Microsoft debuts smart phones running Windows Phone 7

The first handset, the Samsung Focus, will hit stores Nov. 8 and be offered by AT&T. Models from HTC and LG will come out a few weeks later. All will sell for $199.99, the software giant’s CEO says.

The HTC Surround runs Windows Phone 7 and has Dolby surround-sound speakers. (Spencer Platt, Getty Images / October 12, 2010)

Microsoft Corp., which has struggled for years to capture the attention and dollars of smart-phone users, debuted handsets Monday that will run on its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7.

AT&T Inc. will be the first to offer the phones, starting with the Samsung Focus, arriving in stores Nov. 8. HTC Corp. and LG Corp. will each release a model “a few weeks later,” Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said at an event in New York to introduce the phones.

Each of the three AT&T handsets will sell for $199.99, Ballmer said.

T-Mobile will release an HTC handset in mid-November and Sprint will do the same early next year.