AT&T Offers Windows-Based Smartphone

Motorola and Microsoft launched a clam-shell format cell phone Monday, based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone software.

Mobile network operator Orange SA will distribute the phone for use on its UK network from October, and AT&T will offer it in the U.S. in the fourth quarter, the companies said Monday.

The Motorola MPx200 is the third Orange phone to use Microsoft's phone software. Orange launched the SPV, the first Windows Mobile 2003-based Smartphone available worldwide, in October last year, and brought out an upgraded version earlier this year. The SPV is made in Taiwan by High Tech Computer.

Custom Design

Orange has worked with Motorola to customize the phone to its own needs, Stuart Jackson, Orange's corporate communications manager, says. Like the SPV, it comes branded with the Orange logo, has an Orange user interface, and offers services such as Orange Backup, where users can store their data on the Orange network in case of problems with their phone.

The MPx200, measuring 1.9 by 3.5 by 1.1 inches, allows users to surf the Internet, access their e-mails, and synchronize the phone with their PC. It includes an SD slot with a 16MB memory card (a 2GB card is available) and an external speaker for listening to MP3 and Windows Media files; it can also play videos using Windows Media Player. A detachable camera is available separately.

In the UK, the MPx200 will cost $383 with an Orange contract.

The phone will also be sold in Hong Kong from the fourth quarter, and negotiations are under way with operators in other European and Asian markets, Amer Husaini, vice president and director of product operations for Motorola in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, says.

More to Come

Motorola and Microsoft plan to jointly develop a series of Smartphone and Pocket PC products, including a PDA, Husaini says. These will be made available internationally once partner operators are found, he adds.

Orange has sold 100,000 SPV Smartphones in Europe, Jackson says. However, it's not the number of units so much as use that counts, and the revenue from data services has been high, he says.

He notes of the Smartphone that "The average user is accessing the Internet five times a day; 60 percent use it to get their e-mail, and 85 percent have synched it with their PC. So people are really using [the devices]."