But it's a brand-new decade, and Microsoft is about to leapfrog Apple — and every other player in the cell-phone world — with the launch of Windows Phone 7 (WP7).

While many of us were preoccupied with cursing Windows Vista, Microsoft was busy developing a lineup of stellar non-Windows products, including the wildly popular Xbox game consoles and the Bing search engine, which is already averaging more than 3 billion queries a month. But the most underappreciated product in Microsoft's vast portfolio, the Zune digital media player, is about to roll all these products into one handy little phone that catapults Microsoft ahead of Apple, Google, Palm and BlackBerry's maker, RIM.

What sets Microsoft apart? For starters, every WP7 device, regardless of manufacturer, will have a dedicated search button that gives you one-click access to Bing — no hopping around required. WP7 will also let users play an assortment of Xbox Live games on their phones.

Both of these add-ons are certainly nice, but the real game changer is Microsoft's solution to a fundamental flaw in most mobile platforms. Instead of having to toggle back and forth between separate apps so you can check Facebook or send a tweet, the WP7 team figured out how to aggregate all your social-networking content in a People hub on your Start screen. Likewise, photos from your mobile device, PC and various social networks will be neatly organized within the Pictures hub. In all, WP7 has created six distinct hubs — People, Pictures, Music+Video, Games, Office and the App Store — like Marketplace, which is due to be open by the time the phones are available to consumers at the end of this year.

So is WP7 an iPhone killer? (Like you weren't wondering that.) No, but every other company, including Apple, will be racing to catch up with it. It's a bit surreal to lust for a Microsoft product, especially a Windows phone, but come Christmas, I'll be first in line to buy one.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1966464,00.html#ixzz0h78awJGK