Microsoft Smartphones Arrive--At Last

Microsoft's long-awaited Windows-Powered Smartphone 2002 operating system was launched Tuesday--but not in the U.S. The new OS, previously known by the code-name Stinger, is available in a cell phone being distributed overseas by European carrier Orange SA. AT&T Wireless will be the first U.S. carrier to offer the OS in a cell phone expected to be released by mid 2003, Microsoft says.

The new OS is Microsoft's second in less than three months to target mobile handheld devices: The first PDA running the Pocket PC Phone Edition made its debut in July. But while the two OSes have some things in common, they power different devices, says Ed Suwanjindar, product manager with Microsoft's Mobile Devices division.

"SmartPhone is designed to be a mobile-phone handset first and foremost," Suwanjindar says. "Pocket PC Phone edition enables PDAs for voice and data access.

"While the Pocket PC Phone Edition is designed for two-handed operation with a stylus and touch screen, Smartphone is designed for one-handed operation without a stylus."

Both OSes feature an address book and calendar that can be synchronized to a desktop version of Outlook (2002 or later), plus customized versions of Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. Both let you send and receive e-mail, text, and instant messages, send and receive voice calls, and run third-party applications. However a Smartphone won't include the scaled-down versions of Word and Excel that come with a Pocket PC.

Suwanjindar says Smartphones can be equipped with Java or BREW virtual machines in order to run apps written for these two competing cell phone operating systems. However Microsoft intends to enter the fray itself, and hopes developers will begin creating software for its own cell phone platform, Suwanjindar says.

Other US carriers

While AT&T Wireless is the only US carrier that has announced a timetable for introducing a Microsoft Windows-Powered Smartphone, Microsoft says Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless are either in trials or have said they will eventually offer such phones.

Samsung on Tuesday joined a growing list of vendors who say they'll produce Windows-Powered Smartphone handsets. Samsung also announced plans for its first Pocket PC.

Other vendors building Smartphone-based handsets include Sendo, Compal Electronics, and High Tech Computer, which created the Compaq IPaq and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition PDAs.

Orange's phone

The Orange phone announced Tuesday in London, called the Orange SPV, will be on sale within two weeks in the U.K., according to Richard Brennan, executive vice president of Orange World and Brand.

The triband phone can be used in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Manufactured in Taiwan by HTC, it gives access to e-mail from any POP3 server, allows Web browsing, and includes diary functions. Orange has customized the software to give its own look and feel to the user interface.

The phone will cost $278 in the U.K., a price designed to attract more than just business users, Brennan said. "We want to attract consumers, and we think we'll get some of the youth market because of the price."

Orange is subsidizing the cost of the handset, but not any more than any other handset, he insisted. "It's just a normal subsidy on the handset--we can do that because HTC charges a better price than some of the main European manufacturers," he said.

The phone is simpler to use than the Symbian-based smart phones on the market, Brennan said, "and we think we'll see higher revenues because of that. It's more intuitive and so we hope people will spend more money, go to areas they wouldn't have gone otherwise."

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Data can be synchronized with Microsoft applications on a desktop computer, or backed up to the Orange servers. Updates to software, and new third-party applications, are simply downloaded to the phone, Brennan said.

A network administrator can download software to thousands of phones from a central control point, making it easier for companies to update and manage their cell phone resource, said Juha Christensen, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Mobility Group.

"Phones are anarchy for a company. People buy their own and charge it to the company, they set them up to access e-mail, it's very dangerous for a company. This gives the company control," Christensen said.

Microsoft has been working with Orange on the phone for over a year now, said Christensen.

"The carrier can customize the OS to what they want to sell. Phones to date have been very simple--you provide a voice service, SMS, and there was little the carrier could do to differentiate themselves. Now they can choose exactly what they want to offer their customers," he said.