Rumor: Microsoft Picks a Retail Partner for WP7 Launch in China in 2012

Rumors in the Chinese business media suggest that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is poised to launch its mobile OS, Windows Phone 7 (WP7) officially in mainland China next year – and that it’ll partner with Chinese retail giant Suning (SHE:002024) for promotion and distribution.

Suning is not only a High Street electronics retailer – with over 700 stores across China – but is also slowly building up its late-starting e-commerce venture, where it faces stiff competition from younger and more aggressive sites such as Dangdang (NYSE:DANG), 360Buy, and Taobao Mall.

The rumor points to Microsoft making use of both Suning’s bricks-and-mortar and online stores in promoting both WP7 and the next version of its desktop OS, Windows 8. (It’s likely that the mobile version will jump up to WP8 to coincide with that).

This would be significant as WP7 hasn’t been launched officially in China since the totally reworked mobile OS replaced the now defunct Windows Mobile 6. But in the most recent software update – dubbed WP7 Mango – Microsoft’s platform finally got Chinese language input support, making it a great deal more ready for a potential debut in China.

Also good news for WP7 is that many Chinese web services have been developing apps for the OS this year, despite being used by a very small group of local geeks. Earlier this summer, we looked at five of the biggest-name Chinese WP7 apps, and saw some impressive-looking stuff. On the downside, Microsoft’s new-look Marketplace is still partially blocked (or deliberately hobbled?) in China after it first vanished in August.

Here’s a video, from Winrumors, of the recent update for inputting numerous east Asian languages:

[Source: QQ Finance news – article in Chinese]