Possible Boosts for Smartphones

After a shaky start, it appears that Windows Smartphones are starting to increase data services revenue for European carrier Orange, and holdout Motorola has become the first major vendor to announce a Smartphone device, which AT&T plans to offer before year’s end. These three developments could greatly boost the adoption rate of Microsoft-based phones elsewhere. However, Samsung, which announced intentions to build a Smartphone over a year ago, has not yet delivered a phone.

Meanwhile, phone vendors and carriers nervous about committing to first-version software need wait no longer: Microsoft has updated the Smartphone platform. (See “Smartphone 2003 SDK and Platform Details Available“.) In addition to addressing bugs and sluggish performance, the update adds some important new features and includes .NET Compact Framework support, which makes application development substantially easier.

The Smartphone platform-now formally known as “Windows Mobile Software for Smartphone”-is a software platform based on Windows CE and an accompanying hardware reference standard for a new type of cell phone that integrates personal digital assistant applications with cell phones and next-generation data networks. Smartphones have capabilities similar to the Pocket PC (PPC) Phone Edition, except that Smartphones are smaller and do not use a touch screen. Smartphones are designed for users who are more “voice-centric” and who will accept smaller screens and a user interface designed for one-hand keypad-driven input. (For more information on Smartphones, see “Wireless WAN Strategy Takes Shape” on page 14 of the Nov. 2002 Update.)