In a move which underscores part of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's ongoing attempts to accelerate growth as well as to ward off rivals led by Apple, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant has recently named Andy Lees as its head of corporate development and strategy.

Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8 on Monday at Tel Aviv in Israel. It was launched formally last week at San Francisco.

The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer expects the sale to rise once the phones are available in market all over the world. Phones which will feature Windows 8 are Nokia Lumia 920, HTC Windows phone 8X and Samsung ATIV S. ATIV is largest Windows phone device in the market at 4.8 inches.

In an evidence that app developers are seemingly interested in developing content for the forthcoming Windows 8 version of Microsoft’s operating system, the software maker said in a recent statement that nearly 500,000 copies of the preview version of the OS have been downloaded by the developers.

Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer admitted that Windows Phone 7 could not gain any traction so far.

Speaking at the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC 2011), Ballmer touted the success of Windows 7 and Office 2010, but he could not tout Windows Phone 7 software as its sales have so far remained anemic.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is under pressure and facing calling for his exclusion from the software giant.

Wall Street hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who is famous for his early warnings about the failing of Lehman Brothers bank, only last week called for his removal.

Redmond-based Microsoft has retracted from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's claims that the next version of the Windows operating system, Windows 8, would be available next year for PCs and tablets.

Earlier on Monday, Ballmer used a developers’ conference in Tokyo to announce that Windows 8 would be available in 2012 on several devices.