Windows Phone Makes Official Chinese Debut Today

恭喜！ Microsoft has officially launched Windows Phone in China and while they have got a great wall to overcome if Window Phone is going to be real contender in the Chinese smartphone market.

The first new Indows phone to hit China is HTC Eternity. According to Microsoft’s Windows Phone Blog the Eternity is being sold as an unlocked device complete with a “slew of popular Chinese apps” as well as a new simplified Chinese interface.

While Microsoft and their hardware partners working to make sure the launch is a success, it’s the long game Microsoft really has to worry about. According to PC World, Microsoft Greater China CEO Simon Leung confirmed to reporters that the company aims to take Google’s place atop the Chinese smartphone heap despite only accounting for only 2.8% of the market right now. To put that in perspective, Android was said to make up over 50% of the smartphone market in China last November, so Microsoft clearly has their work cut out for them.

Low-cost hardware is going to be a key driver for Windows Phone’s growth, and it seems like Leung is set on fighting Google on that front too. While flashier devices like the Eternity sport price tags in excess of ¥4,000 ($632), he says he hopes to bring prices for unlocked Windows Phone devices as low as ¥1,000 yuan ($158).

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