Save the date (or maybe not) -- Windows Phone 8 launches October 29

I must take a moment to share the love -- the exact same given me by the Windows Phone team offered in return. Nothing! Bwhahahaha. Microsoft sent out invitations to a Windows Phone 8 event -- hey, you know it's the launch -- for October 29. Not that I received one. (Yes, I checked spam messages.) Apologies to the good editors at Wired. I lifted the invite image from you. It reads "save the date" -- well, I guess not.

The phone OS event comes just three days after Microsoft launches Windows 8 and Surface tablets in New York City. I have three sisters, and their birthdays are October 26 and 29. Should I regard these product launches as presents or distractions, since Microsoft will have me too busy writing about the new stuff to celebrate with them? Well, girls, there's always Google+ Hangout or, maybe, just maybe, Skype. :)

Windows Phone 8 OEM partners aren't waiting around to unveil new devices, such as the Samsung ATIV or Nokia 920 and 820 -- both of which are now confirmed for AT&T here in the United States.

By comparison, Windows 8 manufacturers out new products or prices, too. For example: Acer Iconia W700 and HP ElitePad 900, just this week.

The lyric to that awful, sappy song goes: "Your the wind beneath my wings", which surely Microsoft hopes Windows 8 will be for the phone OS. These launches so close together aren't coincidental. Both are huge undertakings, and one is more than enough for any company. Given the sorry state of Windows Phone adoption, there can't be lift enough.

Combined Windows Mobile and Phone OS share in the strongest cellular mobile market, the United States, is just 3.6 percent on smartphones, according to comScore. That compares to 52.6 percent for Android and 34.3 percent for iOS. Still, there's a glimmer of hope. During second quarter, based on sales, Microsoft mobile OS share rose to 2.7 percent from 1.6 percent a year earlier, according to Gartner.

Looks like Windows Phone has the potential to go somewhere, which surely is anywhere up with market share so low. As for me, playing off another song lyric, "if you're going to San Francisco", I'm not.