Microsoft Lines Up AT&T, Orange for October Windows Phone 7 Launch

Microsoft has set a hard date for the launch of its new Windows Phone 7 operating system: October 11. “People familiar with the launch plans” tell The Wall Street Journal that the company will debut the OS at an event in New York that day and announce AT&T (T) as the exclusive carrier of the first smartphones to run it–one from HTC, another from LG and a third from Samsung.

The Journal pins the hardware street date for the week of November 8, but I’m told it will likely be earlier. Sources in a position to know say Windows Phone 7 smartphones will be in stores on October 21. They also say that Microsoft (MSFT) has lined up another exclusive carrier overseas: Orange.