While Apple's iPhone and phones based on Google's Android (News - Alert) platform are the most popular smartphones in the world today, with today's release of Windows Phone (News - Alert) 7.5 (codenamed “Mango”) both Microsoft executives and one handset maker are predicted that the “new, improved” Windows Phone will give its competitors a run for its money.

At the recent launch event held in Redmond, Washington, John Fernandes, director of marketing and operations at Microsoft (News - Alert) Singapore, noted that since the original launch of Windows Phone 7 a year ago, the company has made about 500 changes based on user feedback on the Mango platform. (Check out a list of the most important changes and improvements at ZD Net.

The changes (or “addressing of inadequacies”) have certainly impressed at least one handset maker. Said Melvin Chua, country manager of Singapore at HTC (News - Alert), the company has received “positive feedback” since it launched its first Windows Phone 7 devices last year, reported ZD Net. Windows Phone 7 sales now account for about 30 percent of HTC's handset sales.

“We believe that Windows Phone 7 will eventually be better than other platforms and will give Android a run for its money,” said Chua. 

It's going to need all the help it can get. Android and Apple's (News - Alert) iPhone together own 61.6 percent of the worldwide smartphone market (Android has 43.4 percent, Apple has 18.2 percent, according to Gartner).

A good sign for Microsoft is the cleverness with which the company has reportedly been striking patent-licensing deals with the big handset makers, which will help the company establish “beachheads it can use to push its Windows Phone 7 operating system,” reported MarketWatch.

Microsoft now has agreements in place with seven hardware companies that currently have agreements in place with Google to build phones on the Android platform. MarketWatch noted that Microsoft has accomplished this by “by threatening litigation, cutting deals and leveraging existing relationships.”