Features

Windows phone gets three US customers: Sprint, Cingular and AT&T

Continuing its devastating attack on the phone market by selling through the network operators, Microsoft has pulled a US flanking manoeuvre on Psion-derived Symbian, comparable with its contract win in Germany, by signing up Verizon and Sprint to carry the "Thera" phone-enabled PDA. And Cingular will take the "Stinger" smartphone.

If winning contracts with the mobile operators is the key to the mobile market, Microsoft has struck a devastating blow to Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and the other members of the Symbian alliance.

However, the products are expensive, compared to rival products - and also bigger, bulkier, and untested in the market.

Verizon Communications will use the Pocket PC Phone Edition - a new version of the device with Microsoft phone software built in - to run on its wireless networks, Andy Haon, director of Microsoft's mobility group, said in an interview with Reuters staff.

Cingular, Verizon and Voicestream will all use the PocketPC Phone; and Cingular will also sell phones with PDA software, based on the "Stinger" concept.

Voicestream's contract should not be a surprise, since it's a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, which announced its dedication to Microsoft's architecture, .Net ("dot-net") last week.

Verizon will distribute and market a new wireless-ready Pocket PC called the Thera made by mobile handset maker Audiovox, Microsoft said. Sprint's mobile business will also sell Thera, for advanced wireless data services.

Thera will use Sierra Wireless modem technology to make data phone calls, Internet and e-mail access. The unit will be manufactured for mobile phone maker Audiovox by Toshiba, said Reuters

It remains, of course, to be seen how popular these devices are with customers. They have a big drawback in the eyes of most mobile phone users - they aren't small. Reuters put it well, saying that "while the Stinger is a phone with computer functions added, the Pocket PC Phone Editions are computers with phones added. The devices have bigger, touch-sensitive screens, as well as software for word processing and handling spreadsheets."

Microsoft expects corporate specifiers of IT equipment to love them, because of their ease of integration with the server environment.

However, it's not clear whether .Net is Microsoft's way of pushing the phones into the market, or whether the phones are a Trojan Horse to move .Net into the market. Almost certainly, the .Net strategy is paramount, and if these phone-PDAs or PDA-phones don't succeed, new tactics will be adopted.