Microsoft is set to hold a launch event for Windows Phone 8, on Monday October 29th, in San Francisco. Microsoft previewed key platform features of Windows Phone 8 earlier this summer; and Samsung, Nokia and HTC have announced Windows Phone 8 hardware, but some elements of the updated platform, including the exact details of service pieces, remain shrouded in secrecy.

The formal launch of Windows Phone 8 will take place shortly after the launch event for Windows 8, which takes place in New York on October 25th. The two platforms share a common design language and are more closely integrated, via the cloud and other applications, than ever before.

At the Windows Phone event Microsoft is expected to give a full run down of Windows Phone 8's new and updated features, ahead of the expected sales start of hardware in the first week of November.

The event will primarily be US focused, and is a possible start point for pre-orders on US operators. In the US AT&T will be carrying the Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820 and HTC 8X; T-Mobile is expected to range the Nokia Lumia 820, HTC 8X and HTC 8S; and Verizon is expected to offer the HTC 8X and 8S.