Next Monday November 8th Microsoft is throwing its hat back into the smartphone ring. All will agree that this new line of phones from Microsoft will be much different from every previous attempt at a smartphone. The buzz has been very positive and all indications are pointing to a certain amount of success. Many pundits have put out there that this is Microsoft’s last kick at the can, although they have not had a huge impact on the smartphone world to date, I will not be counting them out.

In the United States currently smartphones only account for 19% of the cell phone market. That is a very small number and there is plenty of room for many players. I think the tech media gets too caught up in the mobile phone OS battles, who got what share, who went up, who went down, blah blah blah. Look at the numbers:

-> assume 285 million phones in US today and only 19% are smartphones
-> if RIM has 25% of smartphone marketshare, that’s 25% of 19% = 13.5 million devices
-> when smartphones reach 60% of cellular market, and assume RIM drops to 20% = 34 million devices

That means that by dropping 5% points, RIM will more than double it’s devices sold. So if Microsoft’s “last kick at the can” can only get them 10% of the US smartphone marketshare they will only sell 17 million devices. I don’t know about you but if I had an opportunity to sell 17 million phones, I’d call that a success, not to mention the app sales revenue that will also flow.

If you’re like me and excited about the coming of Windows Phone 7 you will want to get ready now. One of the features I really like is the integration of your Windows Live ID and additional services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Flicker etc. What you want to do is go over to your Windows Live Profile page and you will be given an opportunity to link services to your Live ID. When you get your Windows Phone, simply login with your Live ID credentials and POW! the phone will populate your info for you.

I’m a simple guy and sometimes it’s the little things that excite me, like cup-holder placement in a car. So this integration gets my nerd excitement level raised a couple of points. If you haven’t looked very close at a Windows Phone yet, I’m going to recommend a closer look and not just dismiss the concept because you thought all their previous attempts have been quite poor. Windows Phone 7 is a brand new platform and if you do give it a chance I think you will be surprised.