CANNES, France, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the 3GSM World
Congress 2002, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) unveiled a host of new mobility
software products and announced key relationships with operators, hardware
manufacturers, silicon vendors and other partners to bring that software to
market. All will play a critical role in developing a thriving wireless
ecosystem. Microsoft and industry partners' shared vision for mobility is
rooted in the convergence of the Internet and wireless worlds, bringing fresh
opportunities for software and wireless companies to partner and provide
customer value by developing connected scenarios for consumers and mobile
professionals and new revenue opportunities for the industry.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )
At a press conference, Ben Waldman, vice president of the Mobile Devices
Division at Microsoft, will emphasize the importance of broad industry
relationships. "Delivering on the promise of wireless data will require an
unprecedented level of cooperation between network operators, device
manufacturers, chipset makers and software companies," said Waldman. "We
believe that Microsoft's investment in smart devices, end-to-end platforms and
tools -- combined with network operators' technology and service
infrastructure, breakthroughs by chipset makers and innovative designs by
device manufacturers -- will finally make wireless data a useful and
profitable reality."
Waldman will announce relationships with the following mobile operators to
bring these devices, servers or services to market: mmO2, Orange, SingTel,
Telefonica Moviles, Telstra, T-Mobil, TurkCell and Vodafone.
Waldman will outline the four pillars of Microsoft's mobility strategy
-- devices, servers, services and development tools -- and make announcements
in each of these areas.
Windows Powered Smart Devices
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Powered devices are critical components of
Microsoft's end-to-end mobility strategy because smart devices are needed to
unlock the power of 2.5G and 3G networks. At the 3GSM World Congress,
Microsoft announced these device advances:
-- Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition. Microsoft announced the release to
manufacturing of Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition software, the software that
enables device manufacturers to combine the best of the PDA with integrated
wireless voice and data capabilities. Hewlett-Packard Co. announced the
Jornada 928 WDA, joining mmO2 in bringing the first integrated wireless Pocket
PCs using Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition software to market.
-- Smartphone 2002. Microsoft and Texas Instruments Inc. announced and
showed a Smartphone 2002 joint software and hardware reference design that
enables operators, original device manufacturers or OEMs to bring Smartphone
2002 devices to market quickly and efficiently. Compal Electronics Inc.
announced plans to immediately license and build Smartphone devices using this
reference design.
-- Microsoft-Intel Mobile Alliance for Next-Generation Devices. Intel
Corp. and Microsoft also announced that the two companies have entered into a
comprehensive alliance to develop cutting-edge reference designs for devices
powered by Microsoft's Smartphone 2002 and Pocket PC software.
Servers - Mobile Information Server 2002
Microsoft announced availability of the Mobile Information Server (MIS)
2002 Enterprise Edition, which securely extends Exchange 2000 Server
information, corporate intranet applications and services to mobile users with
mobile devices, such as the Pocket PC 2002 or Smartphone 2002. In MIS-related
news, Orange announced its rollout of a business service based on the MIS 2002
platform.
Services
Microsoft announced continued progress on bringing value-added and
revenue-generating advanced messaging and corporate services to mobile
operators:
-- MSN. In the first 14-country agreement between a wireless carrier and
MSN(R) Europe, Middle East and Africa, Telefonica Moviles became the first
mobile operator to provide its subscribers with access to MSN Hotmail(R)
-- the world's most popular free e-mail service with more than 110 million
users. For the first time, a broad range of MSN content, including its home
page, news and sport channels, together with its market-leading communication
services such as MSN Messenger Service and MSN Hotmail, can be accessed from
mobile devices. The service is now live in the United Kingdom, France and
Germany, and will be rolled out in Italy, Spain and Sweden in the coming
weeks.
-- Platform for innovation. Microsoft is highlighting end-to-end messaging
between wired and mobile networks on a full range of mobile devices from
SMS-only-capable handsets and MMS-capable handsets to rich client devices
including those powered by Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002
software. This is made possible because of Microsoft's extensible software
platforms for devices and servers as well as industry partners' solutions and
expertise. Microsoft's messaging solutions can be extended to the mobile
environment, providing seamless, rich messaging between users on the Internet
and people on mobile networks. CMG Wireless Data Solutions, Logica Mobile
Networks and Materna Information & Communications will be showcased during
Microsoft's rich mobile messaging demonstrations at the 3GSM World Congress
2002.
Digital Media Enabling Technologies
Microsoft has engineered Windows Media(TM) Audio and Video technology from
the ground up to deliver the best possible audio and video quality in the
smallest file sizes. The compression efficiency of the latest Windows Media
Audio and Video 8 technology is the best match for multimedia messaging on
wireless networks, which may have bandwidth constraints compared with other
network types. Because of its compression advantages over other formats,
Windows Media is broadly supported on more than 100 consumer electronic
devices, including Pocket PC devices, portable music players, CD players, DVD
players, car stereos, home stereo components and set-top boxes.
Developer Tools
Microsoft announced the availability of the Pocket PC 2002 Software
Developers Kit (SDK) with Phone Edition support and delivered the Smartphone
2002 beta SDK so developers can start building applications and realizing the
benefits of smart devices. The SDK, which is used with eMbedded Visual Tools,
includes an emulation environment that allows code to be effectively written
and tested on a PC without a device.
Microsoft at 3GSM World Congress
-- 3GSM World Congress logistics:
-- Exhibit Stand L21, Hall 4
-- Microsoft will hold a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 19,
at which Waldman will unveil Microsoft's wireless device strategy.
The conference is at 4 p.m. in Hall 2, Auditorium K, Level 4.
-- Waldman will deliver a keynote address titled "Smart Devices
- Enabling the Wireless Ecoystem" at 9:25 a.m. on
Friday, Feb. 22.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services
and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company
offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people
through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.
NOTE: Microsoft, Windows, MSN, Hotmail and Windows Media are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States
and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.
For more information about the Microsoft Mobility Group:
Visit the virtual press center at http://www.microsoftmobilitypress.com/ .
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.microsoft.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840
CONTACT:
press only, Miller/Shandwick Technologies,
+44-0-207-240-8666, or emeamsmobility@miller.shandwick.com; or
Crystal Duncan, +1-425-638-7000, or crystald@wagged.com, or Rapid
Response Team, +1-503-443-7070, or rrt@wagged.com, both of
Waggener Edstrom, for Microsoft Corp.
NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional
information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass / on Microsoft's corporate
information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were
correct at time of publication, but may since have changed.
|
