Microsoft says it looks like nothing on the market and the advantage lies with consumers gaining instant access to all these offerings on their smartphones.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said hat this is a major push for the company to get back in the mobile space. He said 7-based smart phones will be manufactured by the likes of Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, HTC, HP, Dell, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and Garmin-Asus.

The variety of hardware partners will provide customers with choice in a "one size does not fit all" mobile world, said Microsoft's senior vice president of mobile communications business Andy Lees. For instance, he said, some phones will be equipped with keyboards, while other will not.

But all phones running the new operating system will include certain features, such as 4-point multitouch. Lees said Microsoft will reveal the range of phones closer to the holiday season launch.

The phones will be available on multiple networks, including T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon, as well as international carriers such as Telefonica, Vodafone, SFR, Telestra and Telecom. Lees said carriers will be able to enable their own innovations, software and services to work with the Windows operating system.