Microsoft tries to outflank phone rivals

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft said Monday mobile phone software offered the company a chance to break from the past with its Windows Phone.

At the Mobile Phone Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said, "We debated a lot about how much we should position and talk about from whence we have come and what we will show you. At the end of the day, we said, 'Let's get on with the show,'" The New York Times reported Monday.

Microsoft has been criticized for creating software for phones that too closely resembles its software for personal computers, the Times said. In the meantime, it is struggling to catch up with industry leaders Apple and Google, which have a head start in smart phone software.

Rather than chase the leaders, Microsoft, in effect, is trying to outflank the competition with a different approach, the Times said.

The result is a program that reveals a simple screen with four large boxes called "live tiles" that include applications under the categories of "People," "Phone," "E-Mail" and "Text."

"We think there is a really big opportunity for a fresh start. Consumers have an amazing capacity for retrying things," said Todd Peters, Microsoft's vice president in charge of mobile product marketing.