Few people ever saw it, but Microsoft's first foray into the phone market happened way back in 1998, when it quietly introduced (and even more quietly discontinued) the Microsoft Cordless Phone PC Phone System. This product was a phone that understood spoken commands like "Call Mom." Of course, it had plenty of other capabilities, too: it could screen calls, allowing only "high priority" calls to ring, and interfaced with a contact database (Windows-based, of course), etc. Priced at C$289 (US$199), it quickly sank from view, and the software giant repositioned its strategy to take aim at the burgeoning cell phone market.
Then, finally, in Oct. 2002, it revealed the fruits of a deal signed years earlier with Sony: the Orange SPV Smartphone 2002. Like its 1998-era cordless ancestor, it features voice-dial and contact-management capabilities, but Microsoft's new emphasis on instant messaging -- not to mention the increasing sophistication of the Pocket PC 2002 platform, upon which the SmartPhone 2002 OS is based -- adds a new dimension to the Orange SPV's bag of tricks. Unfortunately, poor voice quality, sluggish performance and unreliable GPRS connectivity threaten to sabotage the product's considerable potential. Perhaps, as Microsoft found with its desktop operating system efforts, the third time's the charm. Infosync.no has a review.
Complicating the picture is the fact that Sendo, the company Microsoft worked with to develop the phone, subsequently sued Microsoft in Dec. 2002, alleging theft of technical expertise and proprietary technology.
Now, notes, News.com, Microsoft phones are stepping into Canada. The company has crafted deals with both Rogers AT&T Wireless and Bell Mobility, the wireless arm of Bell Canada. Bell began selling the Thera, a Pocket PC Phone Edition-based hybrid PDA-phone in Sept. 2002. Rogers in Feb. 2003 said its offer, a Siemens SX56 handset, powered by Microsoft's Pocket PC Phone Edition operating system, will go on sale in "a few weeks." Beyond that, the company says it plans to offer a SmartPhone 2002-based cell phone at some point in the future, although details were not disclosed.
However, the plan hit another snag in May 2003, when Europe's second largest mobile phone operator, T-Mobile International revealed that it had shelved plans to introduce a mobile phone powered by Microsoft software.
"We have decided not to introduce this phone," a T-Mobile spokesman said on the sidelines of a Deutsche Telekom news conference. "For the time being, we are not pursuing this project further."
T-Mobile announced in February it planned to introduce the Microsoft phone this summer in a move analysts saw as a blow to mobile handset industry leader Nokia. But industry sources said the phone software from Microsoft still had "fundamental problems" leading to high failure rates.
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