Microsoft is holding a press conference in Europe on October 11, where several Web sites are expecting the company to finally announce the first Windows Phone 7 devices.

The October 11 announcement coincides with a Microsoft "open house" in New York that day, although the invitation to Microsoft's New York event specifically excluded any mention of Windows Phone 7.

According to Engadget, the October 11 press conference will be held at 2pm in London and is expected to offer "hands-on opportunities with WP7 devices." We've heard from other sources in Europe invited to the same event.

Microsoft spokespeople in the U.S. didn't respond immediately to a request for comment, but they're on the West Coast and it's pretty early in the morning there right now.

There's been a lot of confusion over the launch date for Windows Phone 7, with Neowin insisting that there will be launch events on October 21 but not giving any hints of the October 11 event to which Engadget was invited.

Further complicating things, Microsoft observer Paul Thurrott is claiming that Windows Phones will launch in the U.S. on November 8.

All of these dates may be true, by the way, depending on your definition of the word "launch." For instance, Microsoft may show off some Windows Phones on October 11 but wait until November 8 to give pricing and availability dates, or announce European partners on October 11 and say oit's going on shelves on October 21. The concepts of launching and announcing a product are so flexible that all of this may be correct.

For our part, we'll be at the October 11 event in New York, and while Lance Ulanoff distracts Microsoft employees, I'll be crawling under tables and tearing through cardboard boxes trying to find hidden Windows Phone 7 units. Or maybe I won't, given that I now wrote that on the public Internet.