The day may belong to Samsung and it’s plethora of announcements, but Windows Phone 8 is ready to grab some of the evening spotlight. According to Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, Microsoft is set to release Window Phone 8 for general availability on October 29th. Citing an unnamed source, Foley was able to not only show the 29th as the release date, but a series of dates surrounding the 29th all involving Windows Phone 8 and Microsoft’s marketing machine.

• October 25th — The day before general availability, Microsoft will hold a big launch event for Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and the Microsoft Surface RT. The event will be held in New York City.
• October 29th — The official “launch” of Windows Phone 8 at event to be held somewhere on the West Coast, perhaps San Francisco or Los Angeles.
• October 30th to November 2nd — Microsoft’s Build 2012 Conference, where software developers come together and talk about the future of Microsoft products, with a big focus on Windows Phone 8.

Given that Samsung announced some beautiful Windows Phone 8 hardware today, I’m definitely excited to see what Microsoft has in store.

ZDNet