vB Easy Archive - T-Mobile Europe to launch its MS Smartphone for summer

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T-Mobile Europe to launch its MS Smartphone for summer
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Posted by: Genius

The deal Monday with T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, would put the Microsoft operating system into smart phones in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia and elsewhere in Europe by this summer. T-Mobile´s U.S. operations were not part of this agreement, Microsoft executives said.

From http://www.iht.com/articles/86928.html

Microsoft to unveil a deal with T-Mobile
CANNES Microsoft Corp. was to announce Monday that T-Mobile, Germany's leading cell phone carrier, would sell a "smart phone" powered by Microsoft software, its second such alliance in Europe, executives said.
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As the annual 3GSM World Congress for the wireless industry opens here, Microsoft is trying to position itself as a player in the field. It is a relative latecomer to phone software and trails Symbian Ltd., which is made by and licensed to Nokia Oyj, Motorola Inc. and the other leading cell phone makers.
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Microsoft's first big victory with a telephone operator was in November, when it partnered with Orange SA to launch a smart phone called the SPV in Britain and then in France. The deal Monday with T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, would put the Microsoft operating system into smart phones in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia and elsewhere in Europe by this summer. T-Mobile's U.S. operations were not part of this agreement, Microsoft executives said.
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The T-Mobile license is not exclusive to Microsoft, and some analysts said they expected T-Mobile to partner in the future with Symbian, as well, for smart phones. PalmSource, the software spin-off of Palm Inc., is also competing for market share.
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"It's the battle of the dominant brands," said Ben Wood, mobile analyst for Gartner Inc. in Britain, calling the agreement "big for Microsoft."
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The T-Mobile phone is to be made by High Tech Corp., the same Taiwan company that makes the Orange model.
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Microsoft stumbled earlier with a different manufacturer. Sendo PLC, a small British phone maker that had agreed to produce smart phones with Microsoft, pulled out of that alliance in November and partnered instead with Symbian and Nokia. Sendo, which has since sued Microsoft over the deal, has said its first Symbian-powered mobile phones would be available this autumn.
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Microsoft's Smartphone software, which is made for phones that can also handle text and images, is separate from its Pocket PC software, which runs handheld organizers in competition with Palm. But the lines are blurring: An increasing number of Pocket PC organizers also have phone capabilities, and Microsoft has a Pocket PC Phone Edition of the operating system.
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Both of Microsoft's mobile operating systems are designed to work with compacted Windows applications originally made for personal computers, like Internet Explorer for Web browsing and Outlook for e-mail.
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Orange's SPV, which sells for under £150 ($240) with a phone subscription, has come under scrutiny because it was the first to market. Microsoft said recently that some glitches in the software would be fixed with an over-the-air upgrade through Orange, a move that would also benefit T-Mobile.
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While the mobile market has slowed considerably since the 1990s, wireless companies still hope that new networks that allow speedy data-sending between phones will invigorate business. Microsoft, which has a reputation for catching up quickly in new businesses, wants its software to be the engine running those advanced, multi-function phones.
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"A few years on, we see ourselves with a major role in the whole cell phone industry," said AnneMarie Duffy, wireless mobility marking manager with Microsoft in Europe.
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"Microsoft's strategy is through operator relationships, rather than hardware manufacturers," Wood said, "especially in Europe, where Nokia has a 50 percent market share."
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Yet another new entrant may complicate choices for phone makers and carriers: Last week, Motorola said it would use the Linux operating system in a new phone to be introduced in Asia.
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The price of the T-Mobile phone was not announced, nor were financial terms of the deal released.