Nonetheless, it looks like Microsoft is coming out swinging and getting ready to take the fight directly to Google, Apple and RIM. Whether the actual OS can live up to the marketing bluster, though, is another matter.
Photo coverage of the event is available on Trioculus's flickr stream - somewhat ironically captured on an Android handset - for those who want to see the full festivities.
