Microsoft Apollo is expected to land sometime

What is likely for Windows Phone 8 ("Apollo"):

Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, will be based on the Windows 8 kernel and not on Windows CE as are current versions. This will not impact app compatibility: Microsoft expects to have over 100,000 Windows Phone 7.5-compatible apps available by the time WP8 launches, and they will all work fine on this new OS.

Windows Phone 8, as its name suggests, will also be tied closely to the desktop version of Windows 8 in other ways. They'll be launched closely to each other, and will share integrated ecosystems, thanks to the shared underlying code, components, and user experiences. Windows Phone 8 is part of the "Windows Reimagined" campaign that Microsoft announced for Windows 8. This makes sense as they're companion products in every sense of the word.

Windows Phone 8 will offer far more hardware choices than are available today, which will come in more form factors and offer more (four) screen resolutions, according to Pocketnow.  

Key new features of Windows Phone 8 include:

Internet Explorer 10 Mobile. Windows Phone 8 will continue to used a highly tuned version of IE which utilizes the latest web technologies.

Companion experiences with Windows 8. Microsoft is offering a very similar user experience across phone (Windows Phone 8), PC (Windows 8), and TV (Xbox vNext). This includes the ability to sync content (photos, music, movies) between the three screens, phone management from PC or web, shared content between each device, and Xbox LIVE games, entertainment, and more.

Skype app. Still a separate but better app and not integrated into OS. Still optional.

NFC and Wallet. Windows Phone 8 will allow users to securely pay and share via NFC and manage an integrated Wallet experience.

Sounds pretty damn good, actually.

We'll see come some unknown time in the future.

NFC, Wallet, Skype integration, improved camera and improved synch with Xbox Live have the *potential* to be fierce competition. I know that Gruber has written often about the potential downsides of offering a UI-platform-experience that attempts to (fully) share itself across multiple computing devices and screens.

Maybe Microsoft will finally pull this off?

Wonder if "far more hardware choices" extends beyond form factors and instead includes devices from Samsung, say, and HTC and others? Will they offer their best on Windows Phone or continue to focus on Android?

All that notwithstanding, we'll have so many new Android devices, plus iPad 3 plus iPhone 5 long before Windows Phone 8, I'm guessing. Microsoft better get this right.