But some of the benefits of multitasking are being offered via such things as the push notification service, the common integrated tasks and capabilities that apply to applications residing in one of several Windows Phone 7 application groupings, called "hubs," such as People, Music, Photos  and Office.

"It's very different from Apple," says iPhone user Mark Tinderholt, a developer with , a systems integration joint-venture by Accenture and Microsoft, which has done some big Windows Mobile deployments. "The iPhone has discrete apps that do one thing. There's very limited integration." Tinderholt speaks from experience: he has 35 apps on his own iPhone and  organizes and administers them manually, with rather limited options.

3. Existing skills and updated Microsoft toolkits

Enterprise software creators and ISVs will be able to leverage a wide range of existing Microsoft developer skills and expertise to begin building applications for Windows Phone. Apart from the new mobile user interface, this is the most important element in Microsoft's aggressive attempt to be a mobile leader.

Today, with a gazillion applications listed in Apple's App Store and a megagazillion downloads, it's easy to forget that when the first iPhone was released, the only software development option offered by Apple was for Web applications within the iPhone's Safari browser. It was only after immediate, passionate demands for an software development kit that Apple came across with one and crafted the App Store.