Microsoft Wins Asian Allies for Smartphones Push Dec 8, 2003

Printable format  Email this Article  Search

Asia’s fast-growing mobile phone makers are embracing Microsoft Corp.’s (Seattle, WA, U.S.) new software for sophisticated handsets, boosting the U.S. company’s efforts to expand beyond its hegemony in the computer industry.

The entry of Taiwan’s electronics makers into the market for "smartphones," which offer sophisticated e-mail, Internet, and music and video functions, promises the software giant further support in its battle against UK-based rival Symbian and PalmSource Inc.

The three companies’ operating systems are scrambling for a bigger slice of a market that Microsoft estimates could account for two out of every five phones sold in 2005.

"Taiwan companies could give impetus to Microsoft, paving the way for such smart devices to become a mainstream product in the future," said Alex Wu, a mobile phone analyst at Taiwan’s KGI Securities.

Co-operating with Taiwan’s contract electronics manufacturers "is one of Microsoft’s strategies, and it is a right decision," he said.

Smartphones, which typically include personal digital assistant (PDA) functions into a phone or incorporate phone electronics in a PDA, currently have a 3 percent share of the mobile phone market, according to IDC. The research firm expects sales of around 13 million of the devices this year.

Symbian has about a two-thirds share of the smartphones market, in large part thanks to the number of phone makers who have invested in the company. Its major shareholders are phone giant Nokia and British software firm Psion Plc. (Reuters)

Back to Daily News