Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 Targets Apple's iOS, Google's Android

With new features and the promise of a shared core, Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft's

latest attempt at dominating the smartphone market. Currently, Apple

and Google

maintain a near duopoly, with only a handful of phones running Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft showed the next evolution of its own mobile operating system at a special event today, announcing a concept called the Shared Windows Core. In short, it means that things like networking, driver support, and multimedia can be shared between Windows Phone 8 and the tablet or desktop versions of Windows 8. For Microsoft, this means that the company can finally carry over its desktop experience to mobile users. The "new" desktop, that is. As many users are aware, Windows 8 is

from Windows 7. For manufacturers, it means that they can use the same hardware drivers across both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. This level of simplicity and development efficiency could go a long way in persuading developers and manufacturers to stick with the Windows platform. According to

, Windows Phone 8 could run "just fine" on a 64-core machine. But this fall, Microsoft will focus on dual-core chipsets. Windows Phone 8 will support three screen resolutions: 800x480 (WVGA), 1280x768 (WXGA), and 1280x720 (720p). Microsoft also announced that removable microSD cards will be supported, and Internet Explorer 10 will be built-in. Apparently, IE for Windows Phone 8 will use the same HTML rendering as the desktop version. Microsoft claims that Windows Phone 8 is outperforming the beta version of iOS 6 (when used with an iPhone 4S), as well as the Galaxy S III, and HTC One S. Better still, native code developers can work on Windows Phone 8, allowing them to port their Windows 8 games with less hassle. (Microsoft even showed an image with the Halo logo that said, "The technology behind the leading high-end titles.") Further, Windows 8 will have a mobile wallet and native NFC support that allows you to "tap to pay." "If the phone has NFC and a 'secure SIM' from your carrier, you can make payments," The Verge wrote. "That's a bit different from other mobile wallets we've seen." Not surprisingly, Nokia

will power the maps app in Windows Phone 8. While Microsoft did not announce anything too revolutionary, today's conference proved to be a bit more informative than the

on Monday. Best of all, it proves that maybe -- just maybe -- Microsoft has a chance at competing against Apple

and Google

this time around.