The global roll-out of Microsoft's new fleet of Windows Mobile 6.5 phones is underway as Redmond also lifts the curtains on its new app store.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is supporting the new devices with two new services. The first, Windows Marketplace for Mobile, lets customers buy and download apps directly to their phones, and marks the software giant's long-awaited entry into the mobile app store realm.

The second service, My Phone, lets users sync and back up information on their phones -- such as contacts, appointments, messages, photos and videos -- to a password-protected Web site.

Also new with the crop of handset debuting today is the branding, as the family of devices are being called "Windows phones," and will feature logos to differentiate them on retail shelves.

: The new phones promise an improved feature for Windows Live photo sharing across social networking sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, as well as the ability to sync files on the phone through Windows Live Media Manager and play media files with Windows Media Player.

The devices also boast enhanced e-mail management to sync Outlook Mobile and Exchange Server, and the ability to use PowerPoint and open and edit Word and Excel documents through Microsoft Office Mobile. Microsoft has also redesigned Windows Internet Explorer mobile browser with Adobe Flash Lite2.

Though the roll-out includes dozens of phones for overseas markets, the smartphones available in the United States include the HTC Pure and HTC Tilt 2, available through AT&T, the Samsung Intrepid from Sprint, and HTC Imagio, available on Verizon's network.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer marked the roll-out with a press event at the company's campus in the Paris suburb of Issy-Les-Moulineaux.

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