Newest Microsoft Smartphone to get viewing next week

The next step in Microsoft Corp.'s effort to penetrate the mobile phone market comes on Oct. 8 when the latest handset using Microsoft's Smartphone operating system is given a worldwide launch.

The Smartphone, which is being produced by "a company with considerable experience of the wireless space," will offer "some radical innovations," according to an e-mail invitation sent by a public relations company for the unnamed mobile handset manufacturer.

"We can't reveal the company because of non-disclosure agreements, but I can say that it will be a global launch and that the manufacturer has a range of Smartphones on the way," said Lewis Webb of the U.K. public relations company AxiCom.

Microsoft representatives declined to comment on the Smartphone prior to its launch.

A number of Microsoft partners are planning to produce Smartphones in the future including Taiwanese hardware maker Mitac International Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Acer Inc. spin-off Winstron Corp.

Mitac, which uses the brand name Mio, launched the Mio8380 in Taiwan on June 10 and according to a group Web site (www.justmio.com), planned to make the phone available in Europe in the third quarter of 2003.

The Mio8380 uses the Smartphone operating system and a chip set from Intel Corp., the 200MHz PXA255 processor. The triband phone operates on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks in Asia, Europe, and the U.S.

Though the phone was not launched on Sept. 30, the last day of the third quarter, representatives from Mitac in the U.K. where unable to say when the Mio8380 would receive its European unveiling.

The product being launched on Wednesday will follow the launch last month of the Motorola MPx200, a clam-shell format cell phone manufactured by Motorola Inc. and based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2002 Smartphone software. The MPx200 is being distributed by mobile network operator Orange SA on its U.K. network while AT&T Corp. will offer it in the U.S. in the fourth quarter.

Though the Redmond, Washington, company is the Goliath of the software market, its entrance into the mobile phone arena, dominated by Nokia Corp. and smart phone OS developer Symbian Ltd. (of which Nokia owns a large share), has been measured, marked by a trickle of products produced for the most part by smaller handset makers.

According to Chris Jones, an analyst with Canalys.com Ltd., Microsoft needs to attract the same sort of attention to its Smartphone products that Symbian and Nokia have and while its phone with Motorola was a start, the company needs to make a bigger splash in the market.

"Microsoft needs to attract the brands. It did announce a smart phone with Motorola but that was only with Orange (the fourth largest mobile network operator in the U.K.) and it still lacks the scope needed if it's to show that it's taking on Symbian and Nokia in this market. Microsoft really needs to make a big impact going forward," Jones said.

It is unlikely that an announcement by Mitac will create much in the way of waves on the market, he said. "Mitac is not a known brand as a handset manufacturer and Microsoft really needs to attract a larger, known handset manufacturer."