Microsoft said on Wednesday that upcoming Windows Phones, which will run on the soon-to-be launched Windows 8, will give seamless mobile computing experience to global consumers, effectively unifying market platforms that the software maker has spent billions in the past years to break into.

The move, Microsoft hopes, should gradually kick up the company's penetration in the global smartphone usage, which according to market data as of the end March only hovered at around two percent.

Clearly, with even a freshly engineered operating system, smartphones built on the new Windows 8 have a lot of catching up to make as Apple's iOS and Google's Android continue to dominate the world market with respective shares of 23 percent and 59 percent during the first quarter of 2012.

The figures were based on the latest report issued by tech analytic firm IDC.

But Microsoft appears unfazed as its efforts were buoyed by the so far positive feedbacks that were generated by Windows 8, which the company said will operate on a single architecture that allows for its basic codes to easily adapt on different devices - be they the traditional PC, a tablet or a smartphone.

The same adaptability, Microsoft said, should spur app developers to further increase their contribution to the mobile Windows app market, which at the last count has only over 100,000 apps readily available to Windows users.

Android and iOS users, on the other hand, enjoy richer ecosystems that feed the two dominant mobile platforms with an average of half-a-million apps downloadable anytime for them, according to Reuters.

That will soon change starting October, Microsoft said, which is the expected debut date of Windows 8, with the multi-platform OS brandishing the 'Metro' interface that all gadgets can easily accommodate.

Metro, early Windows 8 reviewers said, is Microsoft's answer to the touchable icon that endeared Android and Apple smartphones to users and largely functions as the new platform's start screen.

That start screen is dotted with eye-candy tiles that are almost always interacting with the phone unit, giving users fingertip access to the unit's collections of apps and in principle to the rest of the world as the apps are updated in real time.

Microsoft also highlighted the new Windows phone's near-field communication (NFC) capabilities and voice recognition features that the company said provide more ways for users to manipulate and take control of their mobile phones.

The former extends the device's connectivity with nearby handsets or machines installed with compatible NFC chips while the latter allows for hands-free interaction with the phone, which admittedly was reminiscent of Siri - the virtual assistant that Apple introduced on the iPhone 4S.

Regrettably though, these new features and functions will not be offered to current Windows phones owners as Microsoft has opted to only deploy selected updates this year for the Windows 7.5 smartphones, which include the Metro start screen but not the meat of Windows 8's battery of functionalities.

Meaning, Microsoft has deliberately overlooked its existing base of Windows phone users, a decision that analysts said could prompt them and prospective new buyers to postpone purchases until after the new OS is unleashed.

Microsoft's numbers in the lucrative mobile market then would probably remain idle for the moment and would only move forward once Windows 8 has actually arrived, tech watchers said.