What will happen to Windows Phone 7 Series?

I've attended to two seminars where Microsoft representative, Vesku Paananen, has been telling about forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series. Here is one of the videos available in Youtube, what is your first impression?

More videos are available here.

I thought to list some of my ideas about the forthcoming devices. Let's see if these will change after we've gotten more information, after all there are lots of things Microsoft hasn't told yet.

Windows Phone 7 will make it because

• Common hardware. MS has given tight specs for manufacturers and this means that each phone needs to have certain features, e.g. 3 hardware buttons (Back, Menu and Search), GPS, camera, Compass, ... This means that updating OS will be much easier, just like in iPhone and development will be easier when developers know which features will be available.
• Top hardware, at the moment. WP7 has really good processor, display etc. for now.
• Lots of Windows users in the world.
• Totally new user interface and user experience approach.
• Microsoft shredded Windows Mobile 6.x and started from scratch. This means that applications need at least to be recompiled but on the other hand, they don't have the historical burden with them.

Windows Phone 7 Series will break it, because

• They are too late, other OSs have already conquered the world.
• Phone manufacturers are not interested of Windows Phone 7 because it costs, other OSs are usually free.
• Developers are not interested of yet another platform and there won't be any software.

Some question marks

• How well will integrated and situation-depended Bing work?
• Will new UI work in all countries and with all languages?
• How will Windows Mobile 6.x and Windows Phone 7 live together?
• Microsoft aims to start with consumers, what will happen to business users?
• How well will Windows Marketplace for Mobiles will work?
• How Microsoft will handle the transition to next version, when hardware specs have changed? After all, hardware components are developing fast.

What do you think? What will happen to Microsoft in mobile space? I'm guessing that they'll strike back, just because they have basically unlimited resources and money if they just want. And mobile is something that everyone is talking nowadays. Why would Microsoft think otherwise? Especially when they've started from almost from scratch with Windows Phone 7 Series.

Microsoft will be telling more about Windows Phone 7 Series at MIX10 on March 15-17 in Las Vegas. If you are interested, you can check some of the sessions live.

(Disclaimer: I was speaking in TechDays 2010 which was organized by Microsoft but above mentioned things are solely my own thoughts.)