Microsoft is apparently just months away from releasing [3] its own-brand smartphone. It is, says BGR, high-end, and will be marketed separately from all the upcoming Windows 8 phones such as Nokia's Lumia 900 [4]and the HTC [5] doppelganger. The phone is expected to run Windows Phone 8, and Microsoft sees it as competing with Samsung's Galaxy S III as well as the iPhone 5.

The phone, claims a report in China, will be marketed under the Surface [6] brand and will appear in January [7]--rather like another much-hyped own-brand cellphone [7]. However, Fast Company expects Microsoft to have learned all the lessons about how not to go about launching a smartphone from Google [8], whose Nexus One was beset by problems, leading to its early demise.