Microsoft offers first details on next version of Windows Phone

From CNET News.com: Microsoft plans to offer the first detailed look at the development platform for the next version of Windows Phone, codenamed Mango, due later this year.

The details will come later this morning at Mix11, Microsoft's annual show for Web and phone developers, the software giant. Mango will allow application multitasking, giving users the ability to run more than one program at a time on their phones. The company plans to build deeper integration into its application architecture so developers can better use the tiles that display their application on the phone. And Mango will offer access to the Windows Phone camera and motion sensor library, giving developers the ability to create programs that incorporate the phone hardware.

"The next release of Windows Phone represents the evolution of our strategy for ensuring that developers are at the forefront of 'what's next' by investing in even richer customer experiences, a powerful platform and a thriving ecosystem," Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Phone program management. Microsoft says it will offer the free Windows Phone Developer Tools for Mango next month.

The company plans to demonstrate some concepts being considered for the next version from Skype, Spotify, and Amazon Shopping, among others.

Windows Phone has had a rocky few months since its launch last year. A February update rendered some Samsung phones running the software temporary unusable. Microsoft stopped the update to fix the bugs. But even the follow-up update caused some glitches. Now, Microsoft is slowly rolling out the so-called NoDo update, but its pace has angered some users.

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