Microsoft aim to capture hearts of mobile telephone operators
Ag@whd
telephony operators.
The software giant this week revealed it is to offer mobile phone
providers an Internet microbrowser free of charge.
Like many other players, Microsoft sees mobile phones as potentially
important Internet access devices. The W-Pack (Wireless Package)
software will include libraries, documentation and source code.
The package will run on any telephone handset OS, but is optimised for
Microsoft's Windows CE. Until now, few mobile Phone companies have
adopted CE, primarily because it demands too much processing power. By
comparison, Britain's Psion has stormed ahead with its lean Epoc
operating system.
Backed by Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola, Epoc is at the heart of Symbian,
a joint venture targeted at the smart-phone-cum~handheld arena.
By giving away a microbrowser, Microsoft strengthens its foothold in the
burgeoning market for phones, pagers, PDAs, in-car PCs and countless
other wireless devices that will soon access corporate data from
anywhere on the globe.
Earlier this month Microsoft said that it will push into the wireless
data market, following a tie-up with Qualcomm - a US firm already
well-established in this area.
[ Also well known as the author's of EUDORA Lite and EUDORA Pro. Adrian
]
Underpinning Microsoft's and Symbian's strategies is a recognition that,
as digital convergence brings the worlds of computers and telecoms
together, so there will be a fundamental shift in how people access
corporate data - ushering in a new era of mobile devices primarily using
the Internet, sometimes via satellites.
The idea of Qualcomm's joint venture with Microsoft,
WirelessKnowledge,
launched formally at Comdex last week, is to create a seamless
communications and software infrastructure, based around a network hub.
While Qualcomm' provide the know-how to link the network to mobile
phones
and other remote devices, Microsoft will concentrate on building the
software bridges to its applications such as Backoffice Server and
Windows 2000.
The partnership comes at a key moment in the evolution of wireless
technology, especially given the availability of new low-orbit satellite
networks such as Motorola's Iridium which began commercial roll-out of
its global phone services earlier this month.
The only other low-orbit service which has a delivery schedule
approaching Iridium's aggressiveness is Globalstar, in which Qualcomm is
also a leading partner.
Microsoft is involved in bankrolling a similar venture, Teledesic, which
will deliver high-bandwidth wireless data services to users worldwide,
in which Motorola also has a quarter stake.
'The wireless world has its own set of religions and protocols. But if
you ask us what We're up to, it's - in all cases - supporting Internet
protocol, said Microsoft president Steve Ballmer. 'This means relaying
the greatest amount of information to the greatest number of people in
the broadest possible way'.
For the time being, though, the Symbian consortium appears unfazed by
the challenge posed by Microsoft's venture with Qualcomm and its free
microbrowser ploy. Jan Ahrenbring, marketing director for Ericsson,
said:
'We don't see anything new or exceptional in these developments, and we
are prepared for hard competition.'
Adrian
WWW WWW Adrian Gothard
WWW ww WWW White Horse Design
WWWWWWWWWW
WWWW WWWW w...@zetnet.co.uk, http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/whd
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Designers of video capture/filter/processing systems for aircraft