Microsoft plans to unveil smartphones using the latest version of its Windows operating system on October 11 which will be sold exclusively by AT&T, The Wall Street Journal reported on September 3.
The newspaper, citing "people familiar with the launch plans," said the US software giant will offer three Windows Phone 7 smartphones with handsets made by South Korea's Samsung and LG Electronics and Taiwan's HTC.
Microsoft's Windows operating system has been steadily losing out to Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Google's Android mobile platform and the launch is being seen as a way to claw back market share. In June, Microsoft killed the "Kin," a line of mobile telephones aimed at young people it had unveiled just two months earlier.