CANNES, France -- Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. said today (February 17, 2003) that a concept design of mobile phone based on Microsoft's 'Smartphone' software and Intel's personal internet client architecture (PCA) is available immediately.
Wistron Corp. is the first company to take advantage of this concept design and would have its phone available later in 2003, Microsoft said , although European mobile phone service providers, notably Orange SA and T-mobile International AG, have already launched phones based on Microsoft's Smartphone software.
Microsoft also worked with Birmingham, England-based Sendo plc on the Smartphone platform but has been sued for alleged misuse of proprietary information used in Sendo's mobile handsets (see December 23, 2002, story).
Sendo has switched to the Series 60 architecture licensed from Nokia and based on ARM processor hardware from ARM Holdings plc.
Intel's personal internet client architecture which is underlying this version of the Microsoft Smartphone is based on its XScale processor architecture which is, in turn, based on an architectural license from ARM.
"Today's introduction is a milestone for the cellular wireless industry," said Ron Smith, senior vice president and general manager of the wireless communications and computing group at Intel, in a statement.
The Microsoft and Intel concept design combines Microsoft's Windows-based software with the Intel PXA262 processor. It enables handset builders to include a 176 x 220-pixel color screen, an integrated camera and up to five hours of talk time. It is intended that handsets based on this design could be used to browse the Internet, play media files and integrate with email software, Microsoft said.
