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There are some products that appear to have been doomed to circumstance since birth - that despite the most ambitious goals, the grandest intentions, and often the wildest strokes of luck, still manage to end up on the wrong side of public perception. No more prominent example exists in the history of software than Microsoft Silverlight, a textbook case of a platform that was never, for one moment, given the benefit of a doubt.

It did not help that its original title, circa 2006, was "Windows Presentation Foundation / Everywhere" (WPF/E), which sounded like the catch-phrase for a neoconservative protest movement. And it really didn't help that its producer had attained a reputation for defining the Web by default, building less-than-ideal browsers and technologies and broadcasting them into ubiquitousness by tying them to Windows.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 made its debut in the U.S. today. We got a chance to give the company's new mobile operating system a spin over the last few days. Even though we have a few minor issues with it, Windows Phone 7 (WP7) is a welcome and much-needed reboot of Microsoft's mobile platform. The new mobile OS introduces quite a few innovative design ideas and should give the company a good shot at once again becoming a major player in the mobile business. Here are some of the things we enjoyed while using the phone, as well as some of the negatives we discovered during the time we spent with it.

The launch of Microsoft's new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, is just around the corner. In a matter of days, the OS will be officially unveiled at an exclusive, high-profile event taking place in New York City.

There's no doubt that Windows Phone 7 has its work cut out for it, arriving so late to the smartphone game, in an industry dominated by Apple, Android, RIM and even Nokia's Symbian. But is it hopeless for Microsoft to even try? Or does Windows Phone have a chance?

Mobile analytics firm Distimo has released its September report detailing the most popular mobile applications of Q3 2010. The report covers the top apps, both free and paid, for the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Nokia (Ovi), Palm's webOS and Windows Phone platforms.

Below are the findings.

Zenprise, a mobile device management software vendor, has released some new features in its flagship MobileManage product that aim to be of particular value to the growing number of enterprises supporting employee owned devices. MobileManage enables IT to manage iOS, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile devices from a single interface.

Zenprise has introduced two new features, profiles and selective wipe, that enable enterprise smart phone users to keep their personal stuff separate from their work stuff. Zenprise has also introduced "remote lifeline," an attempt to make supporting multiple devices with varying operating systems and different carriers a bit easier.

Last week I had the chance to attend Qualcomm's Uplinq 2010 conference in San Diego where I was able to sit it on several interesting discussions about mobile technology and its future. One of the sessions I was particularly interested in was a chat about the tools being created to improve web development optimized for mobile devices. Qualcomm engineer Bijan Amirzada showed off some interesting new capabilities within mobile Web browsers, but one assertion he made has since been stuck in my mind: will Web-based apps eventually dethrone native applications on mobile devices?

Mozilla is following in Opera's footsteps by porting an AppStore-friendly version of its browser over to the iPhone with an free app called Firefox Home. Due to Apple's restrictions the app will not offer a full-fledged browser experience, and thus you will not be able to simply navigate to any website. Instead, users will be able to sync their browsing history, bookmarks and open tabs onto their iPhone using Mozilla's encrypted Firefox Sync technology.

Blockbuster is bringing its OnDemand service to both Windows Mobile and Google Android phones, starting March 24th with the launch of the T-Mobile HTC HD2 smartphone. On that device, Blockbuster customers will be able to download and watch new releases directly on their mobile phones while also gaining access to queue management and movie locator tools similar to those found in Blockbuster's iPhone application.

The company has also confirmed that they're working on an Android app, which is likely to launch on the "select Motorola phones" Blockbuster previously hinted at when they partnered with the handset manufacturer last summer. Motorola is the maker of several popular Android-powered handsets including the Droid, Backflip, Devour, Cliq and Cliq XT, but Blockbuster won't yet confirm which of these will be able to utilize the new mobile service.

Last year, the ARToolkit, a fundamental building block for creating augmented reality applications, was ported to Flash in the form of the FLARToolkit. This was a watershed moment for AR, as it became exponentially easier for Flash developers to create their own augmented reality experiences. Before then, AR had been a high-tech concept that experienced developers and companies had been experimenting with; by becoming more accessible to Flash developers, AR took off in popularity last year.

At the recent Mobile World Congress 2010, Dutch app store analytics firm Distimo presented their findings on the six largest mobile application stores in existence today: the iTunes App Store, BlackBerry App World, Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm App Catalog and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. In their presentation, they analyzed everything including store size, store growth, the most popular applications and where you can find the best deal. They recently shared some of the highlights from that presentation by way of a slideshow embedded on their blog.